The Research & Development Update, also known as the R&D Update or the Summer's Over Update, is the v2.1.0/v2.1.3 update of Asphalt 8: Airborne, which was released on September 30th for iOS and Android, October 14th for Windows and October 20th for Nexus Player which is exactly same platform as Android, Lollipop. It added the Research & Development special event.
Announcement[]
The following text was published on the Apple Store:
- Summer's over, but the latest Asphalt 8 update will help you keep the heat going a little longer!
- LAMBORGHINI HURACÁN R&D: Test-drive the Lamborghini Huracán and complete each stage of upgrades to make this motorized marvel yours!
- 6 NEW CARS: The Lamborghini Huracán, Bentley EXP10 Speed 6 and four other super sports cars will be progressively released!
- CAR MASTERY EVENTS & REWARDS: We added more than 100 brand-new Car Mastery events! Take 'em on to earn exclusive Cars & Decals!
New Cars[]
- Class D
- Class B
- Kepler Motion (
car)
- Kepler Motion (
- Class A
- McLaren 570S - postponed to the Santa's Gift Update
- Bentley EXP10 Speed 6
- Class S
- Lamborghini Huracán (R&D)
- Cadillac 16 Concept ( 1,600)
The new cars need the following engine cards:
- i4 Engine
- SUBARU IMPREZA WRX STI (x16)
- V6 Engine
- Kepler Motion (x20)
- V8 Engine
- Bentley EXP10 Speed 6 (x20)
- Forced-Induction V8 Engine
- McLaren 570S (x12)
- V10 Engine
- Lamborghini Huracán (x16)
- V16 Engine
- Cadillac 16 Concept (x48)
Game Changes[]
- New Pro Kit Engine Card: V16 Engine
- Research & Development game mode added. It introduces new cars in a series of test drive stories, which have to be cleared within a given time span in order to receive the car for free.
- The Pro Kit Boxes section has seen a major change: the Racer Kit Box has been permanently replaced by the Super Racer Kit Box, which contains now 8 cards (instead of previously 4) and is available every 8 hours (instead of once every 24 hours).
- The Car Mastery Rewards section was expanded, and five new decal packs were added, as well as one new car reward, the Cadillac 16 Concept.
- New collection: Chevrolet
- San Diego Harbor, Sector 8, and Tenerife tracks are now available in Quick Solo Race.
- The San Diego Harbor tracks were changed to include additional containers that would make a shortcut harder. This change was reverted in the subsequent update.
- The McLaren P1™ GTR's drift radius was fixed.
- The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X has been considerably buffed from its Car Mastery Update rendition.
- Glitches surrounding the Ferrari 330 P4 and its random tendency to do stunts have been fixed.
- Metal Effects now available on Android (graphics setting must be set to "Very High"). Compatible devices include any flagship/high-end Android smartphone (e.g. Samsung Galaxy Note 5, LG G4).
- It is also possible via rooting to install the Metal Effects on any Android phone that otherwise doesn't support the Metal Effects.
- The glitch in the Car Mastery pre-race cut-scene with the distorted layer on the iOS version of the game has been fixed; it displays now correctly.
- Several changes were made to Car Mastery.
- Many Car Mastery Rewards were reduced or removed:
- Camaro Z/28 Nitro Starter reduced from 24x to 6x, Tuning Kit from 16x to 4x, Extra Tank from 12x to 3x(!)
- Datsun 280Z Extra Tank reward is reduced from 12 to 6
- Renault DeZir Class D free upgrade is reduced from 3 to 1
- Ford F-150 Class D free upgrade is reduced from 2 to 1
- Renault CLIO R.S. 200 EDC Class D free upgrade is reduced from 2 to 1
- Lamborghini Urus Class B free upgrade is reduced to 2x Nitro Starter
- SRT 2013 Dodge Challenger SRT8 Class C free upgrade is reduced from 2 to 1
- Ferrari Testarossa Class B free upgrade is reduced from 3 to 1
- Aston Martin DB9 Coupé Class B free upgrade is reduced from 2 to 1
- Aston Martin V12 Zagato Class B free upgrade is reduced from 2 to 1
- Nissan GT-R (R35) Class A free upgrade reduced to 2x Nitro Starter
- Mercedes-Benz Biome Class B free upgrade is reduced from 2 to 1
- Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560-4 2013 Class B free upgrade reduced from 2 to 1, and 2x Class A upgrade reduced to 2x Nitro Starter
- Ford Shelby GT500 Challenge 10, Class B free upgrade is reduced from 2 to 1
- Chevrolet Corvette C7 Class A free upgrade is reduced from 2 to 1
- Ferrari F12berlinetta Class A free upgrade is reduced from 2 to 1
- RUF RT 12 S challenge 10, Class A free upgrade is reduced from 3 to 1
- Lamborghini Sesto Elemento Class S free upgrade reduced to 3x Nitro Starter.
- Many of the Mastery challenges' first place credit rewards were reduced with the exception of the last Challenge.
- In Mastery, the base credits used to be at a regular increment. This is no longer the case, it is impossible to calculate the base credits of a given challenge from the interval of the first and the second challenge.
- In Mastery, only the first two races are now available at the starting rank, whereas the first five were previously available.
- If the player previously completed Challenge 3, 4 or 5 without upgrading their car before updating to the Research & Development Update, the race would still be replayable.
- Many Car Mastery Rewards were reduced or removed:
- Decals added for Datsun 280Z and McLaren 675LT.
Events[]
- Lamborghini Huracán R&D October 1, 2015
Trivia[]
- The in-game ad for the trailer of the new update depicts the Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4 and the Audi R8 LMS Ultra, which were the stars of the Tenerife Update, released in May, with the same artwork.
- The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X was originally included in the Hot Summer Update but wasn't released until the Research & Development Update.
- However, players in Russia (and surrounding regions) could obtain the car via a special cup prior to this update.
- This is the first update to add Class S cars with a Speed Mod of 100% (two, joining the Lamborghini Veneno that was available since release).
- The icon for this update features the McLaren P1™ GTR, introduced in the previous update. Having been used for eight updates (Research & Development Update, Enduro Update, Rio de Janeiro Update, Multiplayer League Update, Lunar New Year 2017 Update, Car Blueprints Update, Munich Update, and Asphalt Moments Update), this icon has since become the game's most used icon, surpassing the release icon featuring the Lamborghini Veneno.
- It is also one of several icons used in the game to have a widescreen (5:3) aspect ratio variant.
Bugs[]
- Sudden Wrecks: Upon landing correctly or slightly touching the border, the car wrecked. There had always been a slight chance for an unmotivated wreck in the previous versions, but it had increased greatly with this update. This has since been fixed in the Santa's Gift Update.
- Tokens/Licenses Become Credits: On the Android version of the game, it was reported that should the Internet connection be weak, cars available only for Tokens or Licenses suddenly became available for Credits with the same number of Credits. Examples include a McLaren P1™ GTR suddenly becoming available for 14,500 (as a reference, this is the price of an Aston Martin DB9 Coupé), as well as the Shelby Cobra 427 becoming available for 1,050.
- Game Center Freeze: For iOS, Game Center became very slow with iOS 9.0. Upon connection with Game Center, the game became unresponsive for a random amount of time (up to 20 seconds). As a side effect, Events were unavailable for several minutes even though the device was connected to WiFi. This was actually a bug of iOS that has been fixed since iOS 9.1.
- Random Skid/Bump: The car would start drifting or jumping for no apparent reason. A prominent example was in Tokyo Reverse, where the sidewalk bump was increased to an amount that made the track nigh impossible for certain cars.
- Resource Needs: On older Android and Windows 8.1 devices, the game had issues with lag, making it virtually impossible to play. Lowering the graphic effects in the setting menu helped, but didn't fix the problem. Upon playing the same level again, there were no issues anymore.
- Suicidal R&D AI: In certain R&D tests, opponents try to hinder the player from reaching their goals only to wreck themselves in the process, earning them the nickname "Suicidal AI".
