If you’re a racing game fanatic, drop everything and try this out! I’ve been focused on creating a new version for my web sites especially on getting a mobile version online. But when I got the copy of the Ferrari World Championship mobile game from Gameloft — I just dropped what I was doing. I have been waiting for the mobile game for some time and I was not just about to wait for another second to take the game for a spin.

I quickly chose the “Instant Race” option to try out the game. Another option would be to select the “Championship” mode of the mobile game which allows you to race all around the world.

One thing I notice almost instantly is the dominant red color of Ferrari (of course). The graphics are very good and extra attention to details have been taken. It has a very clean interface starting from the menus to the racing screen. You’ll find lots of information on the race screen like current time, lap, speed, fuel level, tire status, race position which are helpful if you want a glimpse of them. I’ve always wondered if car race drivers ever use them a lot ‘coz I tend to focus more on where I’m going rather than all of them :-).

Selecting the “Instant Race” took me to the driver selection screen which allows me to select from several although you have to unlock some of them as you progress thru the mobile game. After selecting the driver, you have to choose whether to play amateur or professional. In amateur, gear shifting and braking is automatic while you’ll have to put on the brakes manually when playing the professional mode. There’s actually a third mode which is the expert mode that will be unlocked only when you are able to finish at least the third spot while playing professional mode.

The mobile game keys are quite responsive as I didn’t experience any lag. The 3D rendering of the race track are actually very good. You have a choice of two views — one from the driver seat and the other from the rear end of the Ferrari race car. I tend to use the rear end view ‘coz it offers a lot more perspective (I know I should be racing from the driver’s seat, I’d probably be a lousy race car driver). To give you an idea of the detail, I tried on stepping on the brakes while using the rear view mode, and you’ll notice that from the rear wheels there’s some smoke generated because of the braking friction.

During the race, one of the things that I really appreciated is the flashing of a message to remind me that I was nearing the pit stop and should move appropriately if I wanted to stop over for repairs and refueling. The pit stop is actually a mini game on its own. I actually found out a bit late on the first pit stop I made while staring on the screen waiting for the repairs to finish. Pit stop speed is actually dependent on you playing the mini game.

On the mini game, you’ll have to push to button on your mobile phone that is lighted on the phone display. You’ll notice that there are actually 7 numbers — 1, 4, 7, 3, 6, 9 and 0. Except for 0, the other numbers would light up in yellow randomly and you have to push the corresponding key on your mobile phone. The faster you react, the faster the pit stop will finish. Of course you can always push “0″ to get back into the race without finishing the pit stop — especially when you’re getting far behind everyone else

The game experience could have been better. I wished there were more parameters to choose from in order to tune the race car. For now we will have to settle for just three — efficiency, handling and acceleration. Adding even just another parameter would have separated the Ferrari World Championship mobile game from the rest of the other car racing games. I guess it’s just the first version.

It would really be nice if a multi-player feature allowing for car racing using bluetooth and the Internet is also available. Maybe a feature where race car enthusiasts can put up web sites that will allow for racing against each other and holding championship virtual racing games. Now that would really be cool, awesome and great!

But all in all the Ferrari World Championship is great and should provide you with hours of enjoyment while playing the mobile game. Tell me how long it took you to unlock the expert level and what it’s like if you ever get to the level before I could.

I wish I could play more of the game but its back to my “coding hat” again, I’d really like to be able to finish the mobile version of my sites with some other features I’d like to add. And also to be able to get back to playing all these mobile games stack up on my phone of course. I’ve finish playing some of them and will post some of them here later.

Here’s some of the stunning screen shots of the Ferrari World Championship Java mobile game: