Michael Andretti's Indy Car Challenge

Overview

Michael Andretti's Indy Car Challenge is an open-wheel racing game based on the Champ Car (then known as CART, or Champion Auto Racing Teams) circuit that was released for the Super Nintendo in both Japan and the US, with the US version being released first. The game was endorsed by 1991 Champ Car champion Michael Andretti. The player takes part in a series of sixteen races in the single-player mode across Australia and the US, and can customize their vehicle before each race with regards to tire pressure and gear ratio.

Gameplay

Michael Andretti's Indy Car Challenge is a standard racing game in most respects with the player controlling the car with the D-pad, while accelerating with the X button, moving in reverse with Y button and braking with the A button. If using a manual transmission car, the R button is used to shift up and the L button to shift down. The player must also keep an eye on their fuel gauge or else the race will end prematurely. To refill the fuel gauge, the player must drive into the pit, and after several seconds goes by the pit crew will change the car's tires and refill the fuel gauge. There are also two difficulties: normal and pro. Normal is the default difficulty and can be changed in the options menu. The game also has no save feature and instead relies on a password system which is provided at the end of each championship mode race. The passwords that are given in the Championship mode can then be entered later on the main menu.

There are three distinct modes of play in Michael Andretti's Indy Car Challenge. In each of these modes the player is given advice by Micheal Andretti for the track they are about to race on, and are given an option to choose between a default setting or custom setting. The default setting is Michael Andretti's recommendation setting for the current track, while the custom setting is made to change the car's balance (tire pressure), top speed (down force), and acceleration (gear ratio) from the default recommendations.

Modes of Play

Championship

Championship mode is a series of 16 races that starts in Australia and ends in Monterey, California with a majority of the races taking place in the United States and a few in Canada. Before every race the player can complete a qualifying race to determine their stating position. At the end of every race the player is given a points total for the position they placed in. The driver with the most points at the end of the circuit is declared the winner.

Practice

Just as it sounds, Practice mode allows the player to practice for 5 laps on any of the 16 tracks in the game.

Versus

Versus is a two-player head to head mode where two human players can compete against each other on any of the tracks in the game.

Tracks

The 16 tracks below are in order of how they are played in the Championship mode.

• Australia
• Type: S. Circuit
• Length: 2.79 Miles

• Phoenix
• Type: Oval
• Length: 1.00 Miles

• Long Beach
• Type: S. Circuit
• Length: 1.59 Miles

• Indianapolis
• Type: Oval
• Length: 2.50 Miles

• Milwaukee
• Type: Oval
• Length: 1.00 Miles

• Detroit
• Type: S. Circuit
• Length 2.10 Miles

• Portland
• Type: R. Course
• Length: 1.95

• Cleveland
• Type: R. Course
• Length: 2.37 Miles

• Toronto
• Type: S. Circuit
• Length: 1.78 Miles

• Michigan
• Type: Oval
• Length: 2.00 Miles

• Ohio
• Type: R. Course
• Length: 2.24 Miles

• New Hampshire
• Type: Oval
• Length: 1.06 Miles

• Vancouver
• Type: S. Circuit
• Length: 1.70 Miles

• Elkhart Lake
• Type: R. Course
• Length: 4.00 Miles

• Nazareth
• Type: Oval
• Length: 1.00 Miles

• Monterey
• Type: R. Course
• Length: 2.21 Miles