There are a few good points to this title and I think that they are valid and worth mentioning. At some of the tracks the AI are quite aggressive and even when you pass them, they don't disappear behind you. The actual sounds of the cars are spot on. The menus to get into and out of the race are simply and effective. There are options to run races at 10 laps, 20 laps, Quarter-length, Half-length and Full race, which depicts the actual IRL race at each particular venue. Although I don't feel the need to be asked twice if I'm sure I want to exit or move on to another track but the process would eliminate some accidental keystrokes. The tracks are well defined, accurate as to shape and size and look correct. All of the buildings and surroundings of the tracks are in their proper places and well modeled. The sky textures at many of the tracks are visually pleasing but there seems to be a commonality to the weather throughout the series. Meaning that the weather is fixed at one scenario at every venue. The Richmond race is run at night, which one would expect to see stars and the moon seeing as how the weather is clear at the other tracks. The team logos are correctly represented so you definitely get the visual sense that you are an IRL competitor, although about the only time you can clearly view the other car textures is during a pit stop or while viewing a replay. And lastly at some of the tracks where you can simply lift off the accelerator to allow the car to turn in, the actual driving of the cars is pleasant and fun. At tracks such as Miami, Richmond and Phoenix where you would normally use the brakes to set the chassis for the corner, the physics of the cars simply don't match and the player's car is absolutely at a disadvantage to the AI. The brakes are absolutely worthless throughout the game. There is a mention in the Master Class tutorial about not using the brakes but I assure you at tracks like Richmond and Phoenix, you need them. Just a slight touch of the brakes at any track and the left front tire is locked solid. I also noticed that after you release the brake, that the left front wheel stays locked for a few milliseconds after you let off the pedal. This could have been an issue with the interim pedal set that I was using however I seriously doubt it and I certainly wasn't about to spend another 20 minutes trying to configure another set.

One of the races that I ran at Chicagoland Speedway, I clouted the wall but was able to continue with a damaged wheel. The odd part was that I actually ran my fastest lap with a damaged right front and there was definitely no sensation of the vibrating wheel input to the Force Feedback. Going down the straight at 220 MPH with the right front tire jumping off the ground, one would certainly expect some sort of input back to the wheel. You also wouldn't expect to be able to make the corner with damage like that either. When there is contact with another car or your car is merely damaged due to contact with the wall, the caution flag never waves in any mode of the game. The player is either ejected from the race by irreparable damage, or destined to struggle on behind the field with no possible means to catch up. The game will implement the black flag if you jump the start, but that's the only time I saw anything but green. Then when my car was sent to the pit to serve the stop and go penalty, even though I had damage to my car, there was no option to fix it. The player is driven out on the track by the game and you must pit again to repair the damage. That is providing you make it back around.

I don't generally rate games in a review. Some reviewers like to give a score but at times I think people go right to the score and skip the article itself. I feel it's important to just explain the things I see and describe them the best I can. If I were to give Indy Car Series a rating, it would be: incomplete because there are just too many things missing in a game of this caliber. With such a competitive series to emulate as the IRL and with the inclusion of the Indy 500, you just have to do a better job than Brain in a Jar has done with this title. In this day and time it is inexcusable to omit a controller calibration applet with the wide array of controllers that are on the market today. If you fail to connect the player to the game, you can never expect that player to continue on and play. I also believe that today's racing games must include a multiplayer function. After all, it is a racing game built with competition in mind and the PC-gamers expect to be able to race other humans. There are some good features and implementations in this title but the bad far outweigh the good. I even searched other forums to see if someone out there had discovered something in this title that would bring some life back to it. Unfortunately it seems that most of the topics related to Indy Car Series died only a few short months after it was released. That right there tells a big part of the story. But there is one bright point in all of this. I just found 500Mb of hard drive space that I didn't have before and I have two brand new coffee coasters to put into circulation.