FingerGaming

Watch gameplay video

Rating:

• Price: $7.99 (Get It)
• Version: 01.00.01
• Developer: Pazzazz Games

Cro-Mag Rally (our review here) and Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D were the only two racing games available in the App Store, and they dominated sales as a result. Now here comes along a new racing title, GTS World Racing, that looks to take a piece of the pie. With Crash Banditcoot Nitro Kart 3D and Cro-Mag Rally appealing to the “kart” racing fans, GTS World Racing should appeal to a different kind of audience that are into actual racers without the powerups and cutesy graphics.

GTS World Racing features 4 different game modes to choose from:

• Single Race - check out the tracks and practice your skills before heading for the main event
• Challenge Cup - race at all 16 locations and achieve the required finishing position for your chosen difficulty
• Grand Tour - complete all 64 tracks in 16 locations and achieve the required finishing position in each race
• Championship - complete the full 16 race season and score the most points to win!

There are 64 track layouts, spanning 16 worldwide locations. Although I’ve found that these track layouts were variations of a previous layout, just with more twists and turns. For example, Morocco looks a lot like Peru, just with a harder track layout. The tracks tend to be pretty short, but the race length is long because each track requires 4 laps. I would’ve liked Single Race mode to only require 1 lap, so you can quickly pick up the game and play a lap. When playing one of the other game modes, it saves your progress, so when you return to them you can start where you left off.

You can choose from 4 different difficulty levels; Easy, Normal, Hard, and Extreme. There are three car types you can pick before each race; Sports, Coupe, and Formula 1 racer. Each has different speed and handling characteristics. For example, as expected the Formula 1 car is much faster but takes more skills to control. Both Sports and Coupe feel sluggish in their responses, while the Formula car is the only one that provides any sense of speed during races.

The options menu provide the ability to disable sound, raise and lower sound and music volumes, and adjust the sensitivity of the steering. During a race, tapping the screen pauses it and allows you access to the above options, as well as the ability to abandon the race and return to the main menu. If you suddenly quit the game by hitting the Home menu, and return to the game later, you can resume where you left off in the race.

To control the race car is intuitive. You tilt the iPhone/iPod Touch to the left and right like it is a steering wheel. You tilt it forward like you’re stepping on the gas. However, if you tilt it too far, the screen starts fading into red, and a warning pops up telling you you’re too flat. To brake, and then reverse, tilt the device backwards. Instructions are provided in-game, as well. I did run into a bug where the accelerometer wasn’t detected when a race started, and I would have to restart the game to get it to work again.

A.I. drivers don’t seem to exhibit any kind of driving skills. They seem mostly to be on rails, following the same programming over and over again, regardless of your own driving and actions. They’ll smash into you from behind if you are coming off the side of the road without trying to avoid you, you’ll never see them clump up together. You’ll always be passing a single car at lengthy intervals, and if you get too close to them, they won’t move an inch to avoid you.

The graphics are well done, but it doesn’t feel as smooth as it could be. The 3D environments is a bit sparse, there’s trees here and there, but not much else. This may be a result of not having a better framerate, though. Your car and opponent cars look polished, but they don’t have any animation to them, such as the tires turning. As powerful as the iPhone/iPod Touch are, there’s no reason why the framerate isn’t higher.

The sound effects are fairly decent, average at best. Nothing really stood out, and the droning of your own car can get annoying quickly. Other cars do not have any sound as you approach them, or drive alongside them. The music is actually well done, and above average. The main menu theme music is very catchy, and the music during races are quite good. If you’re listening to your own music when you load the game, GTS World Racing will fade your music off.

Tags: accelerometer, astraware, gts world racing, pazzazz games, Racing