Discussion First memory of Indy 500?

[Tim Wheatley]

I discovered Indy 500 in the ‘Sports Masters’ game bundle for PC, which is interesting because at the time I didn’t even own a PC! I’d grown up in the Commodore family (Vic-20, C64 then Amiga A600), but saw this game and made the purchase anyway. One of my school friends had a PC, and I traveled to his house when it was time to play it!

This software really changed my ideas of what a racing game could be in the same way it did for the magazine reviewers, and countless others like me. It had such an impact on me that one day when I was supposed to be at school for my final exams, I had forgotten and was playing this instead. I arrived 15-minutes into my French language GCSE and could feel my teachers eyes burning my back as I found a seat… The fact that many years later I worked alongside people from the credits such as David Kaemmer at iRacing and Richard Hilleman (who founded the EA sports Madden franchise) still blows my mind when I think about it.

I do believe that the vast majority of people who tried this sim never won the race once; It was incredibly difficult! Most people spent their time driving the wrong way and enjoying the shower of parts and pieces. Of course, this was a genuine tactic to cheat for a win… Because if you could take out all the cars before the race ended in one of the no-damage modes, then simply unlap yourself, you still got to see the glorious end screens and hear that intro music once again.

 

[shrapnel1977]

During playground floppy disk exchanges one of the disks that came my way was one labelled "Indy500"....

I was a veteran of REVS for many years on the BBC Micro and since we had migrated to our 386SX I was looking for a sim that even came close. Most didn't, in fact none of them did.... Till indy500.

I remember being enthralled by the setup options, but disappointed with only one, oval, track. The AI seemed very good compared to REVS but the car handling was more "on a par" than superior to it. I did (and won) many 10 and 30 lap races but the one time I did the 200 mile extravaganza during a quiet summer holiday, I did not win. I remember how initially I had felt the track was dull but started to really get to know Indianapolis, which was modelled surprisingly well, and really understand how all four corners were slightly different.

I was disappointed with there being no clutch simulation too, something that remained missing in ICR1 and 2 also, and maybe the earlier NASCAR titles. Not sure why Kaemmer thought cars didn't have clutches :roll:

Ultimately, Crammond's F1GP came along and I don't think I went back to Indy 500 after that, certainly not in any serious way.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

The crazy days of the playground with "GAMES" written on disks.

Yeah I don't think Papy had any clutch of any kind until N4, maybe? I personally ran auto clutches until maybe rF2 and AC-era!

Sadly I think Indy 500 is still the prime way to experience what the Indy 500 is, and the challenge it presents. I know we're all about the content these days but it's sad how no dev had really focused on that as an experience. There's always a major element of the real race missing that wasn't in 1989...

 

[shrapnel1977]

Sadly I think Indy 500 is still the prime way to experience what the Indy 500 is, and the challenge it presents. I know we're all about the content these days but it's sad how no dev had really focused on that as an experience. There's always a major element of the real race missing that wasn't in 1989...

I did have a livery set for the DW12 in rF2 to run at indy but the AI was no good at running in a pack so it ended up a bit of a crash fest.

I don't remember running Indy in ICR1 or 2, I guess iRacing's AI these days works quite well for the NASCAR stuff, in the fullness of time their Indycar should be available as an AI car and people will make carsets to put together a decent event.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

I don't remember running Indy in ICR1 or 2, I guess iRacing's AI these days works quite well for the NASCAR stuff, in the fullness of time their Indycar should be available as an AI car and people will make carsets to put together a decent event.

As long as you don't want to start 3-wide, I suppose... lol