GRID Autosport Coming To Android Sometime In 2019

Feral Interactive, a game development outfit known for porting console games to mobile and creating mobile offshoots of popular games, took to Twitter to announce that it will be bringing iOS hit GRID Autosport to Android at some point in 2019. The Tweet points out that the extremely good-looking game has “technical demands” to match, and will thus be limited to a small range of powerful devices and a release in North America, Europe, Australia, and some as-yet undisclosed markets in Asia. Details aside from that regarding the Android launch, the state of the Android port thus far, and what Android users can expect compared to the iOS version were not present, though the Tweet did say that the company would be releasing more information closer to when the game will actually drop. It’s worth noting that the iOS version of the game costs $9.99 and has no ads or in-app purchases. Since developers lean less toward premium content on Android due to the relative ease of software piracy on the platform, there’s no guarantee that the pricing model will be the same.

Background: GRID Motorsport has been available on iOS since 2014, and is officially supported on phones as far back as the iPhone 6S. The reason for the supposed “technical demands”, however, may be tied to a recent update. The iOS version of the game was recently bumped up to version 1.2.4, an extreme graphical and performance upgrade, and this is almost certainly going to be the state of the game on release for the Android version. Those going into this expecting a console GRID experience on mobile won’t be disappointed; this is a mostly straight port of the 2015 PC and console game in the GRID series, complete with all the same content. It uses mostly the same assets, lighting and effects seen in the PC and console version, and looks about the same after the 1.2.4 update. You can take over 100 different cars through 100 different courses in 5 different disciplines in the main career mode, or you can try out one of the many other modes available in the game. The racing action is incredibly realistic and challenging, so you can safely expect the polar opposite of Gameloft’s fancy-flying Asphalt series. As for control, you can customize just about everything, and you can use a variety of control methods including an actual Bluetooth controller or simply tilting the phone.

Impact: Bringing yet another hardcore console port to Android smartphones will, as usual, work wonders for the premium game market on the platform. As to racing games specifically, this one will provide a viable, and possibly non-freemium alternative to the hyper-realistic and very pretty CSR series from Farmville maker Zynga. Though the game is compatible with older devices on the iOS side, the fact that it’s being pushed out and getting a limited Android release due to high technical demands is essentially a promise that it’s going to have the best graphics available for the game at launch, which would make it one of a very small number of Android ports that look, feel and play on a nearly one to one comparison basis with their larger cousins.