Real Racing 3

Real Racing 3
Developer(s)	Firemonkeys Studios
Publisher(s)	EA Games
Series	Real Racing
Engine	Mint 3D[1]
Platform(s)	iOS, Android, Nvidia Shield, BlackBerry 10
Release date(s)	iOS & Android WW 28 February 2013[2] Nvidia Shield WW 31 July 2013[3] BlackBerry 10 WW 28 August 2013[4]
Genre(s)	Racing
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer (time-shifted & real-time)
Distribution	Digital distribution

Real Racing 3 is a 2013 racing game, developed by Firemonkeys Studios and published by Electronic Arts for iOS, Android, Nvidia Shield and BlackBerry 10 devices. It was released on iOS and Android on 28 February 2013 under the freemium business model; it was free to download, with enhancements available through in-app purchases. The game is the sequel to 2009's Real Racing and 2010's Real Racing 2. Primarily due to the freemium nature of the game, it received worse reviews than its predecessors, although the gameplay was generally lauded.

Game features include thirteen licensed tracks, a twenty-two car grid, and one hundred and twelve officially licensed cars from twenty-seven manufacturers such as Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti and Audi, with more being added to the manufacturer pool through regular updates. Unlike in the previous Real Racing games, players are required to maintain and service their vehicles, requiring in-game cash and real-world time.

Gameplay

When the player begins the game, they have to buy a Nissan Silvia S15 or a Ford Focus RS as a starting car. The game as a whole is divided into multiple different series, each series is further subdivided into several tiers, and each tier into one to three individual races.

• Series: There are a total of fifty-two series in the game, and only certain cars can be used in any given series (most series allow the use of four cars, although some only allow two or three). When the game was first released, a series became available for play immediately when the player has purchased one of the cars usable in that series. However, as of update 1.2 (July 2013), a series must be unlocked by winning a certain number of trophies in a previous series. Any car that is allowed in a given series can be used in any race within that series, with exception of "showcase" races, where only one specific car may be used. This means no series can be completed to 100% unless the player has purchased all usable cars for that series, although the vast majority of cars can be used in more than one series. Upon finishing 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of a series, R$ and gold coins are awarded to the player. To achieve 100%, the player must get gold in every race within a series.

• Tiers: Every series is divided into about seventeen to nineteen tiers, all of which contain one to three races. Upon entering a particular series, only one tier is available, although once a tier is unlocked all races within that tier are available for play. More tiers are unlocked as the player earns bronze, silver and gold medals in the races of a previous tier, or can be unlocked by use of in-game currency or gold coins.

• Unlike in the previous Real Racing games, players are required to maintain and service their vehicles; if the player does not perform such maintenance, the car's performance will suffer drastically. Performing maintenance and upgrades requires in-game cash and also takes up real-world time, often up to several hours, depending on the car being serviced.

Other aspects of gameplay include driver level, in-game currency, wait time, drive points (as of update 1.2), VIP service (as of update 1.3.5) and crew members (as of update 1.4.0)

• Driver level: The player begins the game at Driver level 0, and increases his/her rank as he/she earns "fame points" from winning races. Once they pass level 6, gold coins are rewarded at each level up. Depending on the amount of fame points required to reach the new level, the game awards between 3 and 100 coins of the premium currency.

• In-game currency: There are two types of currency in the game; "Real dollars" (referred to as "R$") and gold coins. R$ are earned by completing races, advancing in a series, completing laps without leaving the track or bumping into other cars, hiring the Manager and racing on consecutive days. Gold coins are earned only by finishing each quarter of a series, advancing to a higher driver level, completing Game Center/Google Play Games achievements (as of update 2.1), or by watching fifteen to thirty second advertisements available in-game. R$ can be used to purchase new cars, buy upgrades, and pay for maintenance. Gold coins are used to immediately finish maintenance, deliver newly purchased cars without waiting, unlock new tiers, instantly unlock cars, buy higher level upgrades, customize cars, and purchase cars not available for R$. The player can purchase both R$ and gold coins with real-world money in the in-app store if they wish. Upon the initial release of the game, 148Apps.com calculated that to earn enough R$ to buy every car in the game would take over 472 hours of gameplay, covering 6,801 races, at an average of 4 minutes 10 seconds per race and an average reward of R$3,700 per race. To purchase every car in the game using gold purchased with real-world money would cost $503.22. These figures did not take into account any upgrades, repairs or maintenance.^[5]

• Wait time: A significant component of the game is the fact that the player must wait for maintenance and the "delivery" of newly purchased cars. From the announcement of this aspect of the game, it has been a controversial topic.^[6] When a player races, their car picks up damage and becomes more in need of maintenance. Eventually, the car will deteriorate to the point that it begins to under-perform. At this stage, the player must get the car serviced, which can take up to several hours in real-time. This time can only be reduced by spending gold coins, which are much rarer in the game than R$, unless the player is willing to spend real money on them in the in-app store. This freemium nature sparked backlash from "hardcore" fans.^[7] In response to negative fan feedback and bad press, in update 1.1, EA and Firemonkeys tweaked the repair times so that damage was repaired instantly whereas maintenance times became significantly shorter, although could still only be bypassed completely with the use of gold coins. As of update 1.2, repairs were removed from the game altogether, with cars now requiring maintenance only, although maintenance can still only be bypassed by gold.

• Drive points: Introduced in update 1.2 in July 2013, drive points are required for the player to participate in time trials. Each race costs one drive point. The player begins with two drive points, and can only increase their maximum available drive points by using gold coins. When the player runs out of drive points, they can use gold coins to get a full refill or simply wait until the game automatically replenishes the points (one point is replenished every thirty minutes).

• VIP Service: Introduced in update 1.3.5 in September 2013, VIP service is an option available for every car in the game. Purchasing a VIP service for any car must be done through the in-app store and costs real world money, with each VIP service usable only for the car for which it is purchased. The VIP service removes any waiting times for newly purchased cars or upgrades purchased with R$. Usually, when a player purchases a new car, they must wait several hours for that car to be 'delivered'. However, if they purchase the VIP service for that car, it will be delivered instantly upon purchase. The service works the same for upgrades. Any upgrades purchased with R$ take time to complete, however, if the player has purchased the VIP service, upgrades are performed instantly.

• Crew members: Introduced in update 1.4.0 in October 2013, crew members can be hired prior to each race. The player has the option to hire a Manager to earn double R$ if he/she places first, an Agent to earn double fame if he/she places first, and/or an Auto Engineer to maintain the condition of the car if he/she places first. The player is free to hire no crew members if they wish, or all three. Each crew member costs one gold coin. From time to time, crew members offer their services for free.

Controls

Control in Real Racing 3 is similar to that of its predecessors. The player is given seven different control methods from which to choose: "Tilt A" features accelerometer steering (tilting the physical device to the left to turn left and to the right to turn right), auto accelerate and manual brake; "Tilt B" features accelerometer steering, manual accelerate and manual brake; "Wheel A" features a virtual on-screen steering wheel to steer, auto accelerate and manual brake; "Wheel A (Flipped)" is the same as "Wheel A" but with the virtual steering wheel on the right of the screen and the brake on the left; "Wheel B" features a virtual steering wheel to steer, manual accelerate and manual brake; "Wheel B (Flipped)"; "Buttons" features touch to steer (where the player touches the left side of the touchscreen to turn left, and the right side to turn right), auto accelerate and manual brake. Within each of these options, the player can modify the amount of brake assist and steering assist, as well as selecting to turn on or off "traction control". In Tilt A and Tilt B, the accelerometer sensitivity can also be modified.

Event types

A drag race in Real Racing 3. To maintain top speed, the player must shift gear before the tachometer enters the red.

Real Racing 3 features ten different types of race;^[8] "Cup" (basic race against seven to twenty-one opponents over several laps); "Elimination" (race against seven opponents, where the car in last place is eliminated every 20 seconds); "Endurance" (the player begins with sixty seconds on the clock, and must reach a certain distance before the timer runs out. Time is added, up to a maximum of ninety seconds, for overtaking other cars and completing laps); "Head-to-Head" (similar to Cup but with just one opponent); "Autocross" (the player must complete a certain portion of a track within a given time); "Speed Record" (the player must reach a certain speed over the course of a single lap); "Speed Snap" (the player must complete a certain portion of a track, and must cross the finishing line at a certain speed); "Drag Race" (a two car drag race); "Hunter" (the opponent is given a head start against the player, and the player must try to reduce the gap and/or overtake the opponent by the largest amount by the end of the lap); "Time Trial" (the player must complete a lap as fast as possible without all four tires leaving the track; time trial races require drive points).

Multiplayer

When initially released, the game did not offer a "traditional" multiplayer mode (where people who are all online at the same time race against one another), it instead offered a type of multiplayer known as "Time Shifted Multiplayer" (TSM), a system invented by Firemonkeys. TSM works by recording the lap times of people in each race, and then, when the player goes online, the game itself recreates those lap times, i.e. AI opponents in multiplayer mode are actually emulating the laps raced by real people at another time.^[9] However, TSM has not been especially well received, with many reviewers lamenting the game's lack of a "normal" online mode. 148Apps said of TSM, "Real Racing 3 uses race times to generate AI controlled doubles that follow almost perfect paths for each race rather than mirroring their human creators' abilities, race lines, and skill. This means it's not really like racing against friends at all as the cars don't do anything other than follow a path at an algorithmically determined speed based on the recorded time and cars used by friends."^[10]

As of update 2.0 (December 2013), however, a more traditional multiplayer mode was made available, for up to four players. Weekly multiplayer tournaments are also included, as are multiplayer leaderboards, via Game Center.^[11] In update 2.6, eight-player multiplayer with drafting was introduced.

Cars and locations

Besides taking place in various international race tracks, Real Racing 3 includes a fictional but geographically accurate depiction of Southbank, Melbourne, with Flinders Street Station depicted as one of the landmarks.

Cars

The game features one hundred and twelve officially licensed cars. When the game was first released, every car was immediately available for purchase, with the only limitation being how much R$ and/or gold the player had. As of update 1.2, however, many cars must now be unlocked by winning a certain number of trophies before they become available for purchase.

Cars include the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, the Nissan 350Z (Z33), the McLaren F1, the Ford GT FIA GT1, the BMW Z4 GT3, the Dodge Charger SRT8, the Bugatti Veyron 16.4, the Audi R8 LMS ultra, the Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4, the Koenigsegg CCXR, the Porsche 918 Spyder Concept, the SRT Viper GTS, the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3, the Bentley Continental Supersports, the Lexus LFA, the Pagani Huayra, the Pagani Zonda R, the Shelby 66' Cobra 427, the Ferrari F12berlinetta, the Aston Martin V12 Vantage S, and the Toyota TS040 Hybrid.

Locations

The game includes thirteen real world racetracks, plus a geographically accurate but fictional street circuit through Firemonkeys' home of Southbank, Melbourne.^[12][13] The tracks are Hockenheimring, Suzuka Circuit, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Silverstone Circuit, Mount Panorama Circuit, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Brands Hatch, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Dubai Autodrome, Circuit de Catalunya, Circuit des 24 Heures, Autodromo Nazionale Monza and Nürburgring. Silverstone, Suzuka, Hockenheimring, Dubai, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Catalunya, Monza, and Nürburgring have multiple layouts, for a total of 32 different courses.

Updates

The first game update, released in March 2013, added Chevrolet as a new manufacturer, along with the introduction of the Camaro ZL1, the Cobalt SS and the Corvette ZR1 (added via the May bugfix patch). The next update in May 2013 added Lexus as a new manufacturer, and also added two variants of the Dodge Charger, and a new racetrack, the Dubai Autodrome. Subsequent updates in 2013 saw the introduction of Bentley and Mercedes-Benz in July; Shelby in August; seven new Porsches (including the 2013 Porsche 911 RSR) in September; Ferrari and the Circuit de Catalunya in October; three new Ferraris and the Hyundai i20 WRC in November; and the Lamborghini Veneno and the McLaren P1 in December.

The March 2014 update added Aston Martin as a new manufacturer, with the addition of the DB9, the Vanquish and the V12 Vantage S. The April 2014 update added a range of open-wheel cars, such as the Ariel Atom 3.5, the Caterham Seven 620R and the KTM X-Bow R, and also added the Hyundai Veloster Turbo and the 2014 Porsche 911 RSR. Subsequent updates in 2014 saw the introduction of Le Mans Prototype race cars (including the Porsche 919 Hybrid) and the Le Mans Circuit des 24 Heures in May; the Ferrari F40 and the Ferrari F50 in July; the 2015 Audi R8 V10 Spyder and the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse in August; the Lamborghini Miura and the Lamborghini Countach in September; the Maserati GranTurismo MC Stradale and the LaFerrari in November; and Ferrari Formula One race cars (including the Ferrari F14 T) and the Autodromo Nazionale Monza circuit in December.

The January 2015 update added Spadaconcept as a new manufacturer, along with two variations of the Spada Codatronca, and an "exclusive reveal" of the 2015 Porsche Cayman GT4. The March 2015 update added three Aston Martin race cars, all of which are based on the Vantage car line: the N430, the V12 GT3 and the V8 GTE. The April 2015 update added the Nürburgring circuit and new manufacturer Renault, with the addition of the Clio Cup, the DeZir Concept and the R.S. 01.

Reception

Real Racing 3
(iOS version)
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 70.07%[14] Metacritic 70/100[15] Review scores Publication Score Edge 6/10[16] Eurogamer 3/10[17] IGN 9.1/10[18] 148Apps [10] AppSpy 3/5[19] Macworld [20] Pocket Gamer 9/10[21] Slide to Play 2/4[22] TouchArcade [23] TouchGen [24]

Real Racing 3 received mixed reviews. Critics praised the game's twenty-two car grid, its improved graphics and the addition of real-world tracks, but many were heavily critical of the game's freemium business model. The iOS version holds aggregate scores of 70 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on thirty reviews^[15] (compared to scores of 88 and 94 for its predecessors), and 70.07% on GameRankings, based on fourteen reviews^[14] (compared to scores of 95.83% and 95% for its predecessors).

Eurogamer's Martin Robinson was extremely critical, scoring the game 3 out of 10. He praised the gameplay, graphics, sound, use of real world tracks, controls and the TSM system, but felt every positive aspect of the game was negated by the freemium model;

at a time when the gaming world is finally comfortable with the idea of a triple-A mobile game, Real Racing 3 should have been a triumphant affirmation of a point made convincingly enough by the first game in the series. Instead, it's been strangled by the tentacles of gaming's next unconquerable: free-to-play. If games like Dota and Tribes are the warm, welcoming faces of free-to-play, then Real Racing 3 is the grotesque polar opposite, the snarling grinch that's the embodiment of every sceptic's worst nightmare. It's cynical, it's nasty and it's hard-wired into the very fabric of the game, making it totally unavoidable [...] There's a good game somewhere within Real Racing 3 - and there are plenty of free-to-play games that prove this model can work while respecting the player. Firemonkeys and EA have got that balance horribly, horribly wrong, to an extent where the business model becomes the game - with gut-wrenching results.^[17]

AppSpy's Andrew Nesvadba was also critical, scoring the game 3 out of 5, and criticizing the in-app purchase system, which he called "all but impenetrable" and "designed to exact payment from the player over and over again."^[19] Macworld's Chris Holt also scored the game 3 out of 5. He praised the gameplay and graphics, but, like AppSpy, he was critical of the in-app purchase system; "EA has taken the air out of the tires of Real Racing 3‍ '​s lightning quick gameplay, effectively turning one of the best iOS games on the market into a frustrating, stop-and-go test on your patience."^[20] Slide to Play's Shawn Leonard gave the game a rating of 2 out of 4, praising the game's visuals and gameplay, but criticising the freemium model, the TSM system, and the "painfully long" wait times. He wrote, "the reality is that Real Racing 3 is a high-profile business experiment gone wrong."^[22]

IGN's Justin Davis, on the other hand, awarded a score of 9.1 out of 10, and an "Editor's Choice" award, arguing that the game was an example of "freemium racing done right." He praised the integration of the freemium model, arguing that "Freemium games have to implement their business model in a way that doesn't unbalance the gameplay, and they have to have gameplay high-quality enough to be worth everyone's time to begin with. Real Racing 3 succeeds brilliantly on both counts."^[18] Edge scored the game 6 out of 10, and although they were critical of the waiting times, they also felt that the players' desires to avoid such waiting times added to the realism of the gameplay; "Firemonkeys has done an admirable job of folding those paywalls into the gameplay. Having to keep your car serviced to maintain peak performance strengthens Real Racing‍ '​s sim aspirations, while the need to pay for repairs encourages more thoughtful driving and adds a real-world layer of peril to overtaking."^[16]

Rob Rich of 148Apps scored the game 4.5 out of 5, arguing that "the important thing to note is that Real Racing 3 is very, very awesome." He was critical of the TSM system, which he found "underwhelming", but he praised the graphics and defended the freemium model; "rather than create a paywall or punish frugal iOS gamers, Firemonkeys has created a much friendlier model in theory that ties all real time waiting and premium currency to maintenance and repairs."^[10] Pocket Gamer's Peter Willington was also impressed, scoring the game 9 out of 10 and giving it a "Gold Award", although he was critical of the TSM system, saying the game "lacks a real multiplayer mode."^[21]

TouchArcade's Eli Hodapp scored the game 4 out of 5. He praised many aspects, including the graphics, gameplay and presentation, but was critical of how integral to the experience of playing the in-app purchasing was; "everything in the game is better than its predecessors, except how much you'll need to fork out if you want to play it [...] Real Racing 3 is as much a waiting game as it is a racing game."^[23] TouchGen's Kevin Moore also scored the game 4 out of 5. He was especially impressed with the graphics and the range of races, tracks and cars. However, he criticised the TSM system and the freemium model; "Real Racing 3 is a great looking, great playing title which oozes slickness and class. It has a metric tonne of events to keep you playing, and is easily the best of its type on the App Store. Which makes the move to freemium feel like a cheapening of the brand."^[24]

References

External links

• Firemonkeys Homepage
• Real Racing 3 at iTunes Preview