Indy 500: nine of the best ways to play the famous US race in videogames

There aren’t many races where you’ll see an average lap speed of 230mph, or cars separated by a till receipt taking 12-degree bank angles like they’re not there. The Indy 500 is special, and in its 109 editions it’s seen some incredible automotive innovation. And oddly enough, the history of Indy 500 games goes back nearly as far as the event itself, provided you’re not that great at maths.

If you’ve got a hankering to load up an interactive version of the 2025 race this weekend and painstakingly slipstream your way to victory, you’re absolutely spoiled for options. Going back as far as 1977 and including some of the best contemporary racing sims of today, Indy’s always had a place in racing games. 

Not only was this the first videogame to depict the famous brickyard race, it was basically one of the first games, full stop. As such, it’s er… fair to say it lacks a bit of the nuance some later titles manage to include. 

Nuances like having more than two cars, or colours other than brown, purple and green. Still, it did feature three different game modes: the scintillatingly titled ‘standard racing’, ‘crash and score’, and ‘tag’. There was a special controller, too! It was a big circular dial. 

The beginning of a trilogy of brilliant Papyrus IndyCar games that dragged the whole racing genre up to a higher standard of simulation, just as the name suggests. The visuals were breakthrough quality for the time, as was the design approach to reflect the structure of a race weekend and tinker with setup options. 

It’s fair to say that three decades later this is no longer the most accessible or realistic way to experience IndyCar racing, but what a foundation it laid.

Making its debut in the arcades a year before it hit the newfangled Nintendo Entertainment System, this Leland/Rare effort went for a more accessible take on oval racing, with a top-down viewpoint reminiscent of the 1977 Atari game.

While the arcade version featured real circuit names, the home console edition didn’t, so your Indianapolis experience was actually taking place at the considerably less evocative ‘Trade West’.

Four years later the Papyrus Indy series came back with even better visuals (remember, this was when Nirvana was still making music) and greater authenticity. This time the developer managed to secure official licenses to nearly all cars and drivers from the 1993 IndyCar season, the only exceptions being Mario Andretti, Danny Sullivan, and the famously easygoing Nigel Mansell.

Eight circuits could be raced, either as a single event or as part of a championship season, with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway added after release in an expansion pack.

A third game followed in 1995, but sadly that would be all she wrote for the series as Papyrus shifted its attention primarily to NASCAR thereafter. 

Some fallow years followed in the late Nineties, which saw a half-decent PC release called ABC Sports Indy Racing in 1996, before this marginally better N64 racer turned up with the 1999 Indy Racing League license and 20-car grids.

As per the protocol regarding everything made in or close to the turn of the millennium, the game was given a ‘2000’ suffix. Managed a pretty decent sense of speed from the N64’s limited polygons, too. 

2003 marked the moment that old masters Codemasters would get involved in the open-wheeler oval racing action, starting with a well-regarded simcade take on the 2002 Indy Racing League season and then following it up with a 2005 sequel. 

The visuals made a big step forwards compared to previous games, thanks to the advent of the Xbox and PlayStation 2, but reviewers at the time weren’t completed sold on the action.

Now we’re talking. Developer Brain in a Jar’s take on the event was a career mode spanning a decade of innovations and drama, from 1961 to 1971. The cars’ appearance and characteristics changed according to the era, letting you live out a convincing career during the ‘rear engine revolution’ era, and the final roadster race at the brickyard in 1968. 

A Wii racer called Indianapolis 500 Legends also released two years previously, to very little fanfare. 

Let’s skip to the good stuff now. The games that still hold up today and which are realistic options for recreating the race in convincing fashion. 

Project CARS 2 doesn’t just do IndyCar, but it does it particularly well, with licensed 2017 vehicle liveries and a strong recreation of the brickyard. Time of day and weather settings are all customisable and you can, in fact, race all 500 laps of it in either solo or multiplayer if your wrists can take the punishment.

Handling an IndyCar in this sim-focused racer takes a very particular touch and the gentlest of throttle application, but the rewards are some epic races in changeable conditions, where pit strategy really becomes key.

See also: Automobilista 2’s US DLC packs. The game itself shares a lot of DNA with Project CARS 2, and the add-on content includes some nice throwback 90s vehicles and liveries, too.

Yes, technically this is a game from 2008. Yes, it’s PC only, requires a wheel, and you can only access it through a subscription-based membership. Yes, it’s basically held together with rubber bands and lolly sticks at this point. Nonetheless, iRacing is the best way to race the Indy 500 in all of gaming.

Part of that’s down to the community, who are incredibly fast, generally race very cleanly, and take events seriously. That lends a lot of immersion to the experience, as does the rigorous simulation feel of the handling model, although that does mean many hours at the brickyard are required to become truly competitive.

iRacing’s subscription model and DLC-based content means it’s quite an expensive way to race, mind you. rFactor 2 offers a cheaper way to experience it - the game costs £20 and the 2020 Indianapolis layout’s available for free.