Firemonkeys' eagerly-anticipated Real Racing 3 is the first free-to-play entry in the popular mobile racing franchise. How far you can get without paying real money depends entirely on how much patience you possess—do you mind waiting 10 minutes for tire repair?

The latest entry in Firemonkeys' Real Racing isn't just going to be the nicest looking entry in the series when it drops on February 28—it'll also be the first one that's completely free to play.

The Firemonkeys call it "Time-Shifted Multiplayer." It sounds an awful lot like racing against ghosts, but the multiplayer aspect of the upcoming third iteration of mobile's flagship racing franchise is just a little bit creepier than ghosts.

Witness Australia's Firemonkeys as they put more effort into the next installment of mobile's flagship racing series than most console developers put into their $60 games. Not only are they recreating famous race tracks, they're imagining new race tracks in real world locations.

I've been playing the gorgeous mobile version of Need for Speed Most Wanted for the past week, loving every tilt-steering, nitrous-swiping, fender-bending moment. Last night I played the console version of Need for Speed Most Wanted for the first time. I can never go back.

Rob Murray knows you're going to compare Real Racing 3 to the Gran Turismos and Forza Motorsports of the world. Those PlayStation and Xbox franchises stand as the two best exemplars of a certain kind of authentic racing experience on consoles. Their fans want to replicate being inside a car as much as possible. They…