Grid Legends’ racing league should exist in real life

polygon.com:

Grid Legends’ premise is so appealing to a racing fan, I find myself wondering why there’s nothing analogous to it in real life. In the world of Codemasters’ latest driving title, there’s a multidisciplinary racing series with events, rivalries, and public interest — its own over-the-top TV channel, even — on par with Formula One and North America’s NASCAR. A racing team’s year-to-year survival in the Grid World Series is even more tenuous than it is in F1. Winning a championship can make a driver’s career, but a bigger accomplishment is simply staying competitive for four or five seasons.

I gleaned all of this from Grid Legends’ narrative mode, “Driven to Glory.” The story may not be particularly groundbreaking, but its believable, matter-of-fact presentation of supporting details is catnip to a sports video game fan, thanks to a mixed-reality set, some enjoyable acting, and a lot of well chosen props. The genre is at its best when a game openly indulges the idea that all these created players and fictitious teams actually exist in an alternate continuum. Driven to Glory’s 36 chapters are the story of the season preceding Grid Legends’ larger, and more open-ended career mode. I recommend that every player finish this story, if only for its depth and much-needed player motivation, in an action-racing series that otherwise doesn’t have an obvious reason for a sequel, two years after its predecessor.

That isn’t to suggest that Grid Legends’ racing action is boring or thinly presented. It’s thrilling and very accessible, in that I always felt pressured to drive at my car’s limits, but never felt like I was out of control. Every race had at least one high-speed sequence where I marveled at my ability to break into the open,