At first glance, Indy Car Series doesn't seem to be packing a lot in. Most of the racetracks in this game, though modeled after real life locations, are circular and monotonous. And as for the many cars speeding round them, all you'll find there is a different color scheme on the same model, unless you look really, really hard. What's there is nice, but there isn't a whole lot of it.

Where Indy Car Series does shine is in the little things that it delivers. The noises, for one, are pretty convincing of being at the Indianapolis 500 on a busy day. While you're speeding around the track, you won't have time to admire the sights, but you will be focused hard on the noise of your engine for when you need to shift, or your pit crew barking directions in your ear.

Where Gran Turismo 3 left off with Formula 1 cars, Indy Car Series picks up. This game is all about the high-speed thrills of the sport, and the first step when you enter the game is to make yourself a driver. This part only requires a name, but you will be taking this person through the game, racing for the best starting position in a race: pole position.

Apart from the quick race option, there are also the Championship races. Here, you must take qualifying laps, just like the pros do, and your average speed will determine where you end up on the totem pole when it comes time to start the race. Go through these real life tracks and you could get a chance to compete in the Indy 500 with over 30 other cars on the track at once.

If you're new to this fast paced sport, fear not. There is a learning mode where you train under the tutelage of Indy 500 winner Eddie Cheever Jr. This class will not only teach you basic and advanced skills, but will also give you some goodies if you complete the entire course. There are also more unlockables to be had when you finish Championship races, but the road there is a very bumpy one.

Driving around in a circle in your parents' mini van is easy, but taking one of these machines that can exceed 200 mph on a 500-lap race takes skills. Indy Car Series isn't too hard of a game to pick up, what with the crash course in formula racing. Mastering it, though, takes quite a bit of concentration, and possibly even a steering wheel peripheral, if you feel like being hardcore.

Making your car go is as simple as the press of a button. Making it compete with other pro racers on the same track requires coordination. At the bottom of your screen are all the readouts you could possibly want on your car. Fuel mixture, tire wear, rev counter, draft meter, and much more are kept up to date and relayed to you on screen. Depending on the difficulty setting you have the game at, these things will be more or less important to you. The harder you set it, the more realistic things get.

Besides the garage, the pit will be the only other place you'll see your car standing still. When you pull in here, you can quickly tell your crew which things you want fixed, depending on your position in the race. Unfortunately though, the extent of the damage will only go so far as to emit smoke from your engine. Your car can't get in any wrecks out on the track, or even get banged up. This is one of the most disappointing things about the game, and had they included it, it would have topped off the realism cake with a very nice layer of icing.

Though it does replicate circuit racing rather well, Indy Car Series can get a little stale after some time. There is a 2-player mode, but finding a friend who is willing to race around in a circle for an hour is a hard task. Also, the lack of huge crashes, even the ability to turn them on or off in the game, is a serious mar to the gameplay. Unless you happen to watch this stuff on TV regularly and actually enjoy it, steer clear of this one.