Asphalt 7: Heat

Asphalt 7: Heat came out in 2012 and became one of the series' most technically ambitious entries for its time - Gameloft made full use of the new generation of mobile chips, offering over 60 licensed cars, fifteen different locations around the world from Tokyo to the Nevada desert, and reworked drift physics that pushed the game closer to the feel of big arcade racers on consoles. It also added a more elaborate car upgrade system, the ability to customize cars with your own liveries, and new race types including elimination modes where the last-place player drops out after each lap, plus drift challenges focused purely on controlled sliding.

Heat also expanded online multiplayer and introduced asynchronous competition through Asphalt Tracker stats, which showed players their progress against friends even when they weren't online at the same time. On the top phones of the time, the game ran in high resolution with effects like motion blur and dynamic lighting reflecting off car bodies - a noticeable step up from previous entries. Asphalt 7 was among the titles phone makers used to show off the graphical power of their new models at trade shows and in commercials. The game also supported the larger displays of tablets at the time, which showed off track details, body reflections, and distant views of the surrounding landscape to great effect.

Why play it: Asphalt 7: Heat is for players who want to experience the peak of the era when mobile racing caught up to console-level visuals - with a wide range of cars, worldwide locations, and multiplayer that pushed the series to a new level in 2012 and showed just how far the graphics of an ordinary phone could go without a dedicated game console in the traveler's pocket.