''Car Town'' was a social network game developed by Cie Games (now Glu Mobile). It allowed users to collect and modify virtual vehicles. The main objective of the game was to win races and build a collection of vehicles. ''Car Town'' had many licenses for different brands including the Indy Racing League, which allowed users to collect selected Indy cars;

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

, which gave the game a license to include the DeLorean time machine from the ''Back to the Future'' series; and fully customized cars from ''

The Fast and the Furious ''Fast & Furious'' (also known as ''The Fast and the Furious'') is a media franchise centered on a series of action films that are largely concerned with street racing, heists, spies, and family. The franchise also includes short films, a t ...

'' series. Pirelli World Challenge and the National Hot Rod Association gave the game licenses to include their racing cars such as

Funny Car Funny Car is a type of drag racing vehicle and a specific racing class in organized drag racing. Funny cars are characterized by having tilt-up fiberglass or carbon fiber automotive bodies over a custom-fabricated chassis, giving them an appea ...

s. Top Gear also gave a license to include their shows and videos, as well as a few exclusive vehicles. Aside from the aforementioned brands, the game also featured cars from famous motorsports around the world including

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

, World Rally Championship, Formula D, Dakar Rally, FIA GT Series as well as one-make races such as

Ferrari Challenge The Ferrari Challenge is a single-marque motorsport championship that was created in 1993 for owners of the 348 Berlinetta who wanted to become involved in racing. The series was proposed by Ferrari Club Nederland founder and President Hans ...

. Cie Games closed the game on August 29, 2014.

Related versions

Two years after the original's release, Cie released another version of the game named ''Car Town EX'' to appeal to Asian users. It added new features that were not seen in the original release of the game. ''Car Town EX'' has been discontinued afterwards in February 2014. Also in 2012, a version of ''Car Town'' for

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

, called ''Car Town Streets'', was released. The game's graphics are similar to that of Car Town, but its gameplay is much different. In 2014, an Android OS port came out on the Google Play Store released by

Miniclip Miniclip SA is a mobile game publisher and former browser game website that launched in 2001. It was started by Robert Small and Tihan Presbie with a budget of £40,000. In 2008, the company was valued at over £275 million. In 2009, Miniclip ...

. ''Car Town Streets'' was closed down in December 2015.

Reception

''Car Town'' received moderate critical praise. One reviewer from

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said that the game made "non-car people become car people", calling it inviting and accessible to newcomers. Bright Hub gave the game a rating of 3/5. ''Car Town'' was likened to the ''

Forza Motorsport ''Forza Motorsport'' is a 2005 simulation racing video game developed by Turn 10 Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox gaming system. The word ''Forza'' is Italian for strength. The game is the first installment in the ' ...

'' franchise in terms of customizing vehicles and liveries. Both Car and Driver and

Motor Trend ''MotorTrend'' is an American automobile magazine. It first appeared in September 1949, and designated the first Car of the Year, also in 1949. Petersen Publishing Company in Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles published ''MotorTrend'' until 19 ...

, well known automotive magazines, were sponsors of the game, often releasing promo codes and running contests.

Differences

Although they are similar, they have some differences in certain points. For example, the

Volkswagen Gol The Volkswagen Gol is a subcompact car that has been manufactured by Volkswagen do Brasil since 1980 as Volkswagen's entry-level car in the Latin American market—where it succeeded the Volkswagen Type 1 (Fusca) and the VW Brasilia. Sever ...

is exclusively available only in Brazilian Portuguese version, and a Honda Prelude is exclusively available only in ''Car Town EX'' versions.

References

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