Exclusive racer for the Wii? I had no idea... http://wii.ign.com/articles/791/791635p1.html It's race time here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and with engines roaring in the background for the Indy 500 qualifying round, we went hands on with Destineer's answer to Wii driving games: Indy 500 Legends. This is the first time the title has been available for demo and with the game sitting at about 50% completion there's still a great deal of time for fine-tuning before its October 2007 release. Already, though, we're starting to get the look, feel, and history of racing in an easily-accessible Wii excursion. It's built from the ground up, designed specifically for Wii, and has the potential to be one of the fastest and most intuitive racers on the system thus far. Indy 500 Legends is, at its core, an arcade take on the pages of racing history. With the primary demographic of the game being the pick-up-and-play casual player, the development studio hopes to capitalize on the immense Wii marketplace, as well as the current lack of driving titles on a system build perfectly suited to the genre. The game puts players in historically-accurate models of Indy cars from the 1961-1971 era, enabling Wii users drop into the cockpit of some of the most dangerous and innovative years of racing. More than 30 classic cars are teamed with dozens of the sport's most heroic drivers, and you'll be put behind the wheel in a variety of modes. Everything from quick play options to qualifying rounds, 500-lap races and history-based challenges. The goal is to give players a variety of Indy 500 experiences, so if your dream is to go through the endurance-heavy races, you can do it. If you're down with trying to change history by reliving some of racing's biggest moments, you can do that too in the challenge modes. As for the cars themselves, it's all about emulating history's most dangerous and innovative rides out there. You'll be able to drive the first rear-engine Lotus-Ford, hit the track with turbine-powered vehicles, and get a brief taste of the "new era" of racing with winged super-cars circa 1971. With the help of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's archive material, Destineer has been able to model the cars based on over 500 hand-drawn schematics from the 60s and beyond, and has incorporated the minute details of each rig based on photos of restored cars; it even had track time to see and listen to the differences behind each of the rides that'll be shown off in the game. Included along with the track time was the ability to record the engine audio of each car, so the sound you hear in the game will be taken directly from restored Indy legend cars. For the game's build this week we had a chance to take to the Indy track with a variety of different cars in qualifying and 33-man races. In its current state (again, it's 50% complete) the game controls well with the Wii remote, having simple tilt control directly convert over to vehicle steering. The competition A.I. is still being implemented, so while competitors run true racing lines they're a bit wonky during close-call situations. When trying to draft behind competitors they offered very little resistance, and didn't have a problem with us taking them on the inside lane during turns -- something that is definitely no easy task in real-world racing. We had a few close-call moments where we'd try to split the gap of two competing cars and nearly wreck in the process, and that, combined with the still-early drafting mechanic, made for some seriously entertaining near-collisions. The final version will include a three-stage draft/slingshot mechanic that encourages players to get up behind competitors to gain incredible speed, and the playable representation of that aspect was still very fun in its preliminary state. We'd drive up behind another car, watch an on-screen icon (actually attached to the vehicle in the form of a tiny LED) change from red/blue/green, and then use the speed to slingshot ahead of them with a burst of speed. Nice. As a side note, no pit mini-games or menu interface were yet implemented, so that'll have to wait for a future playthrough, along with the two-player competitive mode. What's there played well though, and is setting a great pace (racing term; we couldn't resist) for the rest of the game. On the visual front, the Indianapolis 500 Legends is showing off graphical presentation about on par with other titles on Wii thus far. The line of sight is already something that the developer has put some serious time into, as the game is only half complete and already has very little pop-in that we could notice. No effects are currently in the game though, so we're essentially driving dry aside from track, skybox, cars, and landscape. What's there has a solid core look, and with some of the improvements that are to be implemented later (such as white-lined tires to tell you when to pit based on loss of rubber) there's a definite attention to detail that race fans will love. As mentioned in the press conference today, Destineer has a focus on the danger element of old Indy driving, so we can expect some good fire and smoke effects to help blind driver vision and add to the more cinematic side of the game. There's tons of promise visually since draw distance, real-time shadows, and basic motion blur are already implemented for the most part. As an important note though, the game is currently running in 480i and 4:3 display; something we hope definitely changes by the end of production. It's obvious that the title's look has some potential, so taking advantage of the Wii's display options is a must for the final product. From the time we had with the game this week it's apparent that Indy 500 Legends is out to truly deliver a historic and entertaining racing experience. With the game being as early as it is we obviously can't pass any final judgment yet, but it's one you'll definitely want to keep following. Driving is already as solid (if not better) than other Wii titles, and it's a matter of getting the new Torus physics engine fine-tuned to deliver real and engaging crashes and in-game driving physics - something that is still in its early stages. Our playthrough was very positive thus far, though we definitely want to see more attention given to general presentation, including 480p and 16:9 support, as well as the on-course smoke and effects Destineer has been talking about. The control is there, and that's a huge first step for a product that still has plenty of time. Now it's about adding in the challenges, shaping up the A.I., and making the game look as good as it feels. We'll have more on Indy 500 Legends, including future hands-on, new media, and a showcasing in next week's IGN Weekly, so be sure to keep checking back to IGN Wii for the latest on Legends.

Looks decent, I'm sure people will have plenty of "it doesn't look as good as GT" comments to make, but it still looks decent.

They said they wanted to make the Wii's GT game. For a ground up project, it sound promising. While it does not seem visually appealing, yet, IGN is reporting it controls very well.

I am hoping they can get the graphics up above GT4 at the bare minimum. I get the impression they are still somewhat early in development but I will be honest in saying I didn't read the whole article.

PS - Before folks give me a hard time about the Graphics VS gameplay thing, I just want to say that while graphics don't make a game good by itself there is no reason for graphics to be substandard. And since they are trying to make the Wii's GT they need to be at least on par with GT4.

I hope it turns out well, however in general I don't care for the racing genre. Mario Kart is an exception, but it hardly even counts as racing. Similarly, I don't like soccer games but Strikers is still awesome.

Graphically, they really need to get to work... I sure wish Nintendo would send out some development teams to work with 3rd parties to get graphics up to speed. they are making a killing on both hardware and software right now and have the spare change to make it happen.

It IS 50% completed. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.