GT Racing Motor Academy review - Hand held video games

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GT Racing Motor Academy review iPhone & iPod Touch

GT Racing Motor Academy iPhone & iPod Touch computer game

GT Racing Motor Academy isn’t exactly an easy game to get into, but after mastering the controls a little it gets infinitely more enjoyable. For an iPhone & iPod Touch gaming app (& I guess for the Apple iPad too now), GTRMC looks sublime. There’s a cool game intro to start with, but then the in-game visuals are pretty impressive too, considering the game’s being played on a telephone. Things have definitely come a long way since Snakes on the old Nokia.

Mastering the controls takes some time and could easily put you off, but once you get the knack of them the game suddenly becomes a hell of a lot more interesting. The best thing to do is get straight into the career game, which isn’t a million miles away from the class of Gran Turismo 5, and learn to drive the cars in the license centre, which has learning challenges to help you pick up the controls easier. By the time you finish your Class C license you’re ready to hit the tracks.

While the racing can sometimes be a little glitchy, it’s overall fairly smooth and there’s plenty of tracks and cars to race and unlock. However, perhaps the best thing about the game is that you can set it to play your own music while racing. Blitzing around the corners at Monte Carlo is even cooler when you can do it to the sound of Them Crooked Vultures.

Despite the fact that the game is a lot more touchy to control than say Xbox or PSP games and complex manoeuvres can send it in a freak out, it’s still a game that becomes fun when you get the hang of it. Plus the graphics aren’t too far off the might of the PSP either, which will see Apple steal big chunks of its hand-held gaming might as a result. GT Racing Motor Academy is one of the Apple app games that makes it a close contender for the hand-held crown. It just needs to work out the little bugs and reduce the load times a little.

2.5