Best Racing Games From the Asphalt Series

I've never played any of the other Asphalt games, but this game has superior graphics and gameplay. However, it has many downsides:
-Pay to play: there comes the time where you must farm A LOT of credits/tokens for what you want. In addition to the R&D (basically an excuse to use up all your tokens).
-Hackers: there have never been more hackers on the Time Limited Events; it's crazy.
-Banning innocent players; while never banning the hackers
-Little customer support from Gameloft
This together may explain why which is why Asphalt 8 at #8 right now.

Why is 8 at 8?! This is the best game in the Asphalt series! No crazy screen movements, cars blowing up during a knockdown, and barrel rolls! Need I say more?