Gran Turismo was the first driving game to gain worldwide recognition for offering more than just driving. It offered progression, longevity and somehow managed to squeeze in the thrill of a top class racer in the one title. I spent many hours hunched over my Playstation playing the game and then my children entered the world which put an end to the days of video game playing for long periods at a time. I have dabbled with a few driving games since, but none have offered an experience deep enough to keep me going for more than the occasional game, and then Gameloft released GT Racing: Motor Academy for the iPhone.
I bought it and played it twice and then largely ignored it for the next few weeks. It felt like an OK racing game with lots of menus to interrupt the action and that was that. Like so many iPhone games and apps, it was assigned to a lowly place on iTunes never to grace my iPhone again. One of the main issues I had was that it stuttered a lot on my iPhone 3G which effectively ruined the experience, but an upgrade to the 3GS offered me the chance to try it again in stutter-free mode.
Since that time I have played the game every day for at least 20 minutes and it has become my relaxation moment after a hard day’s work. Just one more race… Just want to get a higher licence, a faster car, more credits to improve my car. It goes on and on and on and is almost perfectly balanced to keep the player coming back for more.
As you gain your licences you can then enter races which correspond to the licence you have earned. The tracks are largely similar throughout, but there are 14 included such as Laguna Seca and Monaco and even rally and urban tracks for variety. As an example of the variety included, when you race on a rally track you have to skid around corners to succeed whereas you do not on standard race tracks. Snow and rain add to the mix on hardy levels and you have to constantly adjust your driving technique to win each race. Somehow each car had a different feel and when you reach the stage where you can purchase faster cars, there is a genuine sense of speed which is at times virtually scary.
You have to be careful how you spend the credits you earn though because it is quite easy to run out of funds as you progress, and this could leave you with an unmodified car that is unable to compete. At this point you either need to build up your credits again in earlier races or start again. The after market add-ons for each car make a tremendous difference if you buy the lot. They cost a serious amount of money, but can enable you to win a series of races where you gain even more credits and sometimes a new car for good measure.
Special invitation events are also included and the experience of driving a Ford Model T at just over 40 miles per hour is something I did not expect in the game. Indeed, there are more than 100 cars to buy and these are the real deal. When you get really got you can buy yourself a nice Bugatti Veyron, but I sadly haven’t got there yet. After a few hours of playing I am just over 50% of the way through the game and look forward to finishing it all.
Very few games have as much longevity and diversity built in, especially driving games, but GT Racing has it in spades. The fact that it is a mobile game is even more impressive and the price makes the whole thing better still. There are some minor quibbles such as sometimes having to move your iPhone from side to side at extreme angles, but with 6 player multi-player, YouTube replay posting and worldwide rankings I am struggling to find much wrong here. Oh, and various camera views plus different control schemes and…. The list never ends.
In my opinion GT Racing is Gameloft’s finest hour so far on the iPhone and I implore you to try it out for yourself.
