Indianapolis 500 is the first racing game by Papyrus Design Group, designers of modern-day classics like NASCAR Racing and IndyCar Racing.
It's basically an excellent 3D simulation of the 25-mile Indianapolis 500. Not a simple arcade racer, where fast reactions are enough to lead to success, but a - for its time - very detailed simulation with great graphics, nice music and sounds by Rob Hubbard and many aspects of the racing-car open for modification. A great classic. Sadly, the game features only the Indy 500 track with no possibility to edit or add new ones. Here is some more information from MobyGames:
Indy 500's graphics are simply stunning considering the system requirements. You cannot find a PC that won't run this game well. The sound is also quite good; if you have an Adlib or Sound Blaster, the engine sounds are amazingly realistic. That's not to say Indy 500 is an arcade game--when it says "simulation", it means it. You can adjust your spoiler, outer and inner tire pressure, and even the amount of fuel you have in your tank to shave precious seconds off of your lap. Also, the physics are true to life: If you enter a corner too fast, centrifugal force pushes you to the outside of the track, tires squealing.
Two thumbs up for this classic that is a forerunner to Papyrus' immensely successful racing series that continues to this day with NASCAR 4 and beyond.
Review By HOTUD
English 
Comments and reviews
REcuerdo jugar a esto en mi infancia, sin lugar a dudas, todavía me hace sudar para quedar en primer puesto. Un juego muy adelantado a su tiempo y que a dia de hoy presume de una gran jugabilidad.
For when this was made, it's genuinely insane. I remember being 5 and having to run this on DOS, complete with the giant printout of papers to get past copy-protection in the beginning lolol
I bought this game on an Amiga 500 in 1990 I think, I read that manual cover to cover and played religiously, it was the first ever proper racing simulator I could ever afford after lusting for years over the! C micro game REVS and not bring able to afford a computer back then. Then watching various PC racing games I couldn't afford. Finally I got the Amiga and grabbed this game. It took me a YEAR before I got a 1st place finish and I swear it was and still is my greatest feeling of achievement in any racing game. No other game was ever so hard or demanding of time and effort. Even GP legends later on a PC which I eventually owned and played to death, loved too, was not as hard to win. Seems to me games designers have lost the art of making legendary titles like these. The perfect balance of difficulty vs fun and feeling of skill rewards. Ahhh how I miss gaming like that. Thanks for this site and the chance to hear and see this running again. Brought a tear to my eye!!! magical.
Remember playing this loads and doing quite well right up until too much dust got into the ball cavity of the mouse, causing me to crash as it became unresponsive. Still one of the best race sims to this day though
This game caused me to buy my first PC. During the Indy 500 telecast they showed Emerson Fittipaldi playing this game. The next week I was out buying my first PC for $3000. DX486 if I remember correctly.
Pure happiness
This is one game my brother & I played for hours just trying to get the setups of the cars right. My brother could win the first two levels of races but I only managed the 10 lap one occasionally.
Fantástico juego.
Lo disfrute en Commodore amiga y después de mil intentos conseguí ganar la Indy 500.
One of the first games I played back in those days. A friend made a copy for me in one of those 5 1/4 floppy disks. We played games in 8088 4.77Mhz machine with monochrome CGA screen, no hard disk.
This is one of the best ever simulation (i told ever considering the actual one). I remember if you don't prepare the car you never win the race. The firs ever win on 30 laps race i do on myself prepared Buick (the red car).
I still play it sometime on dosbox
That was one of the most challenging experiences I had in my teenage years. I loved to find the perfect settings for each car and the concentration t required to finish the 200 laps.
I have some tips for the DOS version:
You can change the game's video mode and sound system by launching it with certain command line switches:
To use adlib sound, type "indy /a"
To use CGA graphics, type "indy /c"
To use EGA graphics, type "indy /e"
To use MCGA graphics, type "indy /m"
To use Roland sound, you would supposedly type "indy /r", but that causes the game to freeze without starting for me.
To disable sound, type "indy /s"
To use Tandy sound and graphics, type 'indy /t". This only works if DOSbox is properly configured to use Tandy graphics and sound.
Download WinUAE (Amiga emulator) and get the Amiga version. So much better than PC.
I played it over and over sometimes crashing at lap #75 sometimes at #110. One day, just one day - I remember it clearly - I managed to win the 200 laps.. In one of the pauses of 5 min I took to relieve the cramps in my right hand I called my brother and his friend Benno to watch the last 25 laps... and they witnessed me winning the Indy 500!! Gosh it felt amazing and it was truly a lifetime achievement. Never again I did it.
Oh what good was the good old times
I love this game, bought it a long time ago when it came in a pack along with Gunship 2000 and Jetfighter. Only thing which is a pain is the copy protection of having to refer to the manual when you start the game. I enjoyed playing the 10 laps, no car damage to see how many other cars I could take out. I often either ran the wrong way around the track or littered the main track along the pits with wrecked cars until all the other cars were wrecked, too. The instant replays are fun to watch.
Awsome game. I got this game as a birthday gift when I was 9 and I still play it to this day. Came up with a set up that had me pushing a 240mph top speed.
EDIT: manual added, thx fdisk ;)
Spent many a time using pushing crashed cars into a wall and replaying the pack collisions when it was timed in such a way that about 10-15 cars all piled into the debris of cars lined up across the track that had crashed from previous laps.
Absolutely love it!.
I remember how epic it was playing the 200 laps race...
Best race game I played ever.
The graphics were very fluent for its time, and you could really sense the adjustments you'd made. Still, my fave activity was to select a quick race, turn around, and try to organize such massive collisions that only I finished the race.
Wow, that was fun - in any aspects: camera angles, collisions, action replay, speed, car tuning and Roland sound support. No, I meant, it was really fun these days. Best game of Papyrus imo.
runs very slow for me
My very favorite racing simulator back in the day.. I loved this game!
A GREAT Game!! hours of fun in this one!!
No comment nor review for this game at the moment.