Ever since the iphone single-handedly changed the cell phone industry a few years back, it has developed by leaps and bounds to emerge as a truly successful gaming platform. The tilt sensing accelerometers that come with the iphone have been put to use very effectively, and today almost every single mobile game comes with an iPhone/itouch compatible version. With a whole slew of free and paid apps, the iphone has, over time, eaten into the shares of Sony’s portable PSP and Nintendo’s DS. While this list might not satisfy the likes and dislikes of everyone, it is hard to actually round-up ten of the best iphone racing games, especially since a new app pops up on the appstore ever so often. So, here is a compilation of the top 10 racing games, both free and paid, that we love to have on our iPhone.

Fast & Furious: The Game

This game is based on the Hollywood movie that shares its name. The game offers all popular types of races like time trials, pursuit races, drag races and even drifts challenges. The game offers a choice of 36 vehicles to race in 18 different tracks. Other than quick play, a story mode is also available, which has different challenges lined up with a plot that is shown using stills from the movie. The game play is very intuitive in nature, with the cars being steered by the angle in which the phone is tilted. Braking is done using the touch screen while the acceleration is automatically taken care of by the game. The game offers a decent amount of graphics and echoes the theme used in the movie. An innovative feature of the game is that one can upload the video of his racing on Youtube. This feature has literally flooded Youtube with several videos, with gamers desperately attempting to show-off their skills.

Developer: Firemint
Publisher: I-Play
Cost of the Full version: $1.99

Need For Speed Undercover

Need For Speed is one of the best known car racing games ever made. It has gotten better with each successive iterations both in terms of graphic reality and racing experience. While the iPhone version of the Need For Speed Undercover fails to deliver the same level of excitement as its PC and PlayStation companions, it sure is one of the best driving games available for the iPhone platform. The games progresses as you are guided through different street racing scenario with the ultimate aim of cracking the underworld smuggling operations. The game has video fillers between the races to keep things interesting. The game is not just about cutting through the traffic though. It is necessary to master drifting and slip streaming maneuvers to dominate the opponents. While the lack of a multiplayer racing mode is a bit disappointing, the game does allow you to customize your ride with both visual and performance upgrades which gets unlocked as the game progresses.

Publisher: EA Mobile
Cost of the Full version: $9.99

Real Racing

Real Racing in by and far one of the finest racing games for the iPhone platform as far as reality goes. The driving experience is refreshingly real, and requires a great deal of skill to beat the competition. This game requires actual car control along with discipline to cut the mustard. However, it falls behind the rest of the pack in a few areas. Firstly, none of the cars that are available are licensed from the manufactures and secondly, there is no option for customizing the cars – neither the looks of the car, nor its performance can be personalized. The competition is tough right from the start of the game, and gets progressively tougher as the game proceeds. While there are various modes for controlling your car, the easy control scheme allows full control of the steering wheel using the tilt function while acceleration is handled automatically. Another slightly more complex way allows manual control of the accelerator using the tilt function while the steering is controlled using the touch screen.

Developer: Firemint
Cost of the Full version: $9.99

Asphalt 5

It is hard to not be impressed by this game. The game offers a choice of various exotic cars, starting from the Mini Cooper S right up to the Ferrari 599 XX. The game includes races in many great cities located in different continents. Gameloft has done a brilliant job in adding a lot of detail to both the car and the city. While the cars and the graphics have a high degree of realism, the racing experience can hardly be described that way. This game does not pretend to be as serious as games like Real Racing. Instead, it has an arcade style of racing. There are many control schemes for the game, out of which, the tilt steering control suits the game the most. Although the controls may seem a tad bit difficult at the beginning, it becomes easier once you get used to it. Asphalt 5 has a very effective multiplayer mode that can support up to six different players.

Developer: Gameloft
Cost of the Full version: $6.99

Dirt Moto Racing

This is an off-road racing game in which you have to drive an All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) through an off-road course. The steering control is done using the tilt sensor while the touch functions are used for accelerating and braking. It offers a career mode which is a mixture of lap races, elimination events, sprint races and checkpoint races. Each type of race can be played in the single event mode or a freestyle point run. The race takes place in one of four locations- Toronto, Death valley, Florida Keys and British Columbia. The game allows users to customize their ATV’s, however, the glaring omission of a multiplayer mode is clearly a lost opportunity. The game also offers an option for the race time and freestyle scores to be posted on an online leader board.

Developer: Resolution Interactive
Cost of the Full version: $4.99

Alpine Crawler

Alpine Crawler is a game that stands out in its own unique way. This game allows you to race around the mountainous terrains of the Alps in a rear wheel drive truck. The game has a fair amount of reality with the trucks obeying the laws of physics that stand true in the real world. The player has the ability to control the speed with the gas and brake pedals, with the ability to move forward or backward. While navigating your way through the curves and slopes, you have to keep an eye on the health bar, which determines how much longer you can go on using your truck. Each time your truck gets stuck or rolls over, the game eats into the health of your truck. This addicting game progresses over six terrains, with varying levels of difficulty.

Publisher: 3D Magic Kft.
Cost of the Full version: Free

Audi A4 Driving Challenge

The Audi A4 Driving Challenge is a free application made by Audi to promote their cars. Audi claims that the first version of the game was downloaded by 370,000 users. The second version includes minor changes to make it even more appealing. The new cars include the mighty Audi R8 and the A4 with the 3.2 liter engine. Your goal is to steer the car through an obstacle laced course, and try to improve the lap timing in each race. The game gives an aerial view of the car and the track. The A4 Driving Challenge is certainly one of the best car games that is free to download.

Publisher: Audi
Cost of the Full version: Free

Volkswagen Scirocco R 24h Challenge

This free game also doubles up as promotional material for the new Volkswagen Scirroco R. The game is available in a range of racing modes, including training mode, 24H races and even multiplayer races. The training mode allows you to get used to the car and its controls in a 5 mile race track, in which you can hone your driving skill and improve on the best laps. The race is said to be happening at ‘Green Middle’ in Germany. However, the track seems to have been modeled off the famous Nürburgring. Being a promotional material, the game play is very simple, with the Scirrocco driving like a dream. The 3D graphics in the game is good for a free application. The sound of the car was specially recorded and is nothing short of brilliant.

Developer: FISHLABS
Cost of the Full version: Free

GTS World Racing

The GTS world racing has been converted from the Windows mobile application to be supported by the iPhone platform. It is an arcade style racing game that has 64 different tracks, spread over 18 locations spanning from Peru to Scotland. The choice of cars are limited to a coupe, a sports car and a Formula racer. There are four styles of racing. In single Race mode, every track is unlocked and any one can be selected for the race. The challenge cup mode is an elimination tournament while the grand tour takes you to all the 64 tracks in succession. There is a point based championship mode as well. The game is controlled entirely by motion. The steering is controlled by tilting sideways while acceleration and braking are done by tilting forward or backward. In the event of a collision, cars bounce off and continue to be in motion.

Developer: Pazzazz
Publisher: Astraware
Cost of the Full version: $4.99

Fastlane Street Racing

Fastlane Street Racing is not another game in which you get to zoom past the competition and burn rubber at their face, say like Asphalt 5. In this game, the cars that we race against are just too fast to keep up with. The difficulty level of the opponents is so high that the game narrows down to improving your personal best on how close you can remain with the competition. The competitor’s cars seem to run on rails, which is a pity considering that the game fares quite well in every other respect. The graphics in the game is awesome with brilliant lighting effects. There is no overdose of glaze on the car that makes some games look too unreal. The checkpoint and time trial races are much more interesting than the arcade mode.

Publisher: ATOD AB
Cost of the Full version: $5.99