Yep, that's the Roman Coliseum, just one of the many blink-and-you'll-miss-it sights.
A triumph of arcade racing, Ferrari GT: Evolution lets you indulge your Ferrari fantasies without spending six figures. Rather, a mere 10 bucks buys you 33 real-world Italian roadsters and lets you race them in seven international cities.
Equally impressive, the game gives you three different steering options: the accelerometer, an onscreen steering wheel, or left/right screen taps. You'll want to test-drive all three, but we like screen-tap steering the best; it's the most precise.
We're also partial to auto-acceleration, which frees you from having to mess with a gas pedal and lets you focus on steering and braking. Other car options you can set include adaptive steering, electronic stability, anti-lock brakes, and traction control--quite a selection for an arcade-style racing game. You even get your choice of five camera angles.
If you're itchy to get behind the wheel, you can jump into a Quick Race. Ferrari GT comes with a handful of unlocked cars and tracks. You'll have to win races and earn credits--by driving fast, drifting successfully, and so on--to unlock more. You also get your choice of four race types, including a last-place elimination at each lap and time trial.
Meanwhile, career mode consists of diverse challenges like beating the clock, avoiding orange cones scattered along the track, and, of course, winning races. There's enough gameplay diversity here to keep even veteran racers coming back for more. And novices will be glad to know that just because you fall behind in a race doesn’t mean you’re out; Ferrari GT’s AI causes competing cars make occasional mistakes as well.
Speaking of competing, Ferrari GT has a multiplayer mode that supports Internet racing, but it's not working yet. An in-game message promises an update that will add this tantalizing feature "soon." That’s the only element that could possibly make this game any better--and the main reason it didn't score an Awesome rating.
This outstanding racer combines gorgeous looks with a great mix of gameplay options. Hone your skills now while the developers finish adding Internet multiplayer.
Ferrari GT: Evolution 1.1.0
COMPANY: Gameloft
CONTACT: www.gameloft.com
PRICE: $9.99
REQUIREMENTS: iPhone or iPod touch with 2.1 software update.
Console-quality graphics with impressive draw distance. Falling behind doesn't necessarily mean you're out of the race. You can test-drive cars before buying them in the game. Flashes interesting Ferrari facts while levels are loading.
Car control not quite perfect. Many of the cars look so familiar, only Ferrari aficionados will be able to tell them apart. Internet multiplayer not available--yet.
