Assoluto Racing

And so goes on... the search for a Real Racing challenger. Someone who can force EA to competitively price its cars, iap and feature development. Those bastards at EA have grown so damn complacent that... well I don't remember the last time they added a new track and we've got so many Porsche's now that i could walk across my home state without touching ground if I were so inclined...

Exaggeration, I know. But still. We NEED a Real Racing challenger. Ideally I'd call for Forza or Gran Tourismo to show up but both are so deeply tied in to their respective consoles that the chances are near zilch.

And so goes on the search.



Here's something worth looking at though, real potential here.

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/assoluto-racing/id1055375459?mt=8
Free, Universal, No Gamecenter, Offline friendly, Soft Launch Canada.

There's a real solid Gran Tourismo vibe here, these guys are definitely fans of their Playstation. Gameplay is straight forward, buy cars, race cars, upgrade cars, race them more. Several forms of game play right now and are :

. License Tests. Just Like Tourismo, various parking, braking, handling, driving tests for you to accomplish.
. Stock Race. Your racing times here, just you on the track.
. Time Attack. Your racing times here... just like Stock Race. 0.o
. Free Run. Take your car, drive the track. No times to chase, just enjoy.

The first three listed above come in several difficulties, each unlocked by completing the previous difficulty. All forms of game play award in game currency and offer videos after each racing for iap currency. Currently the only use for IAP currency appears to be Garage space for additional cars and car purchases. When you buy a car you can either pay with in game credits or iap coins, your choice.

Tracks and Cars, lets count'em. There are currently six tracks available if you include the test course and ring tracks. As for cars we have the following atm :

. Honda offers the Integra Type R, S2000, NSX type S Zero and NSX-R
. Mitsubishi offers the Eclipse, 3000GT and Lancer Evolution X
. Nissan offers the Silvia spec.R, 370Z and Skyline GT-R
. Lastly, Peugeot offers the RCZ, which happens to be the car you begin the game with if I remember right.

Upgrades are plentiful and come in the form of cosmetic and performance. For cosmetic you have paints and rims. Rims can also be painted. For performance its the full range of fun stuff. Exhaust, Brakes, Engine, Turbo, Transmission, Suspension, Tires and Weight Reduction. All offer multiple tiers and its worth noting that different tiers of racing have different allowances of car tiers. Higher tiers will require more upgraded cars.

Ok, lets talk about game play. Tilt controls are naturally present. So are Touch. This game doesn't have RR3's 'where you put your thumb is where the wheel appears' steering wheel, but thankfully you can move the wheel anywhere you want and even adjust its touch window on the screen. This game does not hold your hand. No auto acceleration, no auto braking, no assisted turning, no green arrows on the track that turn red when you should break. No fluff here.

This game has an emergency brake, fantastic for engaging drifts around corners... I imagine. Wouldn't know because I've never been good at drifting on mobile device games. I know how to drift mind you, quite intimately familiar with it on console and pc and psvita racing games but I've never gotten a grip on drifting on touch screen controls. I always over do it or under do it and in either case end up doing 360's and / or hitting walls.

I've only got the first car right now and it feels 'wishy washy' on the track. Like she floats. I don't get a sense of being connected to the pavement like in RR3 though I'm only just starting to upgrade the car and upgrades are coming slowly mostly because I can't buy that reward doubler 2 dollar iap option. Why? Because soft launch heh. And I'm not canadian, I am cana-cough-american-cough-fake-itunes-account-dian. So I cant make iap purchases :/

So yea, upgrades are coming abit slow but they are coming steadily so for folks who pinch pennies, you can make your way in this game without feeling chained to a money wheel. Though you should support them, small team, solid start to a game, great potential and hey look its not from Electronic Arts. That alone makes it worth like 5 dollars easy.

So, any who. Here you all go. A solid potential filled racing game with a good few tracks, decent car selection, good controls, etc. Give her a spin, she's free and support these guys :)