It's surely difficult to craft the follow up to the most spectacular iOS racing game ever produced, and doubly so when ditching a price point for a divisive free-to-play model. Electronic Arts attempts both with the anticipated Real Racing 3, and largely succeeds on both fronts, delivering a hugely impressive free racer.
You've never played a free mobile racer that's half as robust or refined as Real Racing 3. Building upon the fantastic previous iteration, the game pumps even more gloss and detail into its simulation, providing a great sensation of speed and realism as you blast through real-world tracks in licensed super cars. The controls remain expectedly stellar, and both the vehicles and environments shine, even with a full slate of 22 cars in motion, with only rare drops in detail or the frame rate.
In lieu of separate play modes, Real Racing 3 offers an ongoing career that spans hundreds of potential events, including cups, elimination events, drag races, and more, which are sorted by vehicle class. Starting off with a single car, you'll blast through races while upgrading your ride and obtaining others with in-game funds, though it's here that you'll see the game's most obvious free-to-play alteration.
As you tear up the track, you'll accumulate damage and wear through routine items like tires and oil, all of which must be addressed between races using earned currency – otherwise you'll see a performance dip. Most individual repairs take less than a minute to complete, though a beat-up car might need several fixes; and the routine service can take upwards of an hour of real-world time. Both can be sped up with coins earned consistently through play, though you can also purchase them within. It's not a terribly punitive system, especially if you have additional rides, though ultimately Real Racing 3 is not designed for marathon play, but rather for quick bursts of speed.
The more lasting impact is that it takes considerable time to access higher-level cars and events without buying currency or a starter pack. You can still tackle a large array of races, but if you're antsy to use more than starter cars for a while, a one-time infusion of $5-$10 adds some much-needed variety that'll spice up the rest of your play experience. We also noticed some balancing issues with the automated opponents created using times set by Game Center and Facebook friends and other random racers, plus the lack of active head-to-head competition is a disappointing omission.
The bottom line. Scaled down in some respects and expanded in others, Real Racing 3 might irk some old fans, but it's a remarkably giving free-to-play affair.
iPad, iPod touch, or iPhone running iOS 4.3 or later
Large and incredibly polished simulation racer. Excellent presentation. Largely enjoyable without spending any money.
Occasional balance issues. Lacks active online multiplayer competition.
Michael Czeiszperger
March 11, 2013 at 10:59am
Real Racing 3 is a blast; they got enough things right that its a fun game, even for driving enthusiasts.
There's a few things they could have gotten better, like pressure sensitive controls, but my main gripe is with the cheating. Behavior that would get you black flagged in a real race are fair game here, as there's no penalties.
For example, crashing barely slows down the car's capabilities, so you can literally take out half of your competitors by smashing into them, essentially using them as brakes in a corner, while pushing them out off course. In real life your car would be inoperable, and you'd be banned from racing.
You can also cheat by just driving anywhere you want, so you can just cut across the track, and jump ahead of everyone.
