Indianapolis 500: The Simulation
Indianapolis 500: The Simulation is a 1989 computer game, hailed as the first step to move racing games from arcade to racing simulation. It was developed by Papyrus Design Group, consisting of David Kaemmer and Omar Khudari, and distributed by Electronic Arts. It was first released for DOS and later for the Amiga in 1990. Indianapolis 500: The Simulation attempts to be a complete simulation of the Indianapolis 500 race, with 33 cars and a corresponding Indy Car "feel". During the race it offers only a first-person perspective, but the game also offers a replay mode. Indy 500 offers the possibility of setting up the car realistically, and all the changes made to the car directly affect its driving behavior. The starting field is realistically represented and the qualifying order corresponds to the starting grid of the 1989 Indianapolis 500.
Story
There are also settings for practice and qualifying. In practice, you can change the car's settings and test them in real time. If you don't participate in qualifying, you will start at the end of the field. In qualifying, four laps must be completed, with the average of the four lap times determining the qualifying position. During practice, no damage can be done to the car, although other cars may be on the track and their wrecks will remain on the track if the player's car collides with them at any time. Cars can be damaged during qualifying. The cars you can drive are a yellow Penske Chevrolet, a red Lola Buick or a blue March Cosworth, with the Penske having the fastest default setup (but if you set the car up well, any of the above race cars can keep up well). Various settings can be changed during practice in the menus of the function keys F3-F10. Your own car always has the number 17. The theme music for Indy 500 was produced by Rob Hubbard, who was new to Electronic Arts as music director at the time.