Asphalt 9's stripped-back controls are the best way to play the game - here's five reasons why

Turn off Asphalt 9's TouchDrive controls for a more "authentic" experience and you'll be given the ability to tilt your phone to properly manoeuvre your car around corners and smash into your opponents.

But let's be real for a second – tilt controls have never been good. There's no racing game on the planet which has benefitted from having you awkwardly swing your hands about trying to get around the track.

There's no graceful way to steer through motion controls, and you'll just end up slamming into walls, messing up drifts, and generally just having a bad time of things.

So why not scrap that nonsense and break racing down to its core components? Asphalt 9's simple control scheme lets you drift and boost – isn't that all you really need?

You're driving around at breakneck speed, keeping an eye on your opponents, making sure you're hitting the drift right, and wait what was that you just passed?

Oh, it was a sick jump, that would've then sent you flying into an office building, smashing everything in your way into tiny pieces before you leap out the other side in a blaze of glory. And now the race is over. Whoops.

Asphalt 9's simple controls won't let you do that. If there's a sweet ramp or cool diversion ahead, you can quickly swipe to head down that path, or stay the course if you think your current route is faster.

It means you'll never miss out on the cool opportunities from worrying about everything else going on, and you can feel like a badass without then smashing straight into a lamppost and ruining everything.

Watch anyone in a video of their first ever race of Asphalt 9 and you'll notice something – even with TouchDrive enabled, they still won't win the race.

Now you can cry "they suck at racing games!" as much as you like, but the truth of the matter is that Asphalt 9 won't just let you sit back while it does the racing for you. No, you need to be involved the whole time.

You need to be on deck to drift at the right times, build up that boost meter, and slam the nitro down to get ahead of the competition. Otherwise you're going to find yourself repeating races again and again and again.

Sure, it's not as involved as having to steer the car yourself, but this isn't just a "win" button – you'll still need to pay attention and act accordingly.

Have you looked at Asphalt 9? It's bloomin' gorgeous, full of shiny, beautiful cars, bits of said cars flying about everywhere, and more sun-kissed buildings than you can shake a stick at.

You might not notice this stuff if you're too busy focusing on the steering side of things, so you should relish the opportunity to drink in the environments and the wonderful machines that you're razzing about in.

And you're less likely to witness your own car fall to pieces from all the times you've smacked into a wall at full speed, so you can keep that pristine finish all the way to the chequered flag.

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Driving cars in real life is a lot of hard work. You have to indicate when you're turning, gently feed the steering wheel through your hands, keep them at 10 and 2, try not to mount the kerb and endanger pedestrians, blah blah blah.

Imagine if you could just drive about by swiping left and right while something else handles the acceleration and steering? It'd be way less effort on your ankles, and you could focus on the more fun things in driving, like singing along to your tunes or making rude gestures at other motorists.

Asphalt 9 finally lets you live that dream, and if you do happen to demolish someone else's car on the way, you don't have to have lengthy discussions with insurers and your local police. It's a win-win, really.