THE GAME PAD REVIEW REALM

ABC SPORTS INDY RACING-ROAD TO THE INDIANAPOLIS 500

Look ma, no brakes! That is what you will soon be saying, if you take the plunge and purchase this game. I had hoped for somewhat of a sim and instead ended up with an arcade experience with very few sim options. You don't even need to use your car's brakes to race in this game. You probably won't do very well if you do! To give an example of the arcadish car physics, let's look at an example of my driving at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. As a test I timed how much my car slowed when letting off the accelerator while doing 180mph. The car slows from 180 to 150 in 1 second and from 180 to 100 in approx 3 seconds! Gimme a break-or should I say brakes! The car slows so rapidly that it isn't necessary or desirable to even use your brakes, because by the time you apply them your car has slowed down too much. You could try powerbraking but this isn't usually desirable. I also tried racing with the autobrake help on-not much difference.

GRAPHICS

The graphics are fairly well-done, although our STB 128 Riva card did not really do too well. There was alot of polygon breakup ,clipping and late screen draw in. After changing the setting for the game(to use the Canopus Pure 3dfx card) it was fine. The graphics look about average for Direct3d graphics-about on a par with CART Precision Racing. You can judge these screenshots for yourself. The framerates on our PII-300 system were great. I didn't see a framecounter, but would guess they were well over 30fps with full-detail. The highest setting in the game is 20 but I am sure we are getting much higher than that. We ran at 640x480. There are also a couple of lower settings for lesser machines. The minimum recommended is a P166 though. The sprint cars running at night look pretty cool and the lights reflect off the cars for a cool effect. Too bad they didn't model flying chunks of dirt! The trees are just big globs of pixels?!

Graphics score-7

SOUND

The sound is actually pretty good, although the engine sounds could be stronger. The announcer and crewchief/spotter are nice touches and offer helpful advice quite often. The crowd sounds are well done. No problen detecting the AWE 64.

Sound score-9

AI

What AI? I can't seem to find any in this game, at least not from the computer drivers. They pretty much go around the track oblivious to your presence. If you are a few mph off the pace, they will rear end your car. As a little test, I stopped on the front-stretch at Indy to see how many cars would hit my car. Most of them would veer to the side but several would slow down to about 10mph and simply ram me head on...over and over until they pushed me aside. Of course that brings up my next complaint. They can ram you over and over because there is hardly any damage model. Not only can you not SEE any physical damage after ramming a wall head-on at 220mph, but after you have flipped end-over-end (with full realism settings) you can continue to race with very little performance degradation! In fact one of the fastest laps I ran was after a couple or end-over-ends like that! Perhaps an AI patch is in order?! Come on ABC interactive, Please?!

AI Score-3

GAMEPLAY

As mentioned earlier, this is NOT A SIM! This is an arcade game with some sim style OPTIONS, such as car settings. The physics model of the IRL cars falls about half way between arcade and sim. The Sprints and midgets feel more realistic, although with them you cannot alter any of the cars settings, not even steering-lock. In fact the game has no steering lock or sensitivity that I have found! There are several adjustments that can be made to the IRL cars. Engines type, wing height, chassis,stagger,gearratios,suspension, tire pressure and tire compond. As far as gameplay goes, I just don't find the IRL part much fun. Would Indycar 2 or Nascar2 be much fun with dumb AI and arcadish physics? That is the main difference between this game and those. The sprint/midget option is a blast though! Of course I have always yearned for a dirt track sim and while this isn't a sim- it is still pretty fun, doin' it sideways in the dirt. I think that in multiplayer the sprint cars would be a blast. Apparently Mplayer is offering multiplayer capability. We will definately update this review after trying it out! All your favorite IRL and past and present Sprint/midget drivers are represented here although the AI seems equal for all drivers, other than some are simply faster than others. There are several tracks to choose from in IRL mode-Disney World, Indy, Texas Motor Speedway, Pikes Peak, Charlotte, New Hamphire, and Las Vegas. In the Sprint/midget section there are Indianapolis Raceway Park, Phoenix, Terre Haute, Eldora and Winchester. Pushin' the cushion in a srint at Eldora is very cool and they even got the covered white grandstand right! "Road To Indy" offers a cockpit view, a full-screen view and a couple of behind the car views. They are all playable. The game has a replay option in which you can view your race from the different views.

Gameplay score-6

Interface/Controls

The Interface is great and well laid out.Controls are fine as long as one is using a wheel/pedal combination. Control was good with a Trhustmaster T2. Would be much better with steering sensitivity and wheel lock control though.

Interface/control score-7

Summary

I cannot recommend this game unless you are an avid IRL or sprint car/midget fan. Personally I did not find the payoff/fun-factor high enough in this game to warrent spending hours tweeking the IRL car setups. I doubt many people will. I find the sprint cars enjoyable enough that I don't mind having spent the $35 for it though. The bottom line is that this game falls in that no-mans land between sim and arcade games;it does neither one well enough to recommend it.

FINAL VERDICT-6.6

Here are some screenshots from this game. All are 3dfx accelerated.

IRL IMS JPEG
IRL Las Vegas JPEG
IRL Eldora Sprint-Doin' It in the dirt!
IRL Winchester-Asphault Sprint action

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