Review of "Asphalt 4: Elite Racing" for the iPhone / iPod Touch

Right now, the top 4 road racing games on the Apple AppStore are Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D, Moto Chaser, Cro-Mag Rally, and Asphalt 4: Elite Racing.

I am very happy with Moto Chaser and have finished it some time ago. I have not been interested in buying Nitro Kart 3D or Cro-Mag Rally because they look too cartoonish (just personal preference). I have recently bought Asphalt 4 ($5.99) and these are my impressions about it.

Likes:

• A cool-looking intro movie.
  
• It loads quickly (just skip the movie!).
  
• Very complete racing game with several game modes: regular race, cop chase, etc.
  
• Good graphics, fast pace, smooth scenery rendering.
  
• Night and day racing. Weather effects such as snow.
  
• Option of racing either cars or motorcycles. In your garage you can pick from many licensed models (BMW, Aston Martin, Kawasaki, etc.)
  
• Three alternative control modes that explore the touch screen and inertia sensors in different ways.
  
• You can play either in landscape mode or in portrait mode.
  
• Lots of garage options to tune (pimp?) your ride.
  
• Multi-player over Wi-fi (but I haven't been able to try it yet).
  

Dislikes:

• The graphics of the intro movie may set your expectations too high compared to the graphics of the actual game.
  
• As far as physics realism goes, Asphalt 4 is all the way to the "arcade" side of the arcade-to-simulator spectrum.
  
• The car-tuning options are pointless given the low level of physics realism in the simulation.
  
• [Edited] There is something wrong with the steering or with the visual feedback of the steering. It is either lack of smoothness or linearity or maybe a problem of delay. This can be seen with any of the three control methods.
  
• The inclusion of "pit girls" is sophomoric.
  

In conclusion and on balance, Asphalt 4 is, for me, still an improvement over Moto Chaser and is worth the six dollars. However, I hope this game is not indicative of the best the iPhone / iPod Touch hardware can support in terms of racing simulation realism. I have faith that this amazing gaming platform can offer something even better in the future.