If you are an IndyCar Racing fan, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Circuits expansion packs should be to your liking. Each offers new features that are not available in the standalone version of IndyCar Racing.
Included in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway add-on is the famed Brickyard ("Greatest Race Course in the World"), a replay cut utility, a settings print utility, and a race car paint kit. Both of the utilities offer convenience and save a great deal of time in their respective areas. For example, instead of viewing an entire race, you can save just your favorite clips. The settings print utility allows you to have paper records of car set-ups for each track under a host of weather conditions.
The circuits expansion pack features seven additional tracks. Phoenix International Raceway, one of my personal favorite short oval tracks, is included. Also, several different road courses are added so you should be able to find at least one of them to fit your driving style. If not, well, you had better be a quick learner if you want to stay competitive in the game. You can even test your skills at the ever challenging Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Unfortunately if you purchase just the Circuits add-on package you do not get the paint kit utility. Along with the seven race tracks, this add-on includes the settings print utility and replay cut utility.
In the paint kit you can customize your car to your exact liking. And if you find the paint kit a little "weak" you can import your car into a more powerful program like Paintshop Pro or Paintbrush. The paint kit did have a few drawbacks, like the fact that certain sections of the car require detailing in the decal shop as opposed to the paint shop, which is the more convenient of the two. The paint kit provides you with several realistic-looking sponsors to cover your car with. You also have several interesting designs to apply to your car as well.
One minor addition that should have been made to the IndyCar series is an overhead map of the course. In my opinion, the map would make all the road courses much more interesting to play. You would be able to know when the corners were coming, and how difficult they would be to take. To me, entering a corner at 200 miles per hour that can be taken no faster than fifty just isn't any fun. I have seen this feature on several home system games back at least three years ago, so it wouldn't exactly be new technology, if you catch my drift.
All in all, you just can't ask for too much more. IndyCar Racing had very few flaws, and these two add-ons pretty much correct them. Now the only request that I have is a stock car racing game with real Winston Cup opponents . . .
