Stuart Dredge reviews driving games for the iPhone and iPod Touch
F1 2009 Game
£3.99
Excitement is high for the new Formula One season, with Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton on the same team and the return of Michael Schumacher, but the official F1 iPhone game fails to capitalise on this. The ingredients are right: polished cockpit-view graphics, real drivers, accurately modelled tracks and well thought-through tilt-and-touch controls to steer your car. The problem is that you're alone on the track apart from a ghost version of your previous best. Basing the game entirely on time trials rather than proper races means that, even with online high-score tables, interest quickly palls.
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Need For Speed Shift
£3.99
The graphics on the iPhone version of the console game series make this a stunning title. It's not all about the 3-D gloss, either - it's also very rewarding to play. You compete on 18 tracks in London, Tokyo and other cities, with an engrossing "career" mode to hold your interest. Earn bonuses and you can expand your stable of cars to 20, among them a Lamborghini Gallardo and a Pagani Zonda. You need patience to master the button-based controls, as the trick is to perform crazy drifts round corners alongside competitors, who can include friends connected over Bluetooth or in the same wi-fi zone. But the realism and sense of satisfaction at pulling off a tricky manoeuvre is unbeatable.
Asphalt 5
£2.99
This is slightly less challenging than Need for Speed. Again you race production cars in towns and cities around the world but here your viewpoint is from a camera floating above and behind your ride. The locations are more glamorous (from St Tropez to Las Vegas) and the selection of cars quirkier - the 30 on offer range from a Caterham CSR Superlight to an Audi Q7. The controls are simple to learn and give you the choice of touching the screen or tilting the handset. Both work well. As well as straight races, you can take part in police chases, time trials and duels, use your own songs as a soundtrack, and take part in online multiplay against rivals anywhere in the world. Download the free version for a taste.