Best iOS Games 2018

The graphics are as eye-popping as some of the automotive tricks you'll pull off in Asphalt 9: Legends, the latest arcade racing game to join the Asphalt series. The game takes care of turns and acceleration, leaving you to focus on managing nitro boosts and drifts, pulling off tricks and getting to the finish line before the competition. You'll get the usual assortment of cars from Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini and others that you can unlock and customize as you rack up wins and achievements on the race track.

Asphalt Xtreme takes the action off the road, with players racing through canyons and dunes in a variety of game modes. Players will be able to go behind the wheel of a variety of vehicle classes, from dune buggies to pickups and monster trucks, with licensed automobiles from big names like Jeep, Ford, and Dodge. In addition to the five game modes and hundreds of career events and challenges, Asphalt Xtreme also features a live multiplayer mode with up to eight racers going head to head on the track.

Maybe it’s showing its age a little bit, but Real Racing 3 remains an excellent free-to-play driving sim that lets you take the wheel of a host of real-world cars as you drive around gorgeously rendered real-world racetracks. Numerous game modes — including time trials, standard races and the Time Shift multiplayer mode — offer varied challenges to players, with updates continuously adding new content such as new cars and racing events.

The latest entry to this motorsport strategy game adds GT and endurance racing to the mix, as you manage your racing team to victory. It's up to you find winning drivers, negotiate contracts and invest in the kind of research and development that gives your team better rides; you also handle race tactics and pitstop strategy. Other additions in Motorsport Manager Mobile 3 include the ability to vote on rules changes, invitational tourneys, and dynamic AI teams. And if you've dreamed of racing in Monaco, this edition finally brings that venerable course to your iPhone.

Need For Speed: No Limits is a free racing game that delivers short but intense races as you blast through an underground street racing circuit. Drifting, drafting and smart use of nitro are necessary to win, with victories earning you parts to modify your cars or blueprints that unlock new machines. NFS: No Limits features a variety of in-game and premium currency systems, as well as a fuel system, though daily challenges allow players to earn premium currency without resorting to in-app purchases.

Take to the waves in Riptide GP: Renegade, the latest installment of Vector Unit's Riptide science fiction jetski racers (and one of the top 10 games on the App Store in 2016, according to Apple). This game features a single-player career mode as well as online and local multiplayer races. As a disgraced racer, you must make a name for yourself in the illicit racing circuit while slowly climbing your way back up to the top. Riptide's stunts mechanic encourages players to take risks on big jumps to build up a turbo gauge, and players can collect a variety of different racing craft and unlock new skills, stunts and character models.

Absolute Drift brings sleek, top-down drifting action to iOS devices. Players engage in a variety of drifting and gymkhana-style challenges as they slip and slide through more than 30 different courses and three game modes. You can engage in drifting and gymkhana courses, or simply explore the maps in a free roaming mode, collecting and customizing six different cars, each with varied handling characteristics. In addition, payers can view their local replays, drive against ghost cars, and take on extras like custom events, Drift Line Challenges, and Midnight Events that will challenge their mastery of both car and course.

Asphalt Street Storm is the latest entry in Gameloft's mobile driving games, with this version taking on the urban drag racing genre pioneered by other games like CSR Racing. Players engage in quarter-mile drag races while behind the wheel of a variety of vehicles, from classic muscle machines to sleek supercars, with designs from automakers like Ferrari, Ford and Chevrolet. In addition to the single player mode, you can participate in live multiplayer races with up to four other people.

Dive into a sci-fi future and defy gravity in AG Drive, a sleek arcade racer that delivers fantastic vistas and action-packed races. You'll take on a rogue’s gallery of the galaxy’s best drivers as you zip through impossible architecture in your antigravity drive powered vehicle. AG Drive offers a variety of game modes, from time trials to elimination laps, and winning races will unlock more events as well as points to purchase or upgrade your vehicles.

CSR Racing 2 combines some really sweet graphics with some neat urban drag racing gameplay. Since players compete in flat-out drag races, you don't steer, so the game is won by precise starts, perfectly timed gear-shifts, and meticulously tricked-out cars. What could just be a drab series of taps is paired with slick graphics that show off the high-performance cars and environments. Players can work through a single-player campaign, as well as head-to-head online multiplayer battles against others. It's not just about the street racing though: players can also go all out with car customizations, tweaking the paint job, rims, interior trim and technical elements such as gear ratios and tire pressure.

Get in, get out and get paid (or blow up gloriously) in PAKO 2, an endless getaway driving game by Tree Men Games. Players must race forward to pick up their crew as they escape from a heist. From there, it’s a frenetic getaway chase against trigger-happy cops as you scramble for the escape point, earning points and power-ups along the way. Points can be spent to unlock new vehicles and new levels, giving this free-to-play game a decent amount of replayability.

If lightning-fast crotch rockets are more your style, then try out SBK 16, the official game of the Superbike World Championship. Players can take the role of international star riders such as Tom Sykes and Sylvain Guintoli and race incredibly fast bikes down challenging, real-world racetracks. Players can engage in quick races, a championship mode, time attacks and test rides. Cool additions to the game include a new cockpit view that puts you right in the action, mobile controller support, and the ability to upgrade to the ad-free experience either through in-app purchases or by beating the Test Ride challenge mode.

For a more arcade-style take on motorcycle driving, check out Traffic Rider, a first-person motorcycle game and entry in Apple's Best of 2016 list that has you bobbing and weaving through congested traffic. Traffic Rider is all about hair-raising near-misses, with players scoring extra points or bonus time for dodging past cars and trucks, with bigger bonuses for dodging oncoming traffic. Points earned can be spent to upgrade your ride or purchase newer motorbikes. A career mode lets you play through a variety of missions and challenges, while Endless, Time Trial and Free Ride mode offer different ways to play.

Unpossible is a stylish infinite driver that takes you to a neon-lit scifi cityscape where you hurtle down a circular rail while spinning around and dodging obstacles in an attempt to last as long as possible. The Simplicity game mode gives you an easy introduction, but increasingly difficult Futile and Ultra modes offer significantly more challenging, downright “masocore” experiences.

Taking inspiration from coin-op and console racing games like Rush and Out Run but with a modern mobile sheen, Horizon Chase takes you on a third-person perspective arcade race through racetracks around the world as you jockey for pole position. The game features 73 different tracks to race through, across 32 different cities, with 16 upgradeable race cars to collect.