Grid Autosport announced, bringing 'authentic' drives to PS3, Xbox 360, PC in June

Codemasters whisked off the sheet on Grid Autosport today, a new entry in the racer series that's swerving onto retail shelves as soon as June 24 in North America and June 27 in Europe. The UK studio unveiled the game for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, which are the same platforms Grid 2 was released on last summer.

In an extensive introduction, Community Manager Ben Walke said Codemasters is building GRID Autosport based on community feedback to Grid 2. According to Walke, the prevailing message the studio heard was the wish for a more authentic racer experience that tracked closer to some of the studio's previous games.

"If Grid 2 raced off into a more narrative-led world of racing with more accessible controls," Walke said, "it's clear that for many of you, that wasn't what you wanted or expected from Grid 2. So with Grid Autosport we had the opportunity to make a much more focused motorsport game, a desire that many of you have expressed directly to us, and a game that in spirit goes back to some of our earlier titles in terms of content and handling."

To that effect, Walke explained car handling in Grid Autosport veers slightly closer to a simulation than the original Race Driver: Grid, with the game's five different disciplines offering distinctly different drives. While the game is targeted to offer a more realistic experience, Walke noted that Codemasters' aim is for something "authentic, not clinical."

Also, just to stress that Codies is listening to the fans, Autosport features the return of the cockpit view, as well as a dashboard view to provide a total of two in-car cameras. In terms of more on-the-box features, Autosport promises 22 locations with 100 different routes to drive, a single-player career mode and once again RaceNet support for multiplayer.

[Image: Codemasters]