I want you to think back for a moment, to a better time in sports games. You know, before EA owned the entire world of ‘em? When there was true innovation in every game you played? Racing games are no different, and outside of EA (really, I can play NASCAR Chase For The Cup 05 and feel like I’m missing nothing), that innovation has been there for twenty years, and even more so in the world of open wheel racers. From the first time I played Pitstop 2 for the Commodore 64, to the last time I tinkered with Indycar Series on the XBox, these games have pushed forward, generally not constrained to the need of a yearly rendition.

To this effect, I bring you one of the finest simulations the PC’s ever seen … and it existed before 1990, and you could play it well on a 386. Even scarier, this game was published by Electronic Arts, when they teamed up with Papyrus, the company who later made a spectacular series of NASCAR and IndyCar games that were by far the best the PC had to offer in the 90’s … Indianapolis 500: The Simulation.

We take for granted a lot of the stuff that this game offered nearly twenty years ago … the ability to tweak any aspect of the car you wanted, realistic car damage, amazing renditions of speed, and 33-car competition. This game had that. I recall playing it all the time in high school on their 386 machines, constantly tweaking my car for the most speed I could, constantly having issues blowing engines on a couple of the models when I tuned the car up too far. I don’t even recall the newer games having issues with a car tuned up and blowing the engine!

I’ll post a link to this game as soon as I find it. While I’m sure the suits at EA won’t like it, eighteen years likely qualifies as abandonware!