Steer your supercar using your iPhone

The on-board accelerometer in the iPhone is opening up a whole new interface for gaming, and Fastlane Street Racing proves how it can be used to good effect for driving games.

Fastlane Street Racing puts you behind the wheel of a dream machine in a 3D driving game along the lines of console classics such as Ridge Racer, Gran Turismo, Need For Speed, etc. The novel thing about Fastlane Street Racing is that your car can be steered by tilting the iPhone from one side to another. Going faster or slower is achieved by holding either the accelerator or the brake buttons on the interface.

The controls take a while to get used to, and movement feels a little slow and jerky at first, but you do get used to it. What’s more, you can adjust the sensitivity of the motion sensor in the Options menu, where you can also customize the position of the gas and brake buttons, and tinker with various other settings.

In terms of its presentation, I thought Fastlane Street Racing was pretty slick. The 3D graphics are well rendered, the animation gives you a real sense of speed, and the high-octane music doesn’t get too annoying. The sound effects in the game bothered me a bit though, especially the crash noise, which sounds more like a fork being dropped on a plate.

Fastlane Street Racing is definitely enjoyable to play and is very absorbing. There’s not that much longevity in this Light version though: there are only two difficulty levels, both of which make it pretty easy to win races; you can only play as one car; there’s only two courses, etc.

Nevertheless, Fastlane Street Racing certainly demonstrates a novel, yet workable new concept in racing games, so it might be worth investing in the full version.

New TrackWorks with iOS 3.xBug fixes

Changes

• New TrackWorks with iOS 3.xBug fixes