Well-known publisher Codemasters has some really good titles coming up for release so it was time for them to get some publicity going. Positive remarks, good (p)reviews and bringing game-info to the public are essential in making a game succesful, aren’t they ? And thus it came that about a week ago, the créme-de-la-créme of the Belgian and Dutch gamingpress were invited to a press-event… All four of us showed up :-) Yours truly represented the whole of the Belgian gamingpress.

The aim of the event, organised at the Race & Rally Int. motorsport show, was to present one of their upcoming titles: Indy Racing League. And Ladies and Gentlemen… I was amazed. But more on that a bit later :-)

I had the opportunity to ask Codemasters’ Benelux manager Jurri some questions on their upcoming title. First of all, I wanted to know… why Indycar ? Why release an Indy race game in a Formula 1 continent ? He gave me 3 sound points:
1) there are already a lot of Formula 1 games on the market – very true.
2) Indycar racing is not just driving around in ovals, it’s about technique, endurance, concentration and…
3) Speed !!!

Codemasters showed us a (limited) working demo and we even had the chance to test drive it. All I can say is … WOW. The gamer really gets the feeling of driving at amazing high speeds. There are different camera angles of course, but if you play the game from the race driver’s point of view (= the inside of the car on your hud), the sheer velocity you experience as a player is amazing ! If you prefer playing from a ‘front bumper’ point of view (with nothing but the racetrack and other cars on your hud) … you could quite possibly go crazy :-). Now, you might think that I’m exaggerating here… but all I can tell you is what I saw. I immediately made a comparison with Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 and Auto Modellista. Those two being the games that up till now made me experience speed in a decent way. Only… this demo went way beyond that…

Now, it’s important to know that Indy Racing League will be targeted at both arcade- and simulation lovers. The developers made sure that just-start-the-game-and-drive players will have loads of fun with this game. But at the same time, the very demanding player will be able to finetune just about everything on his lean mean racing machine. And that will be important ! Because (I didn’t know - I admit) in the Indycar racingworld, all cars are technically the same ! All cars have the same type of engine, chassis, weight etc… So it’s really the driver that has to show how good he can drive and tune his car. Play this singleplayer, on a LAN or over the internet and show your buddies just how good a driver you are :-)

Other fine features will include 14 circuits, 27 Indycars and 15 races, including the famous Indianapolis 500. An unbelievable amount of fine-tuning possiblities and TV-style race presentations. Just to stress the high-speed velocity the game gives you… 150km/h in just 3,5 seconds (that’s +/- 100miles/hour for the Brits :-). But what I really really like is the fact that they’ve taken the time and effort to get 27 official car-licenses… so the cars look real too !

Codemasters Benelux realise that there is no Indycar tradition in Europe, but they also know that they’ve got a game on their hands that just might become a hit amongst racing gamers. They are taking the chance by bringing a piece of North-American culture to Europe, but with what I saw… I’m giving it a good chance. We can only hope to get a previewcopy :-)

The official site.
Much thanks goes out to Inge from TCC for letting me borrow her digital camera :-)