How would you feel if you found out the latest car you'd been lusting over came fitted with an engine lifted straight out of a rusting Austin Metro? Or if you won a free ride around the circuit you'd always fancied having a spin on, only to discover that it had just been cobbled?
Looks can be deceiving, and racing – especially of the 3D variety – is one of the trickiest genres to master. All too often developers get overly fixated with looks only to leave the handling humbled, or allow the desire to license a killer line-up of cars getting in the way of the structure.
GT Racing: Motor Academy is presented with Gameloft's signature polish, but don't let that take you for a ride – once the key has been turned and the car has stuttered into action, it doesn't take all too long to realise that what's underneath the hood needs a little more servicing before it can truly roar.
In terms of content, GT Racing certainly flatters to deceive, with play built around the kind of consummate approach more akin to console racing simulators. Though quick races are an option, the more expansive career mode hogs the limelight, its structure of learning through play fairly typical but in no way shoddy.
As well as earning enough money in events around the globe (three separate championship types are available, challenges other than plain races helping stack up the cash), Motor Academy also charges you with earning licences, from a basic C class right through to the master S class. Each comes with four set targets to reach (breaking lap records or stopping in a set area in quick time), and picking up each accolade opens up new races.
Alas, it's those very races that are the problem. Handling is mostly sluggish, play taking an age to react to your inputs, while braking is far too harsh, making it almost impossible to slow down for a corner without coming to a standstill.
The tracks themselves are also strangely blocky, with the photo-realistic style of the cars sadly unmatched by courses that come with angles sharp enough to cut your phone's screen right open. It acts as the perfect analogy for the game as a whole – GT Racing: Motor Academy's jagged edges sadly offset its potential enough to ensure that what's left is neither turbo nor turgid.
Unfortunately, when it comes to racing, mastering the middle ground is no substitute for coming in first.
GT Racing: Motor Academy
It's got the cars and it's got the career, but sadly GT Racing: Motor Academy needs a bit more schooling on the track before it can start tutoring others
Keith Andrew
With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font. He's also Pocket Gamer's resident football gaming expert and, thanks to his work on PG.biz, monitors the market share of all mobile OSes on a daily basis.