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#1 anbeck

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Posted 08 May 2008 - 15:13

Hi there!

Every year in May I feel the need to play the old Indianapolis 500 - The Simulation game (http://en.wikipedia...._The_Simulation). It's from 1989, needs DosBox to run, the graphics are not up to current standards (to put it that way....), BUT it is one of the best open-wheel games EVER sold.

It is extremeley challenging and realisitic for its pediod. I'd prefer it any given day over Indy Car Racing 1 and 2 and any other US OWR game.

Is anybody here playing it as well?

I always take the Penske. My best time in free pratice this year was a 39.69secs, which equals 226.75 MPH (that is so cool that it matches the current speeds quite well). My best qualy effort was 224.27 MPH, good enough for 5th Position on the grid.
From there on I usually take position 4 into turn one. As the AI drivers change a bit from race to race it is hard to know whether I am able to challenge the faster ones or not. When they don't have a good day, I can win a 10 lap race :clap:

Okay, I will now return to my third day of practice! I hope anybody here plays this game, I'd like to know what other folks think of it!

a.

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#2 BorderReiver

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Posted 08 May 2008 - 21:36

It's an utter classic, arguably the first "real" racing simulator (though REVS is worth a mention in that regard). And of course it set Papy on their was really.

I too loved the Penske :D.

#3 Arska

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Posted 08 May 2008 - 23:12

Can you use an analog joystick or something else for steering? When I played it with keys as steering (around 1989-90), it wasn't that great. Afterwards I got the game for Amiga and was able to use a mouse for steering. That was so much better, I think I did a 37.02 at best.

#4 Nikos Spagnol

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Posted 09 May 2008 - 03:13

Did any of you ever know someone baddass enough to race a complete 200 laps race in Indy 500?

Back in the day, we struggled to finnish the 30 laps race without any serious incident. And the 60 laps race, which necessarially included at least one pit-stop, was the real challenger. I vividly remember a friend of mine, preparing to race in the 60 laps race. He even phoned me at home just to report "Damn, I crashed on lap 43!"

But the 200 laps were just insane...

#5 Dan F

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Posted 09 May 2008 - 07:04

Yup, I did a couple of 500 milers on the Amiga back in the day. Great game, wish I still had a copy though sure I'd be let down now ;)

#6 anbeck

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Posted 09 May 2008 - 13:10

Cool, I lowered my fastest lap to a 39.21 and got pole with an average of 227.84, but as far as the longer races are concerned... :wave:

I even find the 10 laps a challenge. As soon as lapping the slower cars begins, I crash in 50% of the races. I have a car that is balanced as long as there's no traffic, but the slowest cars are incredibly slow... If I don't get past them on a straight, it might get crowded in a corner, and braking or fast steering isn't exactly what you want in this giant soup bowl.
I even got torpedoed by my Penske team mate who apparently didn't want to slow down for traffic...

30 laps should be something finishable, but I never got it right. 60 laps is difficult: For me the challenge is the car's balance. The 10-lap race can be done with a qualy-setup, but for the 60 laps you need a real race setup. And with a range from 40 to 2 gallons of fuel, the balance changes quite a lot. You only have the anti-roll-bars to counter this, but I don't seem to handle them well.
Normally this is the reason for my crashes in the longer races: the balance changes, I fiddle with the ARBs, the balance gets even worse and I touch the wall.

I drive with keyboard only. Isn't really great, because I don't have the brakes (on my laptop I have to push a function key to have access to the num pad, but when I do this and I want to touch the F-keys to look at the temperatures, etc, I shut down windows and other bizarre things happen, LCD off, etc. :mad: So I have to use the arrow keys, but the brake is on the num 5, so braking can only be done by the reverse gear (arrow down) or a quick function + I key, pfff).

Well, I'll do some more practice days and hope do finish a 60-lapper this weekend!

#7 Nikos Spagnol

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Posted 10 May 2008 - 06:55

Backmakers in Indy 500 can be a pain in the ass.

If you're running among the leaders you'll probably catch the first backmakers around lap 4 or 5. So in lap 9-10 you'll be catching them for the second time, while lapping people around 12th position.

And the fasters AI (?) cars will not slow down, they may hit you from behind if you hesitate too much on doing a overtake.

#8 ghinzani

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Posted 08 September 2008 - 06:59

I preffered the Lola-Buick myself, and I only ever finished the 500 twice in about 4 or 5 years of hard trying whilst at Uni. One of those occasions involved losing front wheels in a shunt on the back straight and still getting to the pits (very slowly) , changing them and making the laps back up (tip - nudge cars to create yellow flags when uve gained a lap on the leaders!).

#9 Ross Stonefeld

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Posted 08 September 2008 - 07:41

I always used the Penske because it had that ultra go-fast digital dashboard.


Was it Indy500 or ICR2 where difference chassis actually gave you different rev limits. Which I never understood.

My Penske-Honda-Firestone in ICR2 was the greatest race car, ever.

#10 mahelgel

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Posted 08 September 2008 - 15:32

Usually drove the lola-buick, and steering with the mouse on the Amiga. The mouse had analouge steering, but the joystick was digital, so to get the fine adjustments you had to use the mouse...

Was great fun, and although i didn't complete the 200laps, i did complete the others.

never drove it much on the PC though, but i guess it was pretty much the same :)

#11 ghinzani

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Posted 08 September 2008 - 16:06

Originally posted by Ross Stonefeld
I always used the Penske because it had that ultra go-fast digital dashboard.


Was it Indy500 or ICR2 where difference chassis actually gave you different rev limits. Which I never understood.

My Penske-Honda-Firestone in ICR2 was the greatest race car, ever.


I dont think the Buick revved as high, I guess a reflection of its stockblock engine?