Indianapolis 500
Papyrus/Electronic Arts(1989)

GAME DESCRIPTION

(Description and pictures by Ian Seely (Thanks Heaps))

Back then Papyrus was published by EA, then they went to Virgin for ICR 1, and sierra for all work since. I bow down to this game. Compared to today's games, the graphics and AI are poor, but at the time it was amazing. It was only the third game I bought which simulated proper professional racing(Not like Test Drive). The first
two were Grand Prix Circuit and Lombard Rally(later to be sequelled by Network Q Rally, then Rally Championship, then International Rally Championship(not yet in the US, I don't know why they stopped using real tracks, guess we have to wait for Colin McRae)), more on those at a later date. It was only the second I have which was polygon based(after Vette, later), though obviously not textured yet. The opponent cars can be matched to the real cars that ran at Indy in 1989 by their colors and approximate starting position. It was the first game I had which supported AdLib sound. Now we need an AWE64 Gold and Voodoo2 to play the games.

Now, why this game was great. It was the first game to have banked turns. It was the first game with a replay system, multiple cameras no less, some
games within the last year still don't have that. It was the first game with car setups. You could adjust shocks, turbo boost, tyre compounds and
pressures, stagger, gear ratios, wings, roll bars and camber. Although each only had 10 or fewer settings, more for gears, but all four ratios were
adjusted together, they all functioned as expected, basically a simplified version of ICR 1(gee, I wonder why). You could even save three setups. Three
cars were available, March/Cosworth, Lola/Buick, and Penske/Chevrolet. The March is too slow to compete. The Buick engine runs hot and requires very
long gearing to prevent overheating, too long to have decent acceleration. The Penske is fast, reliable, and handles well, it is the only car to use.
The game allowed four different race lengths, and damage could be disabled. This was the first true simulation with accurate cars, a functional garage,
and an accurate track. Its success spured the growth of one of today's best programing houses.

One odd note, it only had Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

DEMO

CHEATS

PATCHES

LINKS TO OTHER INDIANAPOLIS 500 SITES

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