I'd previously thought the game was going to be free to play, as every screenshot I'd seen up to its release indicated a two tiered money system. At a price point of seven dollars though, I was hoping they'd scrapped all of that. I personally feel that free to play models tend to break games, giving them wonky progression and generally ruining pacing.
Unfortunately, the two tiered money system is still alive and well in 2K Drive. This goes a long way towards making the game feel like a free to play experience, with pop ups constantly reminding the player that they may purchase "stars" and "coins" for real money. Thankfully it looks like some hasty last minute balancing went on to justify the price point. Coins, the premium currency have so far been handed out with relative frequency. After my forty minutes of play time, I have about fifty coins, while the most expensive cars top out at around eighty coins. Stars on the other hand, seem next to useless. No vehicles or performance modifications can be purchased with stars, and the currency is only good for buying very basic cosmetic mods and repairing cars between races.
But how is the game its self? Well, so far its a bit of a mixed bag. I've already heard people complaining about the controls and indeed, they do take some getting used to. The problem here seems to be that 2K Drive wants badly to model body roll and suspension movement. Unfortunately this adds a bit of a delay to steering reactions. The driver turns the wheel, the car leans, settles and then starts turning. It's far from immediate and when driving from the outside (default) view there's little visual indication that the car is going to turn for the first half a second or so. This leads to more steering lock. As a result, simple lane changes often turn into your car careening into the guard rail on the middle of a straightaway. In car view makes the game more playable, as the player can visually see the steering wheel move, in the drivers hand without the split second delay. It still takes the car a moment to turn, but its far less unsettling.
The physics of the game are interesting. In some ways they remind me of some of the earlier Gran Turismo games, there is a very heavy handed feeling of weight transfer. Slam on the brakes and the tail will lighten up, sometimes alarmingly, with sometimes terminal results. My Datsun 240Z wasn't willing to power oversteer, but i wouldn't be surprised if some very basic drifting were possible in this game with some of the more powerful cars. There is of course a drifting mode, that I have yet to experience, but I suspect the physics are modified in this mode to make drifting easier.
Aesthetically the game is quite nice. It looks slightly more cartoony than real racing 3, but its too close to judge weather one is truly better looking than the other. Sounds are generally alright, but nothing groundbreaking.
It appears as though there are 27 cars in the game, which is quite frankly not as much as I'd like, especially considering two of those cars are the new Dodge Dart in different trims. However contrasting this are a couple of very interesting choices, include the Local Motors Rally Fighter and the Icon FJ45. Curiously the car classes are ranked from a minimum of "I" to a maximum of...."C." Yes, that's right the highest rank is "C." Super extremely weird.
Right now I can't recommend this game to anyone who isn't desperate for a new racing sim on their iOS device. Luckily I was. If you're really into sim style racing games and you're willing to master some prickly controls, have at it. The rest of you guys should wait for the game to be patched for better balancing and a bit of sorting out regarding the controls and camera.
