Indycar (Unreleased Motorsport Games Indycar Game, 2023)

The game's release date announcement Featuring two-time Indycar champion Alex Palou

Status: Lost

Summary

Indycar is America's leading open-wheel motorsport championship and governing body of the Indianapolis 500. Despite the sport's national and international success, they have yet to have a successful video game to call their own, with appearances in iRacing and Forza Motorsport 7 being the most notable of their few video game appearances.

As for the developer, Motorsport Games were a fledgling company with their biggest successes being rFactor2 and the NASCAR Heat games. While their games sold well, numerous reviews proclaim that their games are launched in nearly unplayable states.

History

In 2021, Penske Entertainment (A branch of Indycar's parent company) announced that they would be developing a video game based on the 2021 Indycar season with developer Motorsport Games. Initial reactions to the game were mostly negative, given the fact that a 2023 release date was given even though the game would only feature the 2021 Indycar roster. In early 2023, reports began to emerge about the legitimacy of Motorsport Games as a company as well as reports of developer crunch. Motorsport Games denied all of the accusations against them and released a first look trailer of the game that included a new release date of 2024. However, Penske Entertainment would terminate their deal with Motorsport Games for failing to deliver the game in late 2023, effectively killing the game on the spot.

Possible Demo

Sometime in 2022, u/pdas1996 reported to the r/INDYCAR subreddit that there was a demo of the game at a fan event during a fan event promoting the 2022 Indianapolis 500. However, many commenters said that this was just a reskin of rFactor2, another one of Motorsport Games many games.

Resources

1.The game's page https://www.indycargame.com/

2.Article announcing Penske Entertainment's termination of the deal https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/motor/2023/11/15/indycar-terminate-video-game-licenses-motorsport-games/71590472007/

3, Article announcing suspended development https://racer.com/2023/11/07/motorsport-games-suspends-development-of-indycar-game/

4. First Look trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25b3iXTbN_M

5. Iracing's Indycar Series https://www.iracing.com/series/indycar-series/

6. Forza Motorsport 7's Indycar update https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/articles/us-scene/indycar/forza-motorsport-7-adds-new-indycars-tries-fix-multiplayer/

7. Reddit post discussing demo https://www.reddit.com/r/INDYCAR/comments/uyzpg0/it_is_real_demo_of_the_new_indycar_game_available/

8. Website of Motorsport Games https://motorsportgames.com/games/

9. A Reddit post containing a video discussing the buggy launch of NASCAR 21: Ignition, one of Motorsport Games yearly NASCAR games https://www.reddit.com/r/NASCAR/comments/qc09e7/everything_wrong_with_nascar_21_ignition/