Grid Legends and Forza Horizon 5 are gunning for my heart

If I'd have seen the new Grid Legends trailer a month ago, I guarantee there would've been zero emotional response. My brain would've been as silent as an electric car passing through a field of tumbleweed. But now look at me! Ever since I watched people play rally games beautifully, I've had this car game renaissance. Yep, against all odds, I'm interested in it.

Now the main highlight from the Grid Legends reveal was a more involved story mode. It has Ncuti Gatwa who played Eric Effiong in Netflix's Sex Education playing a racing star out to race, baby. There are other grizzled drivers who also want to race, but faster than the others. Yume Tanaka who wants to become the first woman ever to win the championship, and who absolutely has my backing.

Then you've got this Nathan McCane fella, a classic smooth-talker who probably shakes his hair back and forth after he takes off his helmet like a big chump. And let's not forget turtle-kneck man with plaid suit. He boasts about winning because he has loads of money and I'm sure I've cracked him over the head with a bicycle in a Yakuza game before.

All these characters look like a recipe for either a terrible story, or one that's actually quite fun. I mean, there's this bit where Gatwa just full-on spears McCane in this hilarious scuffle and I bet it's over a dodgy overtake. It reminds me of those hilarious career modes you'd get in WWE games and that's only a good thing in my books. Even if they were quite naff, they were the best sort of naff. And I'm hoping there's an option in Grid Legends' career mode to smash someone over the head with a steel chair.

But onto the actual racing, though, and it looks like fun. I'm not big into racing games that take themselves too seriously, at least not yet, anyway. And Grid Legends looks to be suitably silly with a lot of variety. You've got trucks slamming into supercars while big 'ol jeeps swoosh past. There's old-school car stuff and night driving stuff and rally stuff. All of which just looks like the perfect recipe for a laid back evening on the couch.

I will have to wait until next year until Grid Legends arrives, but at least I'll have Forza Horizon 5 to keep me company this November. I've been jumping behind the wheel of Forza Horizon 4 recently and it's been a big player in my car game resurgence as of late. While it's a bit early to say, Grid Legends looks to share the same 'festival' feel. That unabashed joy of hitting the throttle to a high-octane radio station, as opposed to a strict adherence to realism. That's not to say it won't have things for car game fanatics, I just reckon it's a going to be a welcome addition to my growing pile of racing games that celebrate going vroom vroom.