The Indy 500 Review
I have fond memories of this game from when I 1st went to Intencity at Hurstville. It was one of Sega’s arcade games that never got a home console conversion, which is a pity, because it would have been a pretty good Saturn title. Even on the Dreamcast, even though it was 3 years later.
The game features 3 tracks, one of which is the real Indianapolis course and also the most simple. The Highland Raceway seems to be the medium difficulty track, and so far is the only one I can finish in 1st. The most difficult is the Bay Side Street track, which requires a lot of concentration, especially in manual transmission. And manual you will want to use, because automatic is just too slow. There is one choice of car, but you can also race as the pace car with a little cheat. Just hold Start + the brake while choosing transmission, and keep them held. During the race, you can also press the Start button to enable opponent car numbering.
The car handling is pretty good all ’round, but with open wheels, you’ll want to avoid rubbing
into other cars. Ocassional crashes on the Indy 500 track can be quite dangerous if you come speeding up to them, so you need to keep an eye out for accidents.
All the tracks have a rolling start, so you’re up and going straight away. This doesn’t mean that you start in top gear though, so if you’re driving in manual, be ready to change gears from the get-go.
Sega World in Sydney had a medium attraction sized dealie of this game, for 8 players, which was fabulous, and it was also available down to a small twin cabinet as well, which had blue seats, if I remember right. There was also a normal screen and wide screen version, which could be set up in the service mode.
If you complete a race in 1st, you get a greyscale finish bit, with some yacking about driving legends setting reconds, and then a different winner’s cup on the name entry screen.
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Indy 500 track
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Highland Raceway
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Bay Side Street
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Graphics: For 1995, this was very impressive. Good draw distances, shadowy areas and interesting courses and details. 95%
Animation: Smooth and fast with a little bit of interesting background stufff happening. The Bay Side Street course has jets going over on lap 2 I think and you’ll spot an airship on the Indy 500 course too. 90%
Sound: Decent music, which is lightly memorable. Engine sounds and tyres skidding make up for some of the other effects. 88%
Playability: Easy to control cars and decent physics I suppose. Hitting other cars can be a bit risky. 93%
Lastability: You’ll come back for more to improve and get better times. 86%
Overall: A great Model 2 board game that’s probably somewhat forgotten now. Worth having a go of, if you spot it somewhere. 94%
