*********
IMPORTANT: If you are having trouble running Indy with later versions
of windows, do a google search on the program "DOSbox" It works
wonders.
*********
Version 5
--------------
NOTE: You can distribute this document freely, but it MUST remain
unchanged. If you have anything you want to add, email it to me and I
will put it on. This document is (c) Elliott Mahler (KoD e946) 2002-
2005, and may not be changed by anyone by myself.
--------------
Indianapolis 500: The Simulation is a game for DOS made in 1989 by
Papyrus Design Group, and later re-released on CD. For its time, this
game was revolutionary. It was one of the first to handle the car
settings well, and to have different replay angles, and the like. For
being 1y years old, this is a surprisingly good game.
Contents
1.0 Things to know while reading
2.0 The settings screens
3.0 Designing your own car
4.0 Prefab cars
5.0 Advice for races
5.1 Short races
5.1.1 10 lap Race
5.1.2 30 lap Race
5.2 Long races
5.2.1 60 lap race
5.2.2 200 lap race
6.0 Answer table
7.0 Driving tips
8.0 Contact info.
9.0 Version history
______________________________________________________________________
1.0 Things to know while reading
Many times in this guide, I use abbreviations and lingo, like....
LF=Left Front tire
LR=Left Rear tire
RF=Right Front tire
RR=Right Rear tire
"Loose"= The car overreacts to turns. The back end slides around,
pointing the car to the inside of the track.
"Tight"= The car does not want to turn. you have to wrestle with it,
and, in general, it slows you down out of fear of hitting the wall.
Making a car tighter or looser isn't necessarily bad. If your car is
loose, the goal is to make it tighter, and vice versa.
It's important to note that tire pressures rise over the first few laps
of practice runs, due to increasing temperature. The pressures I
provide are the STARTING pressures, not the pressures during race time.
______________________________________________________________________
2.0 The settings screens
The various screens for settings can get confusing. What does raising
the RF shock do? What does changing the diameter difference do? I'm
here to help. This section will take a look at each of the settings,
from F1 to F10, and how to use them.
IMPORTANT: Each of the settings found from F3 to F7, while they can be
changed at ANY TIME during practice, they can only be changed while you
are STOPPED IN YOUR PIT during qualifying and race time.
F8, F9, and F10 CANNOT BE CHANGED during qualifying and racing. Ever.
The F1 screen is different from the others in the fact that it changes
depending on what mode you're in.
------
F1: Lap Info: Practice mode
------
-Down the center of the screen, there are three times.
-'BEST' displays the best time you've made since you loaded the game.
-'LAST' displays the previous lap's time.
-'CURR' displays your current lap time.
-To the right of BEST and LAST are speeds, which reflect the times next
to them.
-To the right of CURR is the amount of laps you've gone since you last
pit.
------
F1: Lap Info: Qualify
------
This is quite similar to the Practice screen, except for two
differences.
-First: In the place of BEST is AVG, which represents your average time
for the four qualifying laps.
-Second: LAP represents which qualifying lap you are on.
------
F1: Lap Info: Race
------
This one is quite different from the other two.
-Down the center, in order:
-The first, LAP, represents what lap of the race you are on.
-LAST represents your previous lap time.
-Below LAST, there is a picture of a car, then a time. The car pictured
is the car you would have to pass next to gain a position. The time
next to it is how many seconds you are behind that car.
-To the right of LAP, there is text that either says LEAD LAP, or
(number) DOWN. This represents what lap you are on in relation to the
leader. 1 DOWN means the leader has completed two more than you, 2 DOWN
means the leader has completed two more laps than you, etc.
-Below this is the average speed you completed your previous lap at.
-Below this is POS (number), which represents what place you are in.
------
F2: Standings
------
This is, as the name suggests, the standings. This is a list
representing what position each of the cars in the race is in. When you
originally press F2, the screen will show you the car in front of you,
your car, and the car behind you. Your team number is 17.
-In the center on the left is the position.
-In the center on the right is the team number.
-To the right of the position and team number is a picture of the car.
-To the right of this is how many seconds/laps behind the leader the
pictured car is. OR, if the car is no longer in the race, the reason is
shown here. (I.E. Crash, Gearbox, Ignition)
-Pressing < will move the view higher up in the standings
-Pressing > will move your view lower in the standings
------
F3: Fuel
------
This shows how much fuel you have left, among other things.
-GAL LEFT shows you how many gallons of fuel you have left.
-FILL TO shows how much fuel you will load up on the next time you pit.
-MILEAGE and PROJ LAPS kind of work together. MILEAGE shows you how
many Miles Per Gallon you are getting(anything above 2 is good), and
PROJ LAPS shows how many more laps you will be able to race, assuming
the fuel mileage stays the same.
------
F4: Wings
------
This section determines the size of the front and rear wings, and,
thus, how much downforce your car gets. In general, moving markers
upward will increase fuel mileage and speed, but will make handling
worse.
-This entire screen shows a picture of your car, and there are dashed
lines on either side. Press < to move the markers up, and > to move the
markers down. Press SPACE to switch between the front and back.
-The marker on the left represents your front wing. Moving this UPWARD
will make your car tighter, while moving it DOWNWARD will make your
care more loose.
-The marker on the right represents your rear wing. Moving the marker
UPWARD will make your car looser, while moving it DOWNWARD will make
your car tighter.
------
F5: Rubber
------
This section determines how hard or soft your tires are for the
selected tire. You can move from one tire to the next by pressing
SPACE. In general, hard tires last longer, but provide less grip. Soft
tires provide great grip, but don't last very long.
-The center of the screen shows picture of your car. Next to the car,
the currently selected tire and its temperature are shown.
-On the right, the compound of the currently selected tire is shown.
-Press < and > to change the compound.
------
F6: Stagger
------
The stagger is the difference in size between the RR and the LR tires.
-The center of the screen shows the rear of your car, and gives an
exaggerated representation of the difference in the tire sizes.
-This is pretty straightforward. The numbers by NOW and SET TO
represent the actual difference. Pressing < subtracts .1 inch, and
pressing > adds .1 inch.
-A positive number means that the left tire is smaller than the right,
and vice versa.
-The higher into the positive numbers you set the car, the better it
will turn in the corners. However, good turning comes at the price of
bad handling in the straight areas.
------
F7: Pressures
------
This determines the PSI inside of the selected tire. You can rotate
between the selected tire by pressing SPACE.
-In the center if this screen is a picture of your car. Next to it is
the currently selected tire, and its current PSI.
-To the right, are the letters I, M, and O in a column, with number
next to each.
-The number next to I represents the temperature on the part of the
surface of the tire that is closest to the car.
-The number next to M represents the temperature on the middle of the
surface of the tire.
-The number next to O represents the temperature on the part of the
surface of the tire that is furthest from the car.
-In general increasing the PSI of any given tire will increase its M
temperature, and lower the I and O temperatures.
------
F8: Shocks
------
This sets the stiffness of the shock absorber for the selected tire.
Again, you can move from tire to tire by pressing SPACE.
-In the center is the usual picture of the car, and next to it, the
currently selected tire.
-On the right is the setting for the shock absorber for the currently
selected tire.
-Pressing < will make the current shock firmer, and pressing > will
make the current shock softer.
-In general, making the rear shocks firmer will make the car looser,
and making them softer will make the car tighter.
-Conversely, making the front shocks firmer will make the car tighter,
and making them softer will make the car looser.
------
F9: Cambers
------
When down force is applied to the car, the car is pushed down, and the
wheels tip inward a little bit. Because of this, the inside of the
wheel receives more wear than the other parts of the tire. The camber
counteracts this, by angling the wheels so that they will lie flat on
the ground when down force is applied. However, you must also
counteract the effect of sliding to the right in the turns, so it's not
that simple.
-On the screen, you are shown the usual picture of the car, the
currently selected tire, and a line representing the current camber
setting. As usual, you can press SPACE to move from tire to tire.
-On the right is the exact same temperature screen seen in F7. In fact,
they both display the exact same temperatures.
-Pressing < will tilt the tire to YOUR right, while pressing > will
tilt the tire to your left.
-In general, tilting a tire towards the inside of the car makes the I
temperature increase, and the O temperature decrease.
------
F10: Gears
------
-This area is pretty straightforward. You are shown the gear sizes for
each of
your 4 gears. Pressing > will increase them, and pressing < will
decrease them.
You do not need to switch between anything, because the gears change
together
when you press < or >.
-In general, higher gear settings will make the car accelerate faster,
but theRPMS will be higher, gas mileage will be lower, and, after a
point, your max speed is limited. If it is TOO high, you risk engine
failure. Lower gear ratios mean better gas mileage, less RPMs, higher
max speeds, but lower acceleration.
------
Roll Bars
------
The roll bars are not found in any of the F screens. These are on the
lower left of the dash board. The roll bars work like shocks, only you
can change them during a race.
-The right roll bar can be pushed forward by pressing ], and can be
pushed backwards by pressing [. In general, pushing this FORWARD makes
the car more loose, and pulling it BACK will make the car tighter.
-The left roll bar can be pushed forward by pressing =, and can be
pulled backwards by pressing -(the dash key). Pushing this FORWARD
makes the car tighter, and pulling it BACK makes the car more loose.
-This, unlike the other settings, can be changed at any time during a
race. It is to your advantage to use them.
------
Turbo
------
-This setting is also found on the dashboard of the car on the left-
hand side. This is also straightforward. Pressing the keys 1 through 9
will set the turbo to whichever key you choose.
-The turbo determines how much gas is used in the gas/air mix that is
used in the engine. The higher the setting, the more gas you use, and
the more speed you get. However, the higher you set it, the worse your
gas mileage is, and the hotter your engine runs.
______________________________________________________________________
3.0 Designing your own car
Now that you have a better idea of what each setting does, you can more
easily design your own cars.
Just go through each step in order. You may have to repeat the process
multiple times.
An important note is that while they may look very different, the
yellow and blue cars handle very much the same. A good setup on one of
them will easily transfer over to the other. This is not true wih the
red car.
----------
1. Run a few laps around the track under practice and get a feel for
the car. Figure out what its main problems are and what your goal is.
----------
2. Set the anti-roll bars equal, and put them in the middle of their
range of motion. This will come in useful later.
----------
3. Work with the gear ratios to find one that works well for your
goals. If you're going for a long race, set them lower. If you're just
looking for some speed in a short race, set them higher.
----------
4. Change the wings. Generally, you'll want the front and back to be
equal. Remember, raising them will speed you up but will make your car
more unstable and difficult to control.
----------
5 / 6. Work with the cambers and tire pressures. This is an EXTREMELY
important step. It increases your speed, grip, AND tire durability.
You want the temperatures on all three areas of the tire to be equal. I
suggest doing cambers first, to make the I and O temperatures equal,
then, once those two are equal, use the pressures to make the middle of
the tire match the other two. Do this one tire at a time until they are
perfect(One of the temperatures being 1 off the others is okay)
Please note that, although each change DOES have an affect, it may take
a lap or two for it to become noticeable.
This is the longest step, so don't worry if it takes you a while. it's
worth it.
Once you're finished, go to the tire composition screen. Generally, the
left two tires should be soft and the right two should be medium. There
are exceptions, though.
A good rule to remember is, if the temperatures for a tire are less
than 200, decrease the hardness, and if the temperature is greater than
300, increase the hardness.
Once you've changed the composition, go back to the cambers/tire
pressures to make sure nothing has changed.
----------
7. Set the stagger. This is one of the biggest deciders in how your car
turns. I don't suggest having it more than 3 or so. Set is as low as
you can handle comfortably.
----------
8. The shocks are your next goal. Use these to fine-tune the handling
of your car.
The shocks are your main tool for changing the handling of the car. You
cannot change these during the race, so make sure you get it right now.
Effects from changes will not be extremely obvious when you don't have
a lot of downforce, so make sure you pay attention.
Anther point to remember is that if the shocks of any given tire are
stiffer than the average of all the tires, that tire will wear faster
than the rest. For this reason, set the left shocks stiffer than the
right ones so that your LF tire, which you probably won't change once
all race, will hopefully take some of the wear off the RF tire.
----------
9. it's important to note that all of these settings affect each other,
so changing your shockks may have an effect on your tire temperatures,
etc. Your second run though the process should take much less time..
----------
10. After you're sure the car is to your liking, get a feel of how the
roll bars affect your car. You don't need to change them now, but make
sure you know what they do. During long races especially, you'll be
changing these quite often.
______________________________________________________________________
4.0 Prefab cars
This area contains configuration settings that will get you by. I have
tested them, and they all work, but may not be suitable to all people.
Fuel and tire laps are how many laps your car will go without changing
fuel and tires, respectively. A pit window is 3 or 4 laps where you
would most likely want to pit.
For now, I only have one car.
Car 4
Settings:
CAR: Penske/Chevrolet
FUEL: 40
WING: Front: 3 from top, Rear: 3 from top
RUBBER: RF: Medium, RR: Medium, LR: Soft, LF: Soft
STAGGER: +.10
PRESSURES: RF: 26, RR: 24, LR: 24, LF: 26
SHOCKS: RF: Topmost, RR: 3 from top, LR: Bottom-most, LF: 4 from top
CAMBERS: RF: -0.25 RR: +0.25 LR: +1.00 LF: +0.75
GEARS (4th): 3.70
TURBO: 9
ANTI-ROLL BARS: LEFT: 3 from front, RIGHT: 4 from front
Stats:
FUEL LAPS: 35
TIRE LAPS: ~60
ENGINE DURABILITY: Entire race
AVG.SPEED: 225MPH
COMMENTS: The great thing about this car is how malleable it is. With a
few smal changes, this car can be well-suited to run in any type of
race. It's a tiny bit loose, but not enough to
______________________________________________________________________
5.0 Advice for races
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
5.1 Short races
If you're new, stick to the short races. They'll be more fun for you.
-----------------
5.1.1 10 lap Race
This is a really fun type of race. Because you cannot receive damage,
and you can crash anyone without a yellow flag being thrown, you can do
some pretty interesting things.
For example, qualify somewhere in the low teens, then start a 10-lap
race. IMMEDIATELY crash the cars next to you. Most of the time, a huge
pileup will occur. If you do it right, you can spin a couple times,
then be able to speed up again and drive though the pileup as it's
happening, which is really fun.
Another fun thing to do is to try to take out every car in the race
before the 10 laps are up.
If you're going for a serious win, then set your car up for speed.
While the car needs to be driveable, you don't need precise handling.
-----------------
5.1.2 30 lap Race
This kind of race is a good introduction into long races. There's
really not much else to say about it. The same strategies that work for
the 10-lap will work here, except you should worry about handling a
little more.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
5.2 Long races
These are fun, but only for the more advanced. They require a LOT of
patience, and a LOT of strategy.
IMPORTANT: NEVER BLOCK THE LEADERS IF THEY TRY TO LAP YOU!!! THAT IS A
GUARANTEED WAY TO CRASH!!!
-----------------
5.2.1 60 lap race
This one is the most fun for me. It provides a challenge, yet isn't too
long. It's a MUST that you finish the race on only one pit stop.
There are two main ways to do this: The first is to set your car up so
that it goes very fast, and has to pit in or around 30 laps.
The second is to stretch your fuel out as far as it will go (Like in
the 200 lap race), and fill up on less fuel on your second stop, making
you faster.
I prefer the second way, because stretcng your fuel mileage is much
easier than cutting it down to 30 laps, as strange as that may sound.
-----------------
5.2.2 200 lap race
This one will take more patience than most people have to spare. It
will take you several tries, and TONS of frustration to beat this fir
the first time.
The most important thing is to stretch your fuel, even at the expense
of speed. I have posted above the car that I won with, which is by no
means fast. The second most important thing is balance. Make sure your
car handles very well, because if it doesn't, you will eventaully end
up spinning out or running into somebody.
In general, don't worry about leading the race. Try to set yourself up
so that you're not losing TOO much time. The best strategy is to use
your boost setting to roughly match the leader's speed. Don't worry
about outpacing them until near the end.
Keep an eye on your fuel. One good trick to stretching your fuel is
this: If you have less than two gallons of fuel left as you exit turn
4, pit. If you have two or more, go another lap. There is no
disadvantage to doing this, and only advantages (you go much faster
when low on fuel). One major advantage of stretching your fuel out is
that near the end of the race, you might be able to take on less fuel
than normal, which will greatly speed you up.
If you're making a pitstop after doing the 2-gallon thing above, only
change tires that are half-worn or more. If a tire has 1/3 wear or
whatever, leave it on.
The computer players have 2 huge weaknesses. First, their pit stops
take much, much longer than yours. Second, they have trouble getting
through lapped traffic. Keep both of these in mind.
Before you can enter the main menu and begin racing, you must answer an
incredibly hard question about the past winners of the race. Because
this is so hard, I have decided to include a table of the cars,
thedriver names, and the year of the race. Unfortunately, because I
can't really include pictures, you must guess at which I am talking
about, but I will try to make it clearer. Here are all the answers in
the book, in this order:
Year, Driver's last name, AVG speed, Time, Team number, Sponsor,
Description
1911, Harroun, 74.59, 6:42:08, 32, None, Looks like a metal trash bin
with white wheels.
1913, Goux, 75.93, 6:35:05, 16, None, One person behind the huge
steering wheel, other standing behind the car next to him.
1915, DePalma, 89.84, 5:33:55, None, None, Looks like a boat with
wheels.
1919, Wilcox, 88.05, 5:40:42, None, None, Car is sitting in front of a
brick wall with windows.
1921, Milton, 89.62, 5:34:44, None, None, Looks like a cigar.
1923, Milton, 90.95, 5:29:50, None, None, Scaffolding in background,
nothing else.
1925, DePaolo, 101.13, 4:56:39, 12, None, one person in a white suit
standing behind the car right by the 12, all white.
1927, Souders, 97.545, 5:07:33, 32, None, Four people in white suits
clearly visible behind car.
1929, Keech, 97.585, 5:07:25, None, Simplex(hard to see), A tree off in
the distance.
1931, Schneider, 96.629, 5:10:25, 23, (in a black circle) Seal Fast,
"winner" written directly below the driver, looks like car is in an
open field.
1933, Meyer, 104.162, 4:48:00, 36, None, Two people in the car, car is
in the same field as the one listed above.
1935, Petillo, 106.240, 4:42:22, 5, None, Flames painted on coming out
of a heart-shaped grill in front.
1937, Shaw, 113.580, 4:24:07, 6, None, Sitting on the track (bricks).
1939, Shaw, 15.035, 4:20:47, 2, None, grandstand in background, the
stands are not raised at all.
1946, Robson, 114.820, 4:21:16, 16, None, Car is black.
1948, Rose, 119.814, 4:10:23, 3, None, number is in the far front, car
is very shiny.
1950, Parsons, 124.002, (2 or 3):46:55, None, None, Nothing outstanding
in this picture. Just hope this guy doesn't show up in the questions.
1952, Ruttman, 128.992, 3:52:41, 98, None, Exhaust pipe leading from
the front of the car, near the top, to the rear of the car behind the
wheel.
1954, Vukovich, 130.840, 3:49:17, 14, None, Car is a perfect tube.
1956, Flaherty, 128.490, 3:53:28, 8, None, Black stripe down the lower
middle, Writing below left rear tire.
1958, Bryan, 133.791, 3:44:13, None, None, White.
1960, Rathmann, 138.767, 3:36:11, 4, None, Looks silver in photo.
1964, Foyt, 147.350, 3:23:35, None, None, Nose bends downwards.
1966, Hill, 144.317, 3:27:52, 24, None, two clearly visible exhaust
pipes sticking out back.
1968, Unser, 152.882, 3:16:13, 3, None, Front wheels unusually far
back, exposing a long nose.
1970, Unser, 155.749, 3:12:37, 2, None, Last of the 'tube' cars, number
2 is in a square with lightning coming from it on front.
1972, Donohue, 162.962, 3:04:05, 66, None, First of the 'modern'
looking cars, still has an old look to it. No central hump.
1974, Rutherford, 158.589, 3:09:10, 3, None, You can tell that the car
is yellow. First modern car with a central 'hump' in the car.
1976, Rutherord, 148.725, 1:42:52(this number should be at least an
hour and a half higher, so I don't know), 2, cant read it, the side
facing you is heavily shadowed.
1978, Unser, 161.363, 3:05:54, 2, cant read it, white stripe running
along the side of the central hump
1980, Rutherford, 142.862, 3:29:59.56, 4, Pennzoil, rear wing supported
on sides, not in middle
1982, Johncock, 162.029, 3:05:09.14, 20, STP, STP can be seen on the
front just above the front wings.
1984, Mears, 163.612, 3:03:21.660, 6, Pennzoil, you can tell that the
car is yellow
1986, Rahal, 170.722, 2:55:43:480, 3, Budweiser, not much outstanding
here
1988, Mears, 144.809, 3:27:10:204, 5, Pennzoil, black sreipes on all
the edges
1989, Fittipaldi, 167.581, 2:59:10.049, 20, Marlboro, it's a Penske car
If you're planning on doing long races, it is to your advantage to
practice pitting. One good strategy is to floor it, then slam on the
brakes once you get to a certain spot, and slide into your pit. This is
tough to get the hang of, though, which is why I suggest that you
practice.
A joystick makes this game easier in the same way that eyesight makes
flying an airplane easier.
Every time I play, I start out with a 10-lap race to "warm up" before
qualifying and longer races.
In long races, it is to your advantage to "short pit". Time your pit
so that everybody else stays out for another 10-15 laps. This will make
pitting much easier.
For shorter races, if you are using the red car, test to see what the
highest gear ratio is that will get you past 10 laps without blowing
the engine.
If you want to change one of your settings during a pit stop, press P
just after you stop. You can make your changes without taking up any
time!
If you see a large block of slow cars up ahead, and you're in your pit
window, then pit! You will kill two birds with one stone, both pitting
and not having to deal with the large pack.
The computer drivers have a very hard time getting around lapped cars.
Use this to your advantage.
______________________________________________________________________
8.0 Contact info.
If you wish to reach me for any reason, E-mail me at
join.together@gmail.com, and make sure the subject has something to do
with this guide so that I know what you're talking about.
______________________________________________________________________
9.0 Version history
October 11, 2006 Version 5
Heavy revision and restructuring. I almost completely rewrote the "how
to set up" section. It feels like every time I come back to this, I
find errors and repeated phrases and stuff. I also wrote out the
section on the 200-lap race.
April 17, 2005 Version 4
Damn it's been a long time since I updated this. I finally found a
program (DOSbox. Google it.) that runs Indy, so I can finally keep
updating. I rewrote nearly EVERYTHING in this update, and added a
section on the interface of the game. Enjoy.
August 2, 2003 Version 3.5
Went through and cleared up some things, fixed a lot of errors, and
added two car setups. My new computer doesn't have the right plug for
my joystick, and it has trouble running Indy. So until I find a
solution, you won't be seeing many updates.
February 19, 2003 Version 3.4
I finished the answer list (finally) and added the 500 race tips.
January 1, 2003 Version 3.3
I mostly revised and made things clearer, but added the 60-lap race
tips and cancelled the crash paths.
July 19, 2002 Version 3.2
Revised a little, added a few comments to the cars, added more answers
to the questions.
June 26, 2002 Version 3.1
Added to the Driving Tips section, added to the answer table, and added
the 30-lap race tips.
May 8, 2002 Version 3.0
Mostly revised, added the answer list section and the 10-lap race
section. Added the version history.
April 13, 2002 Version 2.0
Added the How to Make a Car section, revised a little bit.
February 2002 Version 1
Created the document with Driving tips, Prefab cars.
