It’s time for another game review and this time it is one of the OLDEST mobile racing games still available today that is known for drag racing right on mobile, which of course I’m talking about is CSR Racing. The CSR Racing series started with the first ever CSR racing game which brought players all around the world the fun of drag racing licensed vehicles right on mobile.
CSR Racing is developed by BossAlien and NaturalMotion who kickstarted the popular mobile hit drag racing game series with the original CSR Racing game which was released in the year 2012 and was then followed by its successor CSR Racing 2 which was later released in the year 2016.
CSR Racing is Free To Play on Android and iOS that features over 120+ vehicles for you to race and customize right at your fingertips.
Plus, features a variety of races for you to compete in to win money for buying cars, customizations, and upgrades.
So, without further ado, let’s find out whether or not the first-ever CSR Racing game is still worth revisiting and worth playing again today.
The Gameplay
First off, CSR Racing starts with an easy-to-navigate main menu that features 5 tabs right from the garage.
As you can see from the photo above, each tab represents the 5 options available you can choose from inside the garage. You can buy cars from the “Car Dealer” tab, you can upgrade your current vehicle from the “Upgrade” tab, you can also customize the look of your car on the “Customize” Tab, and Finally, you can check out your current collection of vehicles in the “My Cars” tab.
There is also the “Next” tab ( labeled with a forward directional arrow ) which leads to access to the main hub races where you can select any race you want to earn money for buying cars and upgrades.
Speaking of races, the controls for drag racing in CSR Racing are simply easy with just the touch of a button for launching your vehicle at the start of a race and for shifting. There is also one for nitro use if your car is equipped with nitrous.
Furthermore, during your races, you will only have to just focus on timing your shifts right if you want to win a race, which is SUPER easy to do.
Plus, for every race you compete in, you’ll go one on one with a random AI-controlled racer either in a 1/2 mile race or a 1/4 mile race that will truly test your drag racing skills ( mainly how well you time your shifts ).
Overall, the gameplay in CSR Racing is very well-suited for casual play which makes it a great choice for players who have time to play in quick and short game sessions for a short amount of time.
Buying Cars
Next up, are the cars. Oh Yes, the most fun part about playing CSR Racing is getting yourself some new cars to race with which is important for progress throughout CSR Racing.
Right from the main screen where the tab is labeled “Car Dealer”, you’ll be able to find a long list of licensed vehicles for you to buy and customize, which is sorted out by manufacturer and tier.
Each vehicle you choose to buy will either have a price tag in gold or cash. When it’s your first time playing CSR Racing, the game itself will lend you some money to purchase your first vehicle. After you have purchased your first car from the “Car Dealer” tab, you’ll be able to see your recently purchased vehicle right on the main screen of the garage.
The more cars you buy from the car dealership, the more cars you’ll notice in the “My Cars” tab, which will be your go-to spot for swapping out rides for all of your races and for checking out your ever-growing collection of cars by the time you banked up some serious in-game money.
Car Upgrading
Along with having new cars to race with, there’s always going to be the need to make those VERY important upgrades for your cars which is important for your progress throughout CSR Racing.
For every car you buy, along with having just enough money to buy those upgrades, there is always going to be a pop-up notification appearing on the screen that will tell you when it’s time to upgrade.
Seeing those “it’s time to upgrade” your car pop-ups can be a bit irritating at times when you’re so focused on saving enough money to apply the most reliable upgrades for your car that can help you win races or even perhaps save up enough money to buy your next car.
Moreover, each upgradable part has 5 stages that will take 5 times to become fully maxed. Once you have fully maxed out the upgrades of your current car, you will be able to easily win races all over the map without ever having to revisit the garage for upgrades.
Either way, a car with upgrades stands a much better chance of winning back-to-back races than a car without them.
After all, it feels great to grab those nonstop wins than it is to come in second every time and that’s never fun.
Car Customization
When there are cars there’s customization, which in this case CSR Racing features 3 options available for you to customize your car right from the garage. These include
- Paint Colors
- Decals
- Adding Text to Your license plate
YES, you heard that right!
You can ADD text to the license plate of your car, which can add to the personalization of racing the car you’re using to compete against your opponents out on the drag strip.
As for paint colors and decals, you can switch up the look of your car by applying different coats of paint, along with adding in cool decals to your car that will set you apart from the rest of your competition.
Even though there’s not much to “customizing” cars in CSR Racing, it’s still cool to know that there is always the choice to have these options available for when you are not completely satisfied with the current look of the car you began with.
Main Hub Races
Now for the races! As I previously mentioned earlier the “Next” tab from the main menu will grant you access to ALL of the main hub races, which will provide you with a variety of choices to rake in some serious money to buy cars and upgrades.
Once you reached the main race hub you will notice that there will be territories or “Tiers” that will offer you plenty of opportunities to make money.
Each tier on the map ( except for Tier 1 ) will feature 5 race types. These include
- Ladder Races
- Daily Battle
- Restriction Races
- Regulation Races
- Crew Battles
All around the map no matter what tier you’re on ( except for Tier 1 ) will feature all 5 of these race types for you to choose and race and that will have a difficulty setting that will pinpoint your chances of winning that chosen race.
Races highlighted in RED are the most difficult ones meaning that you must equip your car with as many upgrades as much as possible for having the best chance of winning that chosen race.
Races highlighted in LIGHT BLUE are the easier ones which are ideal for cars that don’t have many upgrades applied.
The difficult settings for every race that you choose to compete in are quite useful for knowing which races you should avoid if your current car doesn’t have updated upgrades applied, and for knowing which races are ok to participate in if you’re in need to make continuous amounts of money for your progression.
Furthermore, one of the main races that you will find the MOST interesting when playing CSR Racing is the “Crew Battles” which will put you against crew members from each specific crew in the game.
For every crew member you beat, will eventually lead up to you facing their “BOSS” at the end for a chance to win their car.
Once you go one on one with the BOSS from a specific crew, you will have to race them 3 times for the chance to win their car, and winning the boss’s car after you have beaten them 3 times makes all the time and effort you put into upgrading your own car oh so sweeter.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Easy Gameplay
- Great for Casual Play
- Features Plenty of Licensed Cars
- Free to Play on Android and iOS
Cons
- Has Very Limited Car Customization
- Most Cars are Expensive to Buy
Conclusion
So now that finally come to the question of whether or not CSR Racing is still worth playing today. Well, the answer to that question is an absolute YES!
Why you might ask?
Well for players who are fans of racing games in general or who love racing games that feature drag racing, CSR Racing definitely fits the bill for providing players the fun of buying, customizing, upgrading, and DRAG racing licensed cars right on mobile.
Plus, makes it convenient to play anywhere for a short amount of time.
Well, that’s about all for this review and if you have any thoughts or questions about this post or the game itself feel free to leave your comments below and I will reply.
Until then,
Happy Racing! 🙂
Hello my friend. I remember when i was younger( about 8 years ago) i was addicted to CSR game. it was all fun and joyable. the part which i like it more of other parts was, buying cars. there were alot of options to choose. Your content reminds me such a great experience i had before. To be honest i think it worth playing . thanks for sharing.
Yes, CSR Racing is quite addicting along with the amount of cars that is available to unlock. I’m glad you enjoyed the post.
Thank you for stopping by! 🙂
Thank you very much for this valuable detailed review about the CSR Racing game. Actually I had heard about this before. No. But I love to play this type of game. And you have shown everything in this review. I will definitely try this. Keep posting like this. Will definitely send this to my friends.
Great! I’m glad you enjoyed the post
Thank you for sharing!. 🙂