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'Real Racing' to be $9.99 and Arriving Monday [Available Now in All Countries]

posted June 7th, 2009 5:36 AM EDT by arn in Upcoming Games

126297-spalash-pagejpgFiremint has announced that their Real Racing title will finally be arriving on Monday and be priced at $9.99. So, save your pennies and count down your time until Monday.

Firemint first demoed Real Racing back in August 2008 but has continued their hard work on it for these past 6 months.

Our own Eli Hodapp has been playing with an early build and called it a "technical masterpiece". He's been spending more time with the game, and we'll give you a full report when the game is released. In the meanwhile, here's the latest trailer for you to watch again while you wait.

[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]

Update: App Store Link

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  • http://www.talkingfuture.com martin_tf

    Ouch, that is a bit pricey. Still it does look good. And it is still cheap compared to a DS game.

  • Alichan76

    If it's as good as it really looks and sounds, I would pay double that: )

  • naythan

    hows this out on monday and cs.one not even in the app store yet?!?! wasnt this submitted AFTER?? if it wasnt i apologise but yeah im outraged, i want my cs.one

  • http://iphone-game-reviews.com Vikram

    What!? I thought it would be ages to its release! This is great!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • http://razorianfly.com Sainter @ Razorianfly

    Ooh yes Australian developers FTW!

    Can't wait, look actually BETTER than Need for Speed

  • rich_952000

    Hmmm..I already have 2 racers from Firemint FF1&2, do I really need another...j/k, I'll be scrambling to hit the "Buy Now" button :D

  • http://deleted munkee

    $9.99 for NO licensed cars? That's pricey!!

    NFS has 20 licensed cars for the same price, and they're fully customizable too!

    It doesn't look as good as NFS, the environments look so typical and mainstream it's boring.

  • Alichan76

    @ Sainter @ Razorianfly: I think this is more 'simy' than NFS, which is closer to an arcade game really. Both are catering to different tastes. I hope NFS doesn't get bombarded with people dissing it in favour of RR, as they both seem to be entirely different gaming experiences.

  • Alex

    @munkee

    Anyone force you to buy it ? I prefer Real Racing. NFS looks crap for me compared to it. I cant wait.

  • Jester

    I'il buy it, and I grant the 7$ to the real racing team, they did an awseome job

  • kowalsk

    This is going to be amazing! Can't wait!

  • kevlar

    Getting this on release but I bet it will drop to £3.49 within a few weeks. I don't mind though, its well worth £6.

  • naythan

    alichans right, we shouldnt be comparing 2 completely different games, but for the record, this looks AWESOME. good production quality, smooth, steady framerate (on 2G itouch, at least), and controls that (seem to) 'work', which for me is a really big thing, as accelerometer controls generally suck. NFS got it right, hopefully this follows suit

  • http://deleted munkee

    @Alex: if you want stock cars, mainstream-been there-visuals, bland-looking tracks, then yes it looks better.

    @Jester: yeah, $7 sounds better for game with no licensed car.

  • jman

    i thought thiswould be less than $5.......no way im buying this

  • martin

    Unfortunately, I have to agree that the NFS is crap as hell. In some levels you do not have to tilt the phone at all. The game does it and you do WIN the level!!! Therefore, I am very sorry I spent so much money for the NFS. I would rather pay 15bucks for RR than having NFS :-(

  • Nielol

    Lol. NFS is arcade game ! Real racing is more realistic game. I'll buy Real Racing if it is out in my store. It looks really nice !

  • http://deleted munkee

    @martin: have you actually played RR? It's only out in NZ yet you sound like you've played the game for long. Maybe you're from Firemint trying to promote your game?

  • tom

    Funny people call NFS crap now. Go back and look at the hype around it when it launched. You all love to throw away money. As for RR, I'll wait for a sale.

  • Dylan

    It's very cheap, I mean a game like this would've cost $50 for the PSP
    People to find it pricey just don't realize that iphone games are just too cheap and therefor will stop publishers from bringing big games to the iphone
    This one is special but probably a one timer

  • ZZMitch

    Wohoo!

    Cannot wait for tomorrow to play this awesome game!

  • Sambo110

    Was to be expected, with such great graphics and it took ages to develop.

  • Dudehuge

    I bet they'll be showing this at the WWDC tomorrow.

    @martin_tf

    Ten bucks is nohing for a well polished game. In fact they're selling themselves short because of the cheap AppStore mentality. It took more than a year to develop dude, get real.

  • QuebecRage

    They got my 10$ anytime. With all the fun I had with Flight Control at 1$ I would pay 20$ for RR. People should not compare this game and NfS for 2 reasons:

    1) NfS is made by a HUGE company who has thousands or ressources and all the money in the world to produce any game they want. The game was great (well, better than I tought) but I call it an ''Interactive'' on-rail racing game.

    2) RR is a real ''Tour de Force'' in terms of real time 3D graphics, physics and the closest thing to having Gran Tourismo or TOCA in the palm of your hands. For an indy company (They did a few DS games like Madden 07,98,09) it's an awesome showing of efforts and they deserve my money.

    My friend has the beta (he is a developer) and I have tried the game myself and I can garantee you that it lives up beyond the hype. The controls are amazing and the replay value is great.

    Go Go Go Firemint

  • Dave

    Like it or not NFS is a franchise with a large following. This game will not sell half as many copies as RR especially at $10. The only strategy that I can see is that they know there are several hundred die hard racing sim fans out there who are willing to pay $10. "Get it while you can" must be the motto and i cant blame them. Soon this price will drop to make it appealing to all others. I'll be waiting until it's $5.99 or less. It certainly looks polished. But it is less appealing to me than NFS.

  • Johno

    I like the fact that some of you are complaining that $9.99 is too much for the game that has the highest budget gone into it with 6 months of development. To me it looks extremely polished and I think that the people who don't enjoy sim racers should keep their comments to themselves (munkee). No licensed cars, so it's a bummer, but why should that lower the price? Stop trying to find every little thing to complain about.

  • dragons lair

    This looks great! I personally would love to see Ridge Racer for the iPhone!

  • Pitch_Blak

    Looks like we finally got the Grand Turismo of iPhone!

  • http://www.buzzabit.com/aaron Aaron Sullivan

    Seriously, guys. How much shovelware do you WANT? If the market doesn't buy games at $10, the market is forcing away deeper more polished games and licenses (which seem very important to munkee for some reason.)

    Buy what you can buy, but I'm tempted to purchase this even though I don't want it. lol. I'm not that into racing games, but I want to support a different tier of games on the iPhone.

    It's actually a great advantage to have some of the smaller gems that have come out of this market. I love some of these great little games. It's just a shame that so few seem to want DS/PSP level gaming on this device. It's more than capable.

    Some people complain about simple ports of old cell phone games. Well, guess what? The market is showing that it isn't willing to pay enough for a REAL port with proper thought towards the controls. All the 99-cents-or-i'm-not-buying people are sending a strong message to developers and publishers: "send me crap that is an afterthought, I'll lap it up."

    Anywho, impressive looking game. :o ) Hope everyone is getting what they want on their iPhone/Touch.

  • Ataru

    "Dylan Says: It's very cheap, I mean a game like this would've cost $50 for the PSP"

    Well, not quite. Sony showed Gran Turismo PSP at E3 and it looks much better than this, and will surely have much, much more depth too. If this was a PSP game it would probably be a budget title.

    I think the reason people moan about iPhone pricing is that quality and depth of virtually all iPhone games is still a long way from what you would expect on a proper handheld console. Because of that, most games simply can't justify a normal video game price tag. When the iPhone gets something as deep and polished as Final Fantasy Crisis Core, then the prices can go up.

  • PeterM11

    what the crap is up with all the people dissing this game just because it doesnt have licensed cars!?!?
    A lot of people dont care if they are licensed and dont pay attention to that at all! The game looks amazing and any of you that say that NFS blows it out of the water can go play NFS then and stop ranting about how this looks so bland!

    I on the other hand think this looks like the absolute most amazing game on the iDevices to date and will gladly pay for it.

  • Dave

    @dude

    I see nothing in the screenshots or trailer that scream "this was so hard to create that it took us a year to develop." if it had a battle.net like multiplayer then maybe, but it does not.

    By your logic more developers should announce their games and then wait 12 months before they release it to the app store for then it would be worth more since it "took a year to develop."

    Sorry, in the video game world what something took to make doesn't translate into value - it's the gameplay and nothing else. Sometimes these two things are related. Many times they are not. Time will tell if a year in the making translates into millions for RR.

  • Bilal

    @Dave
    They spent loads of time just tweaking out the physics in this game. I mean look at the crappy physics in almost all the other racing games including NFS.

    This game brings much better physics than any racing game before it.
    Anyways im excited as hell. This is the game i have been waiting for all year. I didnt really the care that much for any of the other releases.

  • tom

    @AaronSullivan: Shovelware? Shovelware has nothing to do with this discussion. At all. But if you insist: What encourages shovelware is charging $10 for a game with less value and quality than many $2.99 games and seeing people dumb enough to buy it.

    The fact is there are many games made by independent devs that range from Free to $2.99 that are fantastic apps, well worth the price, and supporting those devs is a pleasure.

    What's wrong is big name publishing houses coming in here, dropping crappy ports of tired old games that clearly haven't been QA'd and often lack any significant value beyond some glitz and glam and a popular name or title that's bound to attract a bunch of over-priced sales from people with poor money management or people too impatient to wait for reviews that lay bare just how poor the apps really are.

    Fools will always be easily separated from their money. That doesn't make charging $10 for an app the right thing to do. All the fools do is hurt the ability for independent devs to sell new, unknown, but quality apps for $2.99 when people are dropping $10 for famous brands and getting crap.

    So you've got it backwards, man.

  • http://www.leighlo.com Leigh!

    I'm not actually sure why having licensed cars in an iPhone game is all that relevant especially in relation to the fun you'll have.

    You want licensed cars, go get the NFS game. I just bought RealRacing and have found it to be quite fun and extremely well made. From the Aussie appstore, I was a bit hesitant to put down 13 bucks on a game but it seems well made and it's got independent devs behind it, not EA... so that helps a little.

    The gameplay seems well designed though, the graphics are excellent, the sound isn't bad either... I'm quite impressed. I'll be posting a video review hopefully tomorrow.

    And do I care that I'm racing in an unknown something-car? Hell no. It's a game, and a good one at that.

  • HockyPlaya

    Yes, I totally agree with Leigh! ^ Just because it doesn't have licensed cars doesn't mean it's bad, and yeah it's cool to show and say to your friends "I'm driving a Lamborghini Spyder on my iPod/iPhone! Cool isn't it!" Yeah it's cool but that doesn't matter, as long as it's an awesome racing game, I wouldn't care if I drove a Smart Car or Golf Cart! Maybe with 3.0 they'll add more cars and tracks for download. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow and playing it! :) Firemint you got my $9.99! :)

  • That Guy

    Anyone that says that $10 is too much is not thinking... Games take a tremendouse cost to make. This game took... what? a year? How many staff worked on it? 5 Programmers? maybe more? work out their yearly earnings and tack that onto the budget. How many artists? do the same. What about overheads like internet, office rental etc. Costs to have a QA team comb it? This game may have cost well over half a million to make. Much greater dev costs (and thus quality and content) than your $2.99 apps which were knocked out in less than 6 months by 3 or 4 guys.

    I am not saying all iPhone games need to be $10, I am just saying that you get what you pay for. Sims 3 would have cost a ton too, as it also had a lengthy dev time and larger team. Some games are small and cost less. Firemint showed they will cater to all markets with their wonderful casual game; Flight Control. They are still updating that and are not making any extra money as you already own it.

    These devs are not greedy, they just want to cover their costs, pay their staff and make more games. They like money, it is their job, but I don't think charging $10 for Real Racing is part of their big plot to swindle everyone out of money. I think its part of their plot to make more games ;)

    (if you want greedy, take a look at the prices EA release their ports at... same with namco and their pacman port... or Sega with their sonic port... they are charging ports for $8 a pop... thats crazy as ports are cheap to do...)

  • Kita

    I'm going to pass on this one, not because I don't think it's worth $10 but because i've already purchased HUNDREDS of underpriced (and overpriced) apps already and it's time for a break :(

  • Nickyboy

    I've just been playing RR for 45mins and I can say the controls are awesome. So much better than the dodgy steering in NFS and any other racing game available on the iphone. This game actually feels like a proper driving sim. Super fast response time, the sounds of the engine are really great, they really captured the touring car sounds of turbo/supercharger whine and gear box. The work they did on the AI is really great, I find myself in a battle trying different lines to overtake, just to be overtaken by overshooting a corner slightly. It really feels like the AI are real drivers, not just cars that pop out of no where smashing you out of the way like in days of thunder. There's a true racing feel to them.
    If I were to compare this to any game I would say it was very close to what I'd imagine Gran turismo would be like on the iphone. Even so far as to say it is the same as Gran turismo on the PS2.

    I'm a mad racing gamer and I've bought every racing game so far for the iphone with the hope that each game will give me true driving experience. Real Racing just fullfilled my desire for a portable race game worthy of playing.
    I'm impressed...

    BTW I'm not a developer or employee of Firemint. I am however blown away by this game.

  • Nickyboy

    @Dave. Physics physics physics, This is what RR has nailed! NFS drives like the swan ride in Disneyland, on rails with about a millimeter of play.

  • Dudehuge

    @Dave

    Learn to understand what you're reading first before generalizing someone else's "logic". You're not a developer and you have no idea how engines are made. So your speculation is not really worth anything.

    I'm also not a developer but I have this. . .

    http://toucharcade.com/2009/03/19/firemint-talks-about-real-racing-and-reveals-new-details-screenshots-video/

    Link to the interview the dev did, which says and I quote. . .

    "Rob: I can't say very much about this yet, except to say that this is a highly polished game that was almost a year in development and is being compared to Sony PSP and Nintendo DS quality. We want to keep the price affordable but we also need to make back some of the money we've invested! So it's a safe bet to say it will be a fair chunk more than 99 cents ;) "

    Nuff said.

  • 2kitties1cup

    I'm tired of developers posting fake reviews and opinions. It's just pathetic. It's obvious and reflects badly on your company. Just stop. Need for speed does not suck and the bashing screams spam.

    Shame on you

  • WolfgangK

    Wow. A dedicated, independent developer like Firemint, who've already shown a commitment to the iDevice platform with Flight Control, whip up this beauty of a racer, a racer not available on the DS, PSP, and this is the shit-storm of negativity that erupts.

    Nice. If you don't like it, don't buy it. FFS.

  • Anonymous

    NFS:Undercover just dropped it's price to $6.99. The comment that a PSP equivalent game costs $50 is irrelevant. No game on the iPT/iPhone sells for that much. No licensed cars is disappointing compared to NFS. I will wait for a sale and see.

  • http://www.buzzabit.com/aaron Aaron Sullivan

    @Tom
    I don't disagree that people spending money on a license with no game quality behind it is also a problem. I'm not sure why you consider that issue mutually exclusive to the one I've brought up.

    My point is longer term. If high quality games are not rewarded with purchases (at reasonable costs) then publishers and developers will see the iPhone market as a place to sell cheap stuff and shovelware and, as you interject, licensed junk. (Which I also consider shovelware.)

    This game seems to be the opposite of shovelware and it is priced as such. That is probably why I intuitively brought shovelware in to the discussion.

    This market enjoys a lot of quality for a tiny price because of so much interest, currently. But when super cheap junk products, including licensed stuff, gets all the action, developers and publishers of deeper games will seek other markets.

    It's a bit of a chicken and egg thing, but the constant public knee-jerk reactions to anything over $1.99-2.99 is definitely sending clear messages to publishers about what type of investment to make in iPhone games.

    No?

  • sam

    @2kitties1cup : i bought this game, and it's awesome. If you tried Gameloft racing apps and found them choppy, ugly, hard to control, ... well Firemint nailed all of these with RR.

    i'm not a dev, not an employee, but i'm just amazed.

  • Nightbringer

    *Stands up and applaudes*...WELL DONE GAME GENTS... very well done game..

    This is how a Racing game should be.

    5/5..pfft......

    10!

  • Bilal

    Yeah im 15th in the world on the first map in a hatch(ixbilalxi).

    Anyways a tip for hardcore racers: turn off brake assist and turn to option 2 controls so you control both accel and brake. Then be prepared to figure out how much braking you need going into each corner and when to hit the gas.

    Very fun. All it needs is gear shifting but that would be a little too extreme on such a small device.

  • stiggybird

    This game is excellent. The controls are very precise and it has an excellent frame rate (something I feel is important in a racing game). The AI cars are also very good. The lack of licensed cars doesn't bother me greatly, good gameplay is far more important, and this game has it in spades.

    Another positive is that it allows you to set your own learning curve, with brake assist and auto-accelerator, which can be changed as you improve. That allows me to get into the game even as a poor driver.

    This is my most satisfying purchase so far on the app store.

    I haven't played NFS so I can't compare it to that.

  • Oliath

    This game is shockingly good!
    The cloudcell stuff has blown me away too. Not been doing much of the career mode at all because i am hooked on the online league races and trying to get to the top spot.

    I love this game!!

  • Nickyboy

    @2kitties1cup Just cause you get enthusiastic people like myself doesn't mean we are working for the company. People are so happy to bag out a game like this before even playing it. You can't give a honest opinion without trying all options, for me I have played all options and gave my "enthusiastic" review because it deserves it. Firemint really doesn't need secret posters to give fake reviews....unlike some hacks.

  • Dimitris

    It's still not out in Greece...
    Damn!

  • Jackosun

    Stayed up until past midnight to download last night and was expecting something great but it's surpassed my expectations.

    The game is absolutely superb. Normally I hate in-car views on driving games but I'm loving it on this.

    Gotta be a man and turn off that braking assist now.........

  • hkiphone

    This game has exceeded all my expectations about this game!!!
    The intro video was truly awesome and the sound effects as stirring as can be. The graphics are also brilliant, changing hues as you turn corners to face towards or away from the sun. The career mode is excellent, but REALLY Its the cloudcell time trials, YouTube video replays and leaderboards that has really captivated me. I'm almost eternally battling to stay in the top five of just the first track!!!! Multiply that by three classes of cars, and 12 tracks, AND the hundreds of racers around the world, and you have a game with immense replayability! Sheer brilliance! My greatest respect to Firemint!!!

  • RedShirt

    Have just spent a couple of hours playing this and am blown away. Controls are great, graphics and frame rate are fantastic. And much like Jackosun I usually hate the in-car view for racing games but it feels right for RR.

    The only thing it needs is a mini-map on screen while you race. I really hope it works its way up the charts and becomes a best seller.

    I wonder what Firemint are going to do next? It's awesome seeing an Aussie developer doing so well :)

  • monsieur_tran

    RR looks amazing and plays great BUT am I the only one for whom it crashes CONSTANTLY?

    I rebooted my 2nd Gen iPod Touch after the install like a good boy, and still, four game crashes in under an hour?! This is getting VERY frustrating (especially when you're first on the last stretch of the third lap and the game quits for no reason)

    If it wasn't for that, great game, but really, this needs to be fixed PRONTO, because as is, it's completely unforgivable for an app this price (not that it's not otherwise worth the 9.99; it would totally be if it didn't crash all the time)

  • http://eatnutfree.com Groan

    The controls are fantastic! spot on and accurate. all other racing games i have tried tend to bee over responsive and you often end up in the turf.
    Great game I must say and worth every penny.

  • ST

    Anyone know how to change the view to external- I can't find the setting anywhere???

    Thanks

  • stewart

    now i think some of these reviews are abit fake, the game keeps crashing on the2nd gen ipod touch .... same with my m8s too.. i shud of waited... bloody shame

  • RedShirt

    ST: top right hand corner of the screen to change view, top left to pause.

    I'm running mine on a iPhone 3G, no crashes at all.

    stewart: yes, reviews praising an awesome game for being awesome are almost definitely fake. This isn't Dapple we're talking about here.

  • Benjamin

    Crash Crash Crash.

    I'm wondering if they even tested this game on a 2nd Gen iPod Touch. Because it seems to always be crashing for me. I've rebooted after install, I've even freed memory right before starting game. But I can always count on the game crashing. Do any of you with the iPhone experience crashes... or is it just for the iPod Touch? If so, they should remove iPod Touch compatibility from their product page.

  • belsunce

    ok well as an iPod Touch user I'm sorta happy to read I'm not alone with the whole crashing thing...

    the game would be great but the more time goes by (and I have the game crash on me at MOST UNFORTUNATE moments), the more frustrated I am that I paid the max price out there for an app that CLEARLY wasn't tested properly.

    I'm not complaining about the ten dollar price tag if the game was working because it would totally be worth it. I'm complaining about the fact that for ten dollars, I would expect a FUNCTIONAL PRODUCT, WHICH THIS ISN'T.

    I strongly encourage all Touch users to let Firemint know about this. Since they have no customer feedback contact on their website, I see no other option but to post a bad score on AppStore review section. Just say you'll give it the rating you think it would deserve otherwise ONCE THEY FIX IT.

    as is, I totally feel cheated. Clearly they must have known about this; it happens WAY too often for anyone to have missed it...

  • RedShirt

    They have a facebook page for the game and a twitter page

  • RedShirt
  • http://www.pda-247.com ST

    "ST: top right hand corner of the screen to change view, top left to pause."

    Thanks RedShirt:)

  • gorkkesh

    great game!
    I just have a problem. i played the game just normal but now when i finish the race it goes back to main menu without saving results, so i am stuck and cannot progress further. does anyone have any clues why is this happening. I synced it and everything.

    Thanks

  • gorkkesh

    great game!
    I just have a problem. i played the game just normal but now when i finish the race it goes back to main menu(in teh game) without saving results, so i am stuck and cannot progress further. does anyone have any clues why is this happening. I synced it and everything.

    Thanks

  • Jim

    yeah, does anyone know how to fix that problem where after finishing the race it returns to the main menu????? Reply asap, prob jailbreak issues...

  • Matteo

    yea this game crashes quite frequently (especially on long endurance tracks..) on a 2nd gen ipod touch. I hope firemint fixes this issue asap. :(
    overall a great game except for this issue!


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