Hands on with Ferrari GT: Evolution for iPhone

The third of Gameloft's big iPhone titles this Christmas – along with Hero of Sparta and Brothers in Arms: Hour of Heroes – is Ferrari GT: Evolution.

It sticks a rocket up the exhaust of Gameloft's existing Asphalt 4 iPhone racing engine, crams in a load of Ferrari cars, and has some exciting multiplayer functionality on the way. We popped over to Gameloft HQ to find out more.

"Asphalt 4 was one of our first iPhone games, so of course it wasn't perfect in terms of the use of the iPhone hardware," says product manager Nicolas Rodeghiero.

"Ferrari GT: Evolution is amazing in terms of graphics and the speed sensation. It's making better use of the iPhone chipset. And it is more complete than Asphalt in terms of content."

You can say that again. Ferrari GT has 33 cars to race, compared to the 28 in Asphalt. And of course, in the new game they're all Ferraris, from classic models to the latest (and most expensive) cars.

"We've got the Testarossa, the Enzo Ferrari, and we've got the Ferrari California, which was shown for the first time at the Paris Motor Show in September," says Rodeghiero. "We've also got the 250 GTO, which is one of the most expensive Ferraris ever, the 430 Scuderia, and older cars like the 328 GTS, the F50, the F40…"

You get the point. Tracks in the game include Rome, Athens, New York, Paris, Madrid, Berlin and Los Angeles – presumably nobody rich drives their Ferarri through London thanks to the congestion charge. Oh, and Fiorano, which as Ferrari buffs will know, is the carmaker's official test track.

"The sensation of driving each car is very different," says Rodeghiero. "We have a big Ferrari encyclopedia with a page for each car, and a list of statistics, so we used that. Ferrari has an engineer for each car, so they also checked the cars in the game, to make sure they are perfect!"

While interviewing Rodeghiero, we had a chance to play the game itself. You can see the graphical improvements over Asphalt 4, right down to details like trees at the side of the road, and textures of buildings. The frame-rate feels faster, too.

Naturally, every city will have key landmarks for you to whizz past or through. We found ourselves admiring the lighting effects while zooming through one Parisian underpass, at least until Rodeghiero pointed out that it was the tunnel where Princess Diana died.

The game has the same three control options as Asphalt 4. You can steer by tilting your iPhone, or by tapping the left and right sides of the touchscreen, or by turning a virtual steering wheel at the bottom of the screen ("it's the official Ferrari wheel" he points out).

There's no turbo boost function, what with the need to keep faithful to the features of the real Ferrari cars. However, one neat addition is the secret shortcuts, which are often found by bursting through road signs or cones.

The game features a career mode in which you have to earn money by winning races, in order to buy new cars. There's even a driving test at the start in Fiorano, which you have to pass in order to start the main game. Which may remind you of a certain famous console franchise…

"We're positioning it as a Gran Turismo, but accessible," smiles Rodeghiero in response. "It's not just for hardcore gamers."

That said, it should suit hardcore Ferrari fans, what with the Archives section with information and statistics on the various cars.

Meanwhile, for the rest of us, there are in-game achievements to snag – things like performing a drift or driving at top speed for at least five seconds – while you can also track your stats from the game.

Oh, and one more feature worth knowing about: multiplayer.

"You can play multiplayer against other people [locally] with your iPhone, but we will have an update in the future with online multiplayer," says Rodeghiero.

Ferrari GT wouldn't be the first iPhone racer with such a feature – that plaudit goes to Raging Thunder – but it would be the icing on the cake for what's already looking like a standout game.