The Brief History of Mobile Gaming

Tetris was the first mobile phone game to be introduced and pre-installed on a mobile phone called the Hagenuk MT-2000. Three years later, in 1997, Nokia came up with its own version of a mobile phone game called snake, and it became so popular among users. Despite this progress, technological discrepancies still hurdled effective mobile gaming. Mobile Phones had limited computing power and poor form-factor designs, unfriendly to gaming. Additionally, their low screen resolutions could not permit sophisticated gaming. However, the success of Nokia's snake game provided hope and, most importantly, represented the fact that mobile gaming had so much potential. Such enthusiasm led to the growth of interests in expanding mobile phones' capabilities for the future or what would be today's sophisticated mobile gaming applications.

Mobile Gaming in the Smartphone Era

The evolution of smartphone devices revolutionized mobile gaming in an unprecedented way. Smartphones significantly became an antidote to the technological discrepancies that had hurdled effective mobile gaming in the early days of the mobile phone evolution. This meant that users would be able to access more interactive features while playing games on their phones. Smartphones came with much more computing power, high screen resolutions, and substantively more significant screen displays for users.

Today, games are the most popular app category on Google Play and Apple's app stores, taking the first slot on the most downloaded charts. Mobile gaming is predominantly bigger than both PC and Console gaming, which may not be surprising since almost all of us carry a smartphone everywhere we go.

Mobile Gaming among Gen Y & Z

Mobile gaming is so popular among the millennials, and it is more likely to remain so to preceding generations. These generations have been born in the digital age, in which technology rules their lives in almost every way you can ever imagine. Statista put it that over 72 percent of worldwide mobile gamers are millennials. According to SuperData Research, millennials spend an average of $112 a month on gaming content. Their desire for fun and leisure entertainment, achieve relaxation, and fight boredom is driving the mobile gaming industry. Over the years, the time spent on mobile gaming by millennials has drastically been increasing. According to Statista, millennials who play on smartphones and tablets spend an average of 6 to 7 hours a week playing.

You would probably assume mobile gaming is dreadful and counter-productive, especially for the young generations. However, Gen Y & Z are not just having fun when playing video games, but they've also innovatively turned it into another way of earning money. For instance, a significant percentage of millennials spend hours practicing to become gaming pros with a primary goal of turning their engagement audiences into a good source of income.

Mobile Gaming Global Market Overview

Mobile gaming has the most significant share of the overall video gaming market. This trend is catalyzed by the growth of smartphone penetration and ownership all over the world. The feature that holds the most responsibility for the popularity of mobile games is their portability and accessibility. The fact that you have access to such a vast library of games inside your pocket at all times is mind-blowing. Statista forecasts that in 2021, revenues from mobile games are estimated to be about $106 billion, representing an unprecedented 15.3% growth rate from previous years. China and the United States remain the predominant markets for mobile games, with each generating hundreds of millions of dollars.

Simulation Racing in the world of mobile gaming

Simulation racing games offer a virtual auto racing experience, integrated with real-world variables and features such as fuel usage, damage, tire wear and grip, and suspension settings. Simulation racing is sometimes acronymed as sim-racing, and it offers a virtual motorsport experience for auto racing enthusiasts. Sim-racing is different from arcade driving because the former involves the precise understanding of real-world car handling skills and the latter doesn't prioritize real-world car handling variables, and the principal objective is to create a sense of speed as opposed to a sense of realism. Sim-racing involves knowing and understanding excellent skills like maintaining and controlling a car as its tires lose traction and how properly to enter and exit a turn without sacrificing speed. These skills are exhibited in real-world motor racing events, and the proper knowledge of applying them puts a player in an advantaged and competitive position.

Sim-racing is done by installing the appropriate software application on the particular computing device. With the evolution of high-end smartphones, running sim-racing applications is no longer a headache with enough computing power. However, most developers of sim-racing applications are continuously optimizing their applications to cut their consumption rate for computing resources, for instance, processing, memory, and bandwidth. This means that even low-end mobile gaming devices can also provide a smooth environment for this virtual racing experience.

Simulation racing comes with certain advantages like;

• Reliable affordability: The truth is real-world car racing is very expensive. And to be part takes a great deal of effort and resources. To start a racing team, you must be willing to invest hundreds of millions of dollars. And for one to be part of a racing team, you must have proven abilities and skills. On the other hand, sim-racing tears down these limitations and barriers and brings affordability to your bay.
• Assured safety when over-speeding: The thing about driving is that one may have the inner desire to run so fast at a certain satisfactory speed, However, for safety while driving in the real-world, we rely on established rules and even make use of the power of common sense to restrain ourselves from crazy or reckless driving, that can cause the loss of lives. Over-speeding fans use sim-racing to satisfy themselves by safely unleashing their inner speed monster without risking their lives in the real world.

• Availability for everyone to play: Real-world car racing is enclosed and limited to the selected few, who prove to have the fundamental skills and experience to do it. On the other hand, sim-racing provides an opportunity to take a virtual steer and have fun without limitations. You don't have to be an experienced player to do it; all you need is to have the appropriate software application installed on your computing device, and you're good to go.

• Providing a virtual training environment: Simulation racing is not just for amateurs or leisure-time spenders, but it is also for real-world racing pros, who use it to perfect their racing skills in preparation for real-world racing events. It is so cheaper that you don't have to worry about fixing mechanic or technical problems associated with real-world racing cars. Remember, real racing cars in the real world are so expensive to acquire and even maintain.

The Best Mobile Gaming Environment for Sim-racing

Smartphones have turned out to be the most reliable mobile computing devices for simulated racing. Whether you have a high-end or low-end smartphone, there is a game for you to play. It depends on the resource-hogging nature of the racing simulation application installed. Some applications consume much computing resources, but developers constantly improve the technology stack to provide a smooth user gameplay experience. When the sim-racing application is so resource-hogging, the device is likely to unacceptably heat up or its operating system crash suddenly. This is why it is crucial for a user to first understand the technical specifications of the software as defined and recommended by the vendor before attempting to install it on the device.

High-end smartphones like iPhone 12 and its variants are integrated with high-capacity computing chips that accelerate smoother gameplay experiences. Analysts believe that iPhone 12's A14 Bionic chip is currently the world's most powerful mobile computing chip, totally unprecedented in the industry. Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 8 chip series is another beast in the mobile computing industry. The Snapdragon 8 Series is integrated with phones like Samsung's Galaxy S20, S20 Plus and Galaxy Note 20, LG's Velvet, OnePlus 6T, and Xiaomi Poco F1.

These high-end devices' full computing power makes them much more suitable and reliable for mobile gaming, especially for video gaming sub-genres like simulated racing. It is important to note that high-end mobile devices also come at a more significant price tag. If you need a powerful smartphone with powerful computing, you must be willing to open your wallet without hesitation.

Does this mean, low-end computing devices can't afford simulated racing? This depends on the technical specification and the actual resource-hogging behavior of the software you intend to use. Some sim-racing applications are resource-hogging while others are not, making the most appropriate to use.

Project Cars Go; A new Sim-racing Game.

Project Cars Go is a new sim-racing game designed to bring a whole unique racing gameplay experience to your mobile device. Currently, the game is in an open beta phase and slated to launch on an unspecified date.

This racing game has been made by Gamevil, a publicly traded company in Seoul, South Korea, which develops and publishes video games for mobile devices

Gamevil has published over 60 games and prides itself on winning ten awards because of its excellent NOM and Skipping Stone games. With this kind of reputation and experience, Gamevil's Project Cars Go is likely to be another serious car racing game not to ignore in the world of video gaming. With an estimated market valuation of over $400 million, Gamevil seems to have the necessary resources to offer what a 21st mobile gamer wants. Gamevil is not some startup gambling to penetrate the market with the new product; it's already a publicly-traded company in South Korea with an actual reputation to maintain.

They've already listed Project Cars Go on the most popular app stores like Google Play and Apple's app store. However, they indicate that the product is still in beta phases. This means they haven't officially launched the final product yet, but they're still testing it to fine-tune everything so users can enjoy a better racing experience on their mobile devices. Some people think this game is awful, but it's kind of a quick judgment as it is still in the beta phase, and there is no need for a quick verdict without giving the publishers a chance to fix everything.

It's important to know that it takes time and a great deal of effort to fully roll out a great product, which can wholly capture everyone's heart in an instant. Project Cars Go has been in the pipeline for some time, and the publishers had hinted at releasing it back in2018 but then paused until recently when they decided to execute an open beta testing launch. Such a move is tremendous as not so many companies are willing to do open product testing, allowing users to try out their product when it is still in beta version. Product theft is the biggest challenge here.

However, the fact that Gamevil allowed users to try out the product when it is still in beta, signifies that they want to offer the best final product, which they plan to launch after testing and fixing everything.

Gamevil still has an incredible opportunity to turn around this game and turn it into another gaming sensation in the video gaming world. Its success will depend on how far the company is willing to act on the so many skeptical reviews voiced out by a great number of beta users. These reviews provide an opportunity for the company to understand what users actually want and fix any undesirable feature that disinterests them.

Fans should stay optimistic because the Gamevil has the potential to roll out a final product they all deserve to enjoy. The company's record in publishing countless number of games is absolutely mesmerizing. This is why we shouldn't be quick to put a final verdict on the beta version of the game before giving the publishers the actual chance of launching the final product.

One important thing you should know about the Project Car Go is that this game has a great User Interface Design, probably one of the best among the medium mobile gaming applications. Project Cars Go is not resource hogging, compared to other games of similar or related genres. It means that even users with low-computing devices are more likely to enjoy playing without facing difficulties or limitations.

- Mobile Advisor