It's not just driving - it's blisteringly fast, nerve-shatteringly intense, pure professional racing and unlike any motorsport video game before. This is Indy Racing League, the official video game of the gruelling US open-wheel championship, due spring 2003 for PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC from Codemasters.
Set to be the most accessible, exciting and entertaining open-wheel racing game designed, Indy Racing League features adrenaline-fuelled, ultra-close pack racing, with up to 33 cars racing on track, and requires total focus to handle the incredible overtaking manoeuvres at speeds well over 200mph.
Indy Racing League delivers the Indy Racing season, including the Indianapolis 500 (Indy 500) race, "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing". The season is an open-wheeled championship on short ovals and superspeedways throughout the US, including California and Texas, with the Indy 500 as the highlight of its racing calendar. Indy cars are similar to F1 but are powered by 3.5-litre V8 engines, used by all teams. Fast and furious, the 650 bhp cars reach 0-100 mph in less than three seconds.
As a game, Indy Racing League provides immediate high-paced action, authentic yet intuitive handling, spectacular collisions and a dynamically adjusted level of difficulty to keep the challenges on the circuits coming thick and fast.
To succeed in this intense motorsport, it's all about racing using real Indy Racing tactics, making for a fresh racing game challenge... Continuously overtake, defend your position, perform close manoeuvres (often within a hair's width) at high speeds, use drafting to overtake, maximise your grip in the racing line and switch fuel settings to maximise either speed or economy.
Codemasters' Indy Racing League is the only game that can feature the official cars, tracks, teams and drivers. 14 tracks, 27 cars and 15 action-packed races all in US TV-style presentation. A fully authentic Indy 500 mode features the spectacle and excitement of the most attended single-day sporting event in the world. Make it through Bump Day to compete as one of the drivers and race 500 miles on the world-famous Brickyard circuit.
Brilliant detailing makes it a hugely realistic racing challenge, with all the Indy Racing League rules and flags, right down to a dynamic track surface for which the track temperature affects grip, as does the tyre rubber burnt onto the track during the race. Accurate in-game recreations of the racing speedways even include fully animated pit crews, field marshals, clean-up crews and vehicles.
With its incredible high speeds, dangerous close pack racing, skilful on-track manoeuvres and challenging drivers, the sport of Indy Racing makes for the perfect open-wheel racing game. Capturing the championship's sense of spectacle, Indy Racing League will debut in spring 2003 for PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC. For updates on the game's continuing development, see the dedicated microsite at www.codemasters.com/indyracingleague.