Gaming, General Gaming, Headline, Mobile, Platform Nation|July 20, 2009 9:10 am

Real Racing Review



Game Review: Real Racing
Release: June 8, 2009
Genre: Racing
Developer: Firemint
Available Platforms: iPhone
Players: 1-6
MSRP: $9.99
ESRB Rating: N/A
Website: http://www.firemint.com/

Real Racing is an arcade racer for the iPhone by the creators of Flight Control. In the game, you race through events in order to unlock new cars and divisions. The game handles acceleration and braking, unless you want more control over your car. Steering is done by tilting the iPhone from side to side.

Real Racing logo

Firemint has created a fully featured racing title that could easily go head-to-head with any handheld racing game on either the Nintendo DS or Sony PSP. Real Racing gives you a fully structured career mode with different divisions and cars to unlock. 36 cars in all are unlockable by playing through 57 events. Additionally, the game features local multiplayer via wifi, online leaderboards, and video replays on YouTube.

Real Racing menu

The tilting controls in Real Racing are extremely responsive and well done. It is sensitive enough to allow for very slight adjustments or extreme cornering. In addition, the graphics are of the highest quality. Both the cockpit and outside the car view give you a good sense of speed and view of the track. At one point, someone actually asked me if I was playing Gran Turismo, which is very high praise. Also, the game has a lot of depth and re-playability. The recent update added a new exotic vehicle class and two new championships, features which add even more value.

Real Racing cockpit view

My only complaints would have to be with the user interface and price. I played the game for a week before I figured out how to sync my game with the Cloudcell service and have a username. I also still have not found the option to share replays on my YouTube account. These are minor things, and something I think could be addressed in a patch as an in-game help or faq. The price point is also a barrier for those of us on a budget. A lite version of the game could go a long way in making iPhone users more comfortable parting with their $10.

Real Racing

All in all, Real Racing is one of the best experiences on the iPhone, albeit a pricey one. If you’re a racing fanatic, this should be loaded on your iPhone. If you’re on the fence or if you prefer your iPhone games to be quick and dirty affairs, I suggest waiting until Firemint decides to put out a lite version. Bottom line, this is a fantastic game with some incredible graphical polish and tight controls.

VGN24
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  • http://www.thebitcast.com Vincent Lynch (racingfreak92)

    There are so many things standing in the way of me buying this. I would think from a game called “Real Racing” i would get licensed tracks and cars but apparently thats not the case.

    Everyone keeps saying the game is great but ive bought games on recommendation before and it has been a big mistake (Fieldrunners) and this game is so expensive in comparison to most iPhone games.

    Ill probably wait another week or two to see if there is a sale or lite version before i buy

  • http://www.geminiace.com/ Rane Pollock (Gemini Ace)

    Not having real world cars or tracks doesn’t bother me at all. I do think a lite version would make a world of difference.

  • keruption

    Instead of taking the time to look at the product of this review, this comment is dedicated to the writer of the review instead, as well as the inefficiencies of the review style shown here.

    Is this article supposed to be a review or a product description? Instead of actual opinions about the game, this review presents a poorly structured summary of the back of the box. This is what the review says:

    Real Racing Features:
    -36 ultra-realistic tracks!
    - Amazing Supercars from 5 different racing leagues!

    This product description style might have been alright, but then the summary is put together in such a poorly structured way that the reader has no idea what the writer’s opinion actually is. Take a look at the very first paragraph/section.

    “Real Racing is a arcade racer for the iPhone by the creators of Flight Control. In the game, you race through events in order to unlock new cars and divisions. The game handles acceleration and braking, unless you want more control over your car. Steering is done by tilting the iPhone from side to side.”

    There are four different aspects of the game being talked about in this first section. The writer starts with the history of the game in the first sentence, goes on to talk about what “you” do in the game, and then talks about the controls of the car in the third sentence. Why are all these topics mentioned in the first four sentences? The writer could space all these comments out in other spots of the review as independent paragraphs, and then provide more depth on the control schemes or other features.

    Another big problem is the perspective the review is written in. A review should be from a first person perspective, because reviews reflect the opinion of the author. However, no review should ever mention something in the second person. In this review, the word “you” is used several times. An issue stressed in even the lowest-level, freshman English class in college is the fact that the pronoun “you” should not be used in writing.

    Finally, the grammar in this review is poor. Does this site even have an editor? An error occurs in the fourth word of the review!

    “Real Racing is a arcade racer”

    If the writer, or the editor, had even bothered to maybe type this in a writing program like world, he might of realized that “a” is used instead of “an.” This is an elementary mistake that should be caught by an editor easily. There are further errors later in the article such as this: “If you’re on the fence or if you prefer your iPhone games to be quick and dirty affairs, I suggest waiting until Firemint decides to put out a lite version,” where a comma is missing from the sentence, or even this: “The recent update also added a new exotic vehicle class and two new championships, which add even more value,” which has very poor sentence structure. Revising it to this, “The recent update added a new exotic vehicle class and two new championships, features which add even more value to the game,” gives the sentence much more meaning and effectively transmits the idea of the sentence.

    Overall the editor of this site needs to actually read some of the reviews instead of just passing them, and the writers of the site need to work on not only their writing style, but also their writing skills, if they wish to be seen as more as “Games Journalists,” than simply poor writers.

  • phoenix8424

    You know, if you wanted to read a masterpiece or use your time here on earth to constantly cut down other people’s writing and opinions, then I think that you are on the wrong website. We are here to find out about games and how they rate, not write the next War and Peace. Not everyone has all day to spend mulling over one review. We want a quick review so we can glance over and see what this game is about. I had no idea what kind of racing game this was and I think Gemini Ace did a fine job explaining it. Grammar majors we are not, gamers we are. Personally, I would much rather spend my time gaming than pondering over the perfect words to say in my review. The fact that they are “game journalists” does not mean all of the writers have time to play and write a Grade A thesis on the reasons this game was made. We are all trying to help these guys out and play as many games as possible and write our reviews on them to lesser thier burden. If even one person finds that this review was helpful in either the purchase or pass of this game, then Gemini Ace did his job well. In the end, I would much rather have some review and hands on experiece to base my money on, than no review at all.

  • http://www.thebitcast.com Vincent Lynch (racingfreak92)

    One comment isnt “constantly cut down other people’s writing and opinions”.

    You cant say writing quality isnt important at all. I understand having skills like a professional writer, but there were some common grammar mistakes in the review that should have been seen by the writer/editor.

  • keruption

    My comment wasn’t to cut people down either. Criticism can go a long way to improve people and how they write. Reviews for games, for example, can tell the developers the problems with their game in an effort to immprove it on the next effort.

    My comment should not be taken negatively, but rather a suggestion to really take time and think about what you write and how you write it. I think the author of this article is not at most to blame though. Some of the things in this article should not have been made through the editing stage.

    Most big game sites have a copy desk and a lot of editors to check work and improve it. This site may not have as many editors, but editing is still an important part of any work. Whoever is the editor needs to take more time looking at the article, and check every sentence for errors and sentence structure. Writers can only be as good as their editors allow them to be.

    All in all, my point is that the editors of this site need to work harder and look more at each article, in an effort to improve the quality of the site and its writing. Good luck to everyone.

  • http://www.geminiace.com/ Gemini Ace

    I appreciate you feedback. I do question your motives a bit. I never stated that I’m a professional journalist. I’m a gamer reviewing a game for other gamers. Are you a gamer? If so, I hope my review helped you out. If not, then why are you critiquing my review? Was this the first thing you’ve ever read on Platform Nation?

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  • jonesyman

    I hope to win the code because of my firm stance against Fake Racing.
    Thank you.

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