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Grid Legends is a solid racing game that has a few achievements of its own making it stand out, but there are some hiccups when compared with Grid 2 from 2013, which is the last game I played in the franchise.

It has the best story and music I’ve seen in a racing game

It is not a high bar, as the racing genre is notoriously plagued with bad and forgettable stories, so it is quite refreshing to see a story that is well-engineered and well-acted as a fake documentary on the imaginary Grid racing series.
It has nothing groundbreaking, and the plot is actually very one-dimensional, but the story has a stake and characters have some personalities, making players care about their fates and cheer for their success. Simple as it is, it already outperforms other racing games in being intriguing and by hiring some actually competent actors, it also excels in presentation.
The game also has the best racing music I’ve heard, which keeps reminding me of Devil May Cry because of the strong angelic and demonic themes and vibes, and it makes racing extra exhilarating.
Notably, the story and music quality take a dive after the main campaign: there are hardly any stories in the rest four small campaigns and the music becomes quite forgettable, but the humor did put a smile on my face.

It has every race type on asphalt surfaces, almost

Grid Legends has basically every type of race that is held on paved roads: open wheels (formula racing), sports car (including different classes of grand tourer and prototype), stock car, touring car, production car, and one-make, only with drag race missing, but it has trophy truck, racing truck, and drifting as additions. There is also an event type called Derby Demolition, which is basically car smashing each other.
The 10-to-13-hour or so (depending on skills and difficulty) story mode introduces players to various race types and modes (time attack, elimination, endurance, etc.), where players can grab a taste of everything.
However, the story mode doesn’t do well in introducing tracks, as many are missing in the main campaign because they were added after. Also, you can’t choose your car in story mode, which takes away more excitement than expected.
Besides the story, there is a career mode that is significantly more time-consuming for it has more races, with some having certain requirements to unlock. You can choose what vehicles to use and who you compete with, as the game allows you to play offline against AI or hold online sessions to race with and against other players. This is the mode that caters to sweaty gamers and those carving for more game.

And some race types are painful and hurt the experience

Most race types are very fun, with the exception of drifting, trophy truck racing and Derby Demolition.
Derby Demolition is the game’s fancy word for car fight and it has one dedicated small campaign that is painful to go through, as I don’t think the physics is meant for it.
In this event, racing is not important, which defeats the purpose of the racing genre. Instead, players are required to chase up other vehicles to smash out as much damage as possible. However, because the hitbox is small, inaccurate and weirdly placed, more often than not you get totalled before doing enough damage, resulting in lots of chaos, frustration and simply unfun.
Drifting remains my least favorite event, but it actually feels fine. What makes it unpleasant for me is the game’s obsession with putting drifting events in tracks that are easy to break the drift chain, like Okutama which has lots of narrow straights in the middle session. This is the only event I always lowered difficulty to save myself from frustration.
As for the trophy truck, it is one motherfxxker to handle for the soft suspension and high gravity center. It exposes an issue in car physics, that a slightly fast deceleration or downshift is enough to cause front wheels to lock on, resulting in the car spinning out, which just feels unrealistic.

Physics change is kind of two steps forward one step back

On the subject of car physics, Grid 2 is my main comparison and it has great car physics that is on the oversteering side. For Grid Legends, it is neither understeering nor oversteering. Of course, it varies for each individual car, but the general neutral physics is still highly enjoyable and also makes the game more accessible to audiences, compared to Grid 2, in which oversteering physics is a bit challenging to master. Grid Legends also provides robust accessibility settings from ABS, stability control to traction control, drift control etc., to make driving more accessible.
Physics change makes Grid Legends more accessible but also makes it less exciting. Grid 2 feels like a mix of car sim and arcade racing, because driving feels raw, unfiltered and dangerous, though not to the degree of pure simulation, Grid Legends is pure arcade racing. While, unlike Need for Speed, it doesn’t introduce the unenjoyable artificial tractions, it does feel like lots of information is filtered out for the sake of making it easy to drive, even with every accessibility setting off.
Each track used to feel very different to drive on in Grid 2, but possibly as a result of the physics change, most of them (many returned tracks) feel identical to drive on despite the different designs and layouts.
But those are just nitpicking, the one solid criticism I have of physics is how easily the car spins out, which has been talked about in the trophy truck session. However, trophy truck is just one prominent example. It varies from car to car, but for some, one not-very-fast downshift, one not-very-sharp turn, one small bump in the corner, or even a gentle braking on the straights with no steering, is enough for the car to spin out. A large part of the battle about driving has become trying not to spin out, which even with accessibility settings off, still feels highly unrealistic to spin out that easy.

AI is slightly improved, but sponsor objectives became the most annoying part of the game

In Grid 2, AI is bad for its unpredictable racing lines, tendency to block and brake check, aggressive driving and unfair speed in certain races. I am happy that AI became much less aggressive and more tolerable with no cheating, but they still drive like those a-holes who brake excessively and don’t look at the rear mirrors when changing lanes. And when collisions happen, it feels so hard to break away like the car is somehow glued together, which is very unpleasant.
As for sponsor objectives, in Grid 2 they mean ugly stickers across the chassis, but the actual requirements are easy and usually complete themselves without notice. But in Grid Legends, they become such a big deal to prolong the game that takes players extra effort and time and many purposely built races to finish, to unlock exclusive races and cars.
Sponsor objectives is already grindy and a handful, to make matters worse, the game won’t track completion unless objectives are activated (only one sponsor at a time), meaning lots of extra repetitive work to be done. Furthermore, tracking does not always work correctly and progression has a chance to bug out and reset itself, which happens to me and many people.
People play the game differently and some don’t care about these objectives, but for me who has OCD, MY GOD, it is a thorn in my side. I care about finishing them so much it starts to strip the fun away. Part of me was actually glad the progression reset itself so that I could just give up. ://

Verdict

No game is 100% perfect, so as far as everything goes, Grid Legends is a pretty good game that is safe to recommend to everyone. I wish the sponsor objectives to be completely gone, and physics and AI to be better, but in the grand scheme of things, they might not matter to most people. I am just glad I bought the game at 90% off and it is worth every penny.