How to play Indy 500 online
Indy 500 came packed with two driving controllers. They look like paddles, but the knob turns endlessly in both directions, and the game reads it that way. The emulator on this site does not emulate the driving controller, so steering will not work properly with the keyboard. The game is here mainly for reference and nostalgia; for proper play you need an emulator with driving controller support or the original hardware. On a real console you steer by turning the knob and press the red button to accelerate.
- Start a new game: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
- Choose a game: F11 (the console’s Select switch)
- High speed: F4 / F9 set the Player 1 / Player 2 difficulty switch to A
The games
The cartridge has fourteen game numbers, built from four kinds of game on eight different tracks. Most come in a two-player version and a one-player version against the clock, where you have 60 seconds to do as well as you can.
- Race Car (games 1–4): on the Grand Prix and Devil’s Elbow tracks. Two players race to be first to complete 25 laps; alone, you try to drive as many laps as possible in 60 seconds.
- Crash ‘n Score (games 5–8): a white square appears somewhere on the track. Drive into it to score a point, and it jumps to a new spot. With two players, the first to 50 wins.
- Tag (games 9–10): two players only, on the Barrier Chase and Motor Hunt tracks. One car is “it” and chases the other; the car being chased scores a point for every second it avoids being tagged. First to 99 wins.
- Ice Race (games 11–14): races on the Ice Sprint and Ice Rally tracks, where the cars slide around the corners.
The difficulty switches set the speed of each car. In position A the car is much faster and harder to control, which is a handy handicap when an experienced player races a beginner.
Tips
- Ease off in the corners. Speed only helps if you stay on the track, so lift off the accelerator before tight bends, especially on Devil’s Elbow.
- On ice, steer early. The car keeps sliding in its old direction for a moment, so start turning before you reach the bend.
- In Tag, use the barriers. Putting an obstacle between you and the chasing car buys you seconds, and every second is a point.
History
Indy 500 is based on Atari’s earlier arcade game Indy 800, a large cabinet for up to eight players. To recreate the feel of a steering wheel, the home version got its own controller, which was included in the box. Reviews were positive: author Howard Blumenthal thought Atari’s first racing game for the console was still its best, with almost every variation worth playing. Sears Tele-Games sold it as Race, and it appeared as Race 500 in the 2022 Atari 50 collection.
