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Touch Drive is intended for beginners and casual players. On mobile platforms, Asphalt 9 has three control schemes: Tilt to Steer, Tap to Steer, and the brand new "Touch Drive" in which the player selects routes and stunts by swiping left and right. When the player has a full nitro bar and taps twice on the Nitro button in a quick succession, a purple pulse is released from the vehicle and represents a drastic increase in the car's acceleration. The game also features " nitro shockwave", returning from Asphalt 6: Adrenaline and Asphalt 7: Heat. The more reputation points the club scores, the better rewards, ranging from credits to blueprints for cars. Also new to the series are "clubs", where up to 20 players can collaboratively score "reputation points" to acquire exclusive rewards. Introduced in the 2019 Summer Update, several cars like the Mercedes-AMG GTS may also be customized with special tires, rims, and bodywork modifications, earned through rare 'customization packs'. Several cars are also convertibles (they can be converted from closed roofs to open ones in-game), like the BMW Z4 LCI E89, the Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport, and the McLaren 570S Spider. Some models also allow for carbon parts on the hood, trunk, and wings. Once the car has been starred up at least once, the player can create custom paint job colors to the body, rims, and brake calipers for most models. Upon unlocking a car, the player can often choose from a few official stock colors or designs. The fuel quantity for each individual car is based on the max number of possible stars for that car: 3 star cars have 6 fuel, 4 star cars have 5, etc. Each car now also uses fuel when used for a race event, limiting its use for any game mode. Each car can also be customized with the new car editor feature. For each new star, the car's performance capability is increased. All cars in the game now require blueprints to unlock and later "star up", with each of them having anywhere from 3 to 6 stars. The player starts with the lowest car in the lowest class (Class D), the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X.
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Like its predecessor, each of the cars belongs to a class progressively featuring higher performance and rarity: D, C, B, A, and S. There are currently 207 cars as of the April 2023 update. There were 48 cars featured in the game when soft-launched, but the worldwide release saw the introduction of four new cars, leading to 52 cars. The gameplay in Asphalt 9 is similar to the other Asphalt Games with noticeable differences in graphics and design. Pictured is a gameplay still featuring the TouchDrive control scheme.
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Asphalt 9 makes extensive use of simulated HDR rendering and pixel shaders, as seen on the sky and specular reflections on the road surface.
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