Green Lights and Big Promises
GRID Legends: Deluxe Edition pulls a neat trick, it feels like a modern motorsport highlight reel, but it plays with the confidence and immediacy of a classic pick-up-and-play racer. Originally built by Codemasters and published by Electronic Arts, this edition arrives on Nintendo Switch 2 via a Feral Interactive port that positions itself as a full-fat version of the game rather than a watered-down tour package. The headline is simple, you get the base game plus all previously released DLC, wrapped up as a single purchase.
If you missed GRID Legends the first time around, it launched in early 2022 as a “simcade” racer, meaning it borrows enough realism to make cars feel distinct and satisfying, while still letting you race aggressively without requiring a motorsport engineering degree. That identity is even baked into the official pitch, arcade racing with precise simulation handling, and it remains the game’s most important personality trait.
Driven to Glory, Soap Opera at Triple Digits
GRID Legends’ biggest swing, at least in terms of presentation, is Driven to Glory, a live-action story mode that plays like a motorsport docuseries with a slightly mischievous grin. You’re cast as “Driver 22,” an underdog rookie dropped into the GRID World Series, where team politics and rivalries are as real as the next hairpin. The mode was explicitly framed as documentary-inspired, and the live-action approach is the point, not a gimmick stapled on at the last second.
What works is not that the writing suddenly turns racing into Shakespeare, it’s that it gives context to the chaos. When a race devolves into elbows-out mayhem, the story has already taught you that half these people would absolutely “accidentally” misplace your front wing if the cameras weren’t rolling. That extra framing helps the game stand out in a genre that often leans on sterile menus and silent progression bars.
Simcade Sweet Spot, Where Grip Meets Bravado
The core of GRID Legends is the driving feel, and this is where Codemasters’ expertise still shines through. Longtime coverage has described its handling as approachable and forgiving in a way that encourages you to fight in traffic, not tiptoe through corners, which is exactly what you want in a game built around wheel-to-wheel rivalries.
At the same time, “forgiving” does not mean “mindless.” The car roster spans multiple disciplines, and shifting between them changes the rhythm, touring cars reward clean, assertive lines, open-wheelers demand precision, trucks add weight and chaos in the best way, and the whole package stays readable at speed. The Switch 2 edition’s marketing leans hard on that multi-discipline variety, and the base game’s scale has been frequently summarized as well over 100 cars and well over 130 track layouts across many locations.
The game also adds its own flavor of rivalry through the nemesis system, the “race hard, make enemies, those enemies remember” mechanic that turns a clean event into a personal grudge match. Official descriptions literally encourage you to push your nemesis, and community discussion around the system shows why, it creates stories, sometimes the fun kind, sometimes the “I swear that was their line, not mine” kind.
Ten Disciplines, One Identity Crisis, and It Works
One of GRID Legends’ most underrated strengths is how comfortably it refuses to be only one thing. Instead of committing to a single niche, it spreads across a broad motorsport spectrum, including circuit racing, elimination events, time trials, plus endurance racing and demolition derby-style madness when you dip into the included add-ons. The result is less “one perfect sim,” more “motorsport variety platter,” which fits the series’ loud, crowd-pleasing DNA.
That variety also makes the career feel huge, because you’re not repeating the same loop with minor variations, you’re bouncing between disciplines, cars, and event formats that change how you think about risk. And in a game that lives on momentum, that’s the secret sauce, it keeps the experience fresh without requiring you to self-impose rules like, “okay, today I will not pick the same GT car again, I swear.”
Race Creator, Your Personal Motorsport Laboratory
If Driven to Glory is the cinematic hook, Race Creator is the mode that quietly steals your evenings. It’s a custom event editor that lets you shape your own race days, and it’s one of the reasons GRID Legends has such staying power, you’re not just consuming content, you’re curating it.
This is also where the game gets delightfully nerdy. Race Creator supports mixing variables like time of day and weather, giving you a “same track, totally different vibe” button that can turn a familiar layout into a new problem to solve. If you like building perfect little racing scenarios, or chaos experiments, both are valid, this mode is basically your motorsport chemistry set.
The Deluxe Part That Actually Matters
“Deluxe Edition” is a phrase that has been abused so badly it should come with a warranty. Here, it’s refreshingly straightforward. The Switch 2 release is positioned as a complete package that includes all DLC, calling out Classic Car-Nage demolition derby content, Endurance mode, plus additional career and story events, bonus cars, and tracks.
That matters because GRID Legends already thrives on variety. The DLC strengthens that identity by adding more ways to play, not just sprinkling in a couple of cars and hoping you won’t notice the thinness. If you’re the kind of player who likes flipping between modes depending on your mood, this bundle respects your time and gives you more reasons to keep coming back.
Feral’s Switch 2 Tune-Up, A Port That Knows Its Job
Feral Interactive has a long history of technically savvy conversions, and the Switch 2 version is pitched with that same confidence. The publisher highlights multiple optimization modes, including options to prioritize visual fidelity or smoother performance, plus balanced and battery saver modes for longer portable sessions.
There are also practical realities. The eShop listing puts the file size at 28.6 GB, so yes, you may want to make peace with your storage before you hit download. The listing also tags online scoreboards, which is a nice touch for competitive time hunters who live for shaving milliseconds off their “almost perfect” lap.
Look and Sound, The Roar in Your Pocket
GRID Legends aims for a broadcast-friendly presentation, slick menus, strong sense of speed, and races that feel like events rather than sterile time trials. On Switch 2, the official messaging leans hard on “pin-sharp visuals” and an exhilarating sensation of speed across play modes, which is exactly the right promise for a racer that’s built around spectacle and close-quarters aggression.
Audio matters just as much, because sound is feedback. Engine notes, tire squeal, collision crunch, it all tells your brain what the car is doing before your eyes fully process it. GRID Legends leans into that roar-and-rattle motorsport fantasy, and it pairs well with the game’s signature habit of turning every clean overtake into a small, personal victory.
Chequered Flag Verdict
GRID Legends: Deluxe Edition is a confident “greatest hits” package for a racer that was always designed to be played in bursts or binges. Its simcade handling makes it welcoming, its mode variety keeps it fresh, and its live-action story mode gives it a personality that most racers only pretend to have.
If you want a racing game that values momentum, spectacle, and flexibility, and you like the idea of building your own events as much as you like chasing podiums, GRID Legends remains an easy recommendation.
We prepared this review with a digital copy of the GRID Legends: Deluxe Edition for the Nintendo Switch 2 version provided by Feral Interactive.
