GT Racing: Motor Academy hits the Android Market for free

Anyone that has been reading Android and Me for awhile now is aware that we have a somewhat tempestuous relationship with Gameloft. They were staunch holdouts on the Android Market for quite some time, and their less-than-customer-friendly direct purchase model wasn’t exactly endearing them to anyone.

With that said, they seem to have turned over a new leaf in the past few months. The company has been releasing quite a bit of their catalog into the Market. Their games are often a little on the pricey side ($4.99-$6.99), but not unreasonable considering they usually feature quite a bit of depth and polish.

This brings me to their newest release, GT Racing: Motor Academy. As you can probably surmise, it’s a racing game in the style of Gran Turismo. Early reviews in the Market are mostly positive. One notable exception is the lone written review that simply says, “Sucks.” Chances are if you’re a fan of racing games, it’ll be worth your while to at least take it for a spin. This game is following in the footsteps of the recently released Green Farm and comes to you completely free of charge.

Before you start composing a song about the benevolence of the new Gameloft, be aware the game features that evil temptress the in-app purchase. For prices ranging from $2.99 – $99.99 you can snap yourself up some XP, credits and/or cash to vault deep into the game without breaking a sweat. If you’re strong of will, simply plug along and you’ll eventually unlock everything. But a recent study from Flurry Analytics shows that companies are probably right to bank on users taking the easy route; users spend an average of $14 per transaction on these freemium games.

I’ve bought a healthy number of apps and games through the Market, but I can’t recall making any in-app purchases yet. Have any of you given it a shot? If so, what got you to break out your wallet?

Update: Sorry about that guys, many of you have pointed out that the app is not available on your device. They have a list of compatible phones in the description if you follow the Market link below, but if you have the Sensation, Evo 3d, or any tablet I can tell you right now it isn’t going to work.

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