Real Racing 3 is one of the most popular mobile racing titles. And with its popularity, it's natural that people would like to play Real Racing 3 in multiplayer. Initially, the game didn't allow the players to compete in real-time races. But as the players demanded, the developers listened!
Time Shifted Multiplayer
Time Shifted Multiplayer (TSM) was the only way for people to play together at the time of release. So, to put this in simple terms, this lets you race against your friends, but it isn't actually them playing. Similarly to racing against their ghost in different games' systems, the game adds the other drivers into the track. But they are fully interactive!
As one of the loading screens claims, “when racing online, every opponent is a time-shifted double of another player”. This is how TSM works. The game stores another player's data for their lap times and finishing records and then emulates the player to the tracks.
Playing online in this way is easy, simply loading any track online is going to get you the full TSM experience. But how does it exactly work?
The Algorithm
Interestingly, Real Racing 3 uses a similar algorithm in online and offline play. work in similar ways. The better you are, the harder the loaded opponents will be for you. But, the difference is present in the pool of racers that the game will select from. And naturally, the pool is wider for online play.
Time-shifted multiplayer is interesting and allows you to play with simulated versions of your friends. However, it doesn't give you the real multiplayer experience. It isn't your friends actually behind the wheel.
How to play Real Racing 3 real time multiplayer
The developers eventually listened to the people and added real-time multiplayer, which is a feature that players requested a lot. Starting off with a 4-player multiplayer, then expanding it to 8 players!
And it's fairly simple to get into. As long as you have them added to your friends' list, you're a few invites away from racing together! And cross-platform is allowed! So even your mates using emulators can join in!
Additionally, the developers have stated on their play store page: "Take on friends and rivals in global 8-player, cross-platform, real-time racing." As they identify that this multiplayer feature is a selling point of the game, they made sure to let all the players know that it is readily available.
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