At the start of EA Play Live, GRID Legends, and it will include a new campaign that uses the extended reality (XR) technology seen in popular series like The Mandalorian. Given GRID Legends will use live action footage for its story, XR eliminates the need for things like green screen and allows for better immersion/effects as a result.
Developer Codemasters joined EA within the last year after a buyout, allowing the team to take full advantage of the resources of the publisher and have a sense of security. It's unclear whether this has afforded the studio to go much bigger on GRID Legends if it would've originally, but it definitely hasn't held the team back. The team is going all-in on one of its most beloved racing franchise with its next entry.
GRID Legends will feature all kinds of new innovations according to GRID series developer Codemasters, from the use of XR technology for its new documentary-esque campaign to mixed-class vehicle races. One of the most noteworthy things from the trailer was a massive semi-truck smashing into a much smaller car, indicating its more than a by-the-numbers racing sim. Given Codemasters just launched F1 2021, GRID Legends could be a fun and interesting shake-up for players when it launches in 2022.
It's great to see Codemasters finding interesting and unique ways to innovate on the racing genre, beyond just playing with cars. The addition of a live-action story influenced by gameplay is something a few games have done before, but this looks like it can be done to a better degree due to the XR technology. Not having to invest in sets, but also not having to use cheap green screen effects will really open up the possibilities for the storytelling in the game.
Codemasters' last GRID game was well received by critics and hopefully, this will take it up another notch. It's interesting to see EA invest in a studio like this given Criterion has been the developer of its big racing franchise, Need for Speed, for quite some time. That said, given EA no longer holds the license to things like NASCAR, there's a chance that EA wanted something to fill the void in the more simulation-based racing genre. It appears that GRID Legends will attempt to fill that gap in EA's library and given there's already a healthy fanbase for Codemasters' titles, it seems likely EA's investment will probably pay off.
Source: GRID/YouTube
