EA sports Real Racing 3

                            INTRODUCTION

Real Racing 3 is a 2013 racing game, developed by Firemonkeys Studios and published by Electronic Arts for iOS, Android, Nvidia Shield and BlackBerry 10devices. It was released on iOS and Android on 28 February 2013 under thefreemium business model; it was free to download, with enhancements available through in-app purchases. The game is the sequel to 2009's Real Racing and 2010's Real Racing 2. Primarily due to the freemium nature of the game, it received more mixed reviews than its predecessors, although the gameplay remains generally lauded.

Game features include seventeen real-world racetracks, a twenty-two car grid, and one-hundred-and-fifty-one officially licensed cars from twenty-eight manufacturers such as Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Ford, Ferrari andKoenigsegg. Unlike in the previous Real Racing games, players are required to maintain and service their vehicles, requiring in-game cash and real-world time.

                            GAMEPLAYEdit

When players begin the game, they are lent a Porsche 911 GT3 RS as a tutorial car, going through the basic tutorial of the game. they then must buy a Nissan Silvia S15 or a Ford Focus RS as a starting car. The player begins the game at driver level 0 and increases his/her rank as he/she earns "fame points" from winning races. Once they pass level 6, gold coins are rewarded at each level up. Depending upon the amount of fame points required to reach the new level, the game rewards from 3 to 100 coins of the premium currency. The game as a whole is divided into multiple different series, each series is further subdivided into several tiers, and each tier into one to three individual races.

• Series: There are a total of fifty-nine series in the game, and only certain cars can be used in any given series (most series allow the use of four cars, although some only allow one, two or three). When the game was first released, a series became available for play immediately when the player has purchased one of the cars usable in that series. However, as of update 1.2 (July 2013), a series must be unlocked by winning a certain number of trophies in a previous series. Any car that is allowed in a given series can be used in any race within that series, with exception of "showcase" races, where only one specific car may be used. This means no series can be completed to 100% unless the player has purchased all usable cars for that series, although the vast majority of cars can be used in more than one series. Upon finishing 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of a series, R$ and gold coins are awarded to the player. To achieve 100%, the player must get gold in every race within a series.
• Tiers: Every series is divided into about seventeen to nineteen tiers, all of which contain one to three races. Upon entering a particular series, only one tier is available, although once a tier is unlocked all races within that tier are available for play. More tiers are unlocked as the player earns bronze, silver and gold medals in the races of a previous tier, or can be unlocked by use of in-game currency or gold coins.
• Unlike in the previous Real Racing games, players are required to maintain and service their vehicles; if the player does not perform such maintenance, the car's performance will suffer drastically. Performing maintenance and upgrades requires in-game cash and also takes up real-world time, often up to several hours, depending on the car being serviced.

There are two types of currency in the game: "Real dollars" (referred to as "R$") and gold coins. R$ are earned by completing races, advancing in a series, completing laps without leaving the track or bumping into other cars, hiring the Manager and racing on consecutive days in a month via online check in method. Gold coins are earned only by finishing each quarter of a series, advancing to a higher driver level, completing Game Center/Google Play Gamesachievements (as of update 2.1), or by watching fifteen to thirty second advertisements available in-game. R$ can be used to purchase new cars, buy upgrades, and pay for maintenance. Gold coins are used to immediately finish maintenance, deliver newly purchased cars without waiting, unlock new tiers, instantly unlock cars, buy higher level upgrades, customize cars, and purchase cars that are not available through R$. The player can purchase both R$ and gold coins with real-world money in the in-app store if they wish. Upon the initial release of the game, 148Apps.com calculated that to earn enough R$ to buy every car in the game would take over 472 hours of gameplay, covering 6,801 races, at an average of 4 minutes 10 seconds per race and an average reward of R$3,700 per race. To purchase every car in the game using gold purchased with real-world money would cost $503.22. These figures did not take into account any upgrades, repairs or maintenance.^[5]

A significant component of the game is that the player must wait for maintenance and the "delivery" of newly purchased cars. From the announcement of this aspect of the game, it has been a controversial topic.^[6]When a player races, their car picks up damage and becomes more in need of maintenance. Eventually, the car will deteriorate to the point that it begins to under-perform. At this stage, the player must get the car serviced, which can take up to several hours in real-time. This time can only be reduced by spending gold coins, which are much rarer in the game than R$, unless the player is willing to spend real money on them in the in-app store. This freemium nature sparked backlash from "hardcore" fans.^[7] In response to negative fan feedback and bad press, in update 1.1, EA and Firemonkeys tweaked the repair times so that damage was repaired instantly whereas maintenance times became significantly shorter, although could still only be bypassed completely with the use of gold coins. As of update 1.2, repairs were removed from the game altogether, with cars now requiring maintenance only, although maintenance can still only be bypassed by gold.

Introduced in update 1.2 in July 2013, drive points are required for the player to participate in time trials. Each race costs one drive point. The player begins with two drive points, and can only increase their maximum available drive points to five by using gold coins. When the player runs out of drive points, they can use two gold coins to get a full refill or simply wait until the game automatically replenishes the points (one point is replenished every eighteen minutes).^[8]

Introduced in update 1.3.5 in September 2013, VIP service is an option available for every car in the game. Purchasing a VIP service for any car must be done through the in-app store and costs real world money, with each VIP service usable only for the car for which it is purchased. The VIP service removes any waiting times for newly purchased cars or upgrades purchased with R$. Usually, when a player purchases a new car through R$, they must wait several hours for that car to be 'delivered'. However, if they purchase the VIP service for that car, it will be delivered instantly upon purchase. The service works the same for upgrades. Any upgrades purchased with R$ take time to complete, however, if the player has purchased the VIP service, upgrades are performed instantly.^[9]

Introduced in update 1.4.0 in October 2013, crew members can be hired prior to each race. The player has the option to hire a Manager to earn double R$ if he/she places first, an Agent to earn double fame if he/she places first, and/or an Auto Engineer to maintain the condition of the car if he/she places first. The player is free to hire no crew members if they wish, or all three. Each crew member costs one gold coin. From time to time, crew members offer their services for free.^[10]

                                 CONTROLSEdit

Control in Real Racing 3 is similar to that of its predecessors. The player is given seven different control methods from which to choose: "Tilt A" featuresaccelerometer steering (tilting the physical device to the left to turn left and to the right to turn right), auto accelerate and manual brake; "Tilt B" features accelerometer steering, manual accelerate and manual brake; "Wheel A" features a virtual on-screen steering wheel to steer, auto accelerate and manual brake; "Wheel A (Flipped)" is the same as "Wheel A" but with the virtual steering wheel on the right of the screen and the brake on the left; "Wheel B" features a virtual steering wheel to steer, manual accelerate and manual brake; "Wheel B (Flipped)"; "Buttons" features touch to steer (where the player touches the left side of the touchscreen to turn left, and the right side to turn right), auto accelerate and manual brake. Within each of these options, the player can modify the amount of brake assist and steering assist, as well as selecting to turn on or off "traction control". In Tilt A and Tilt B, the accelerometer sensitivity can also be modified.