Re: The handling is so close to being good, but yet again they missed the mark

I think this happens because of the "(...) grip levels when the tyres are skidding, (...) are too high for asphalt (...)" part of my original post.

Basically, instead of wheelspin and losing grip, you actually gain grip from having the tyres spinning/locking up, like if it was a rally game where digging through a soft surface generates grip.

Having gone back to play GRID Autosport, they have 100% nailed the arcade feel there while still having a tyre model that makes sense.

Drifting or power sliding makes you lose grip, so you need to throttle control accordingly to keep the car from spinning out or going too wide.

In GRID Legends, power sliding is the best way to get out of a turn, as long as you keep a clean line. Seeing tyre marks on a corner exit is usually a good sign, which makes absolutely no sense.

Many people have put GRID Autosport to the side because of its pretty mediocre single player experience, however, the physics and online experience is up there with Codies' best, like DiRT 2 and 3.

The cars are still pretty floaty but once you get the hang of how much you can turn the car into a corner, it's smooth sailing from there. Staying on the limit is also pretty intuitive and definitely doable on keyboard and gamepad.

Personally I don't mind the handling. I slightly prefer 2019 but only because I feel it was a bit more challenging. I also don't see this hidden traction control. Most if not all cars in GRID have racing slicks, and racing slicks don't like holding slides too long. They're going to snap back and grip most of the time unless you fully lose the car

"like if it was a rally game where digging through a soft surface generates grip."

this quote does remind me of something.

2019 and in turn Legends to me always felt like a development of the physics engine that was first introduced in Dirt 4 and then further developed for Rally 2.0. So its possible that there was some fudging done originally for offroad physics that crept into the asphalt feel of the GRID games?