Real Racing HD for iPad review

The Apple iPad is easily one of the most anticipated gadgets of the century and, when you have one in your hands, you can kind of see why.

Critics of the device will say the iPad is just a big iPhone. Well, they probably haven’t had go on one. In short, it's not just a big iPhone, it’s loads better than the iPhone – especially for gaming!

Once you load up Real Racing HD you’re confronted with the Firemint logo in crisp HD quality and some in-action cut scenes from the game itself. 

Following this introduction, which lasts about three minutes if left uninterrupted, you arrive at the game’s menu where you have the option to design a profile, fiddle with the Settings, start a Career, or do a Time Trial or a Quick Race – all in all, pretty standard racing game options.

Real Racing HD also features different control settings, which you’ll find in Settings. Basically, you have the option of assisted breaking and acceleration, manual breaking, manual acceleration and breaking, or fully automated.

During testing we found fully automated to be the most fun as it gives you the freedom to focus purely on the cornering and nailing tricky chicanes at break-neck speeds – although, it’s probably worth experimenting with the Settings to find out which one is right for you.

Obviously, pre-race, we were quite excited about the actual prospect of playing a game on the iPad, so without any further delay, we jumped straight into Quick Race mode to get a feel of the action.

Needless to say, we weren’t disappointed. The in-game action is superb, the controls are spot on and the graphics are impressive – basically, it’s everything you’d expect from the iPad.

That said, it does take a while to get used to the controls. However, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it feels like you’re learning a new skill from scratch.

And trust us, if you stick with it, you quickly develop your feel for each car and begin to trust your judgement more and more until you’re throwing it round corners at 150 mph.

Consequently, it’s about this point in the gaming experience that you realise the following: Apple has set yet another bench mark with the iPad. Gaming on the iPad is going to be massive - and, finally, why so many people have been banging on about how the iPad is going to change everything for so long - it all starts to make sense.

As with most racing games, you have to learn to walk before you can run, and when you begin your Career in Real Racing HD you cut your teeth in the hatchback series.

Obviously as you progress through the game you open more levels and cars. And trust us, hatchbacks are a good place to start, because once you get onto the sedans, which are the next series of cars after hatchbacks, the jump in speed and acceleration is pretty extreme.

Basically, you have to constantly develop, adapt and evolve your driving skills to compensate for all the different environments and physics.

The game, like the majority of racing games, is composed of events, which each feature races ranging from easy, division A, to medium, division B, and finally hard, which is division C.

We were stunned with just how playable and enjoyable this game was. In fact, we haven’t had this much fun playing a racing game since the original Mario Kart came out.

Overall, Real Racing HD is a resounding success and, rather predictably, it quickly dispelled any of our initial hang-ups regarding the iPad and whether it’s actually a viable product.

The game itself features enough levels, cars, challenges and courses to keep you entertained for literally weeks on end.

Overall, we can’t say enough about how good this game is – the controls are amazingly responsive, the graphics are brilliant and the in-game action is about as close to actually driving as you’re ever likely to get.

Real Racing HD

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Platform: iPad

Category: Racing/Sports

Price: $9.99

Publisher: Firemint

Website/Demo: Apple Apps Store

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