Red Bull Air Racing on the iPhone

Got a hankering to fly through some pylons? Red Bull Air Race World Championship Lite Version [App Store link] might be just the ticket. The $0.99US game puts you in air races in either San Diego or Abu Dhabi. Red Bull Air Race is not a flight simulator like X-Plane, but more of an arcade game. It uses the iPhone accelerometer for steering. and is pretty responsive. The course, said to be an accurate representation of the real locations, is rendered in nice 3D. On-screen markers point you in the right direction if you get off course. You will.

Flying the race is a good challenge, and happily you can choose to turn off the background music if you want to. You can choose a cockpit eye view, or follow along behind your plane.

In the hangar you can chose from 2 planes to fly, but you have no options to configure them further. An options screen allows you to change the volume, the vibration and sensitivity of the controls. There is also a calibration screen if things get off a bit.

The game is the lite version, with a more full-featured version coming. It runs on both the iPhone and the iPod touch.

My only complaint is that the game has a slow load time, made even slower by seeing an animated logo from the developers, then a video from a real race. It takes about a minute from the time you launch the app until you are flying. As they used to say around the flight schools, 'Got time to spare, go by air.'

Screen shots are here:


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