Why Motorsport Games Pulled The Plug On The IndyCar Game

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Images: Motorsport Games / IndyCar
Originally planned to be under the Motorsport Games umbrella, the unreleased IndyCar game is not in their hands anymore. Here's why MSG decided to no longer pursue the project.

It was not too long ago that Motorsport Games had big ambitions. Licenses for Le Mans, the BTCC and IndyCar promised three games for series sim racers generally tend to like, but only one of them has materialized - Le Mans Ultimate was released in Early Access in February of 2024, with Studio 397 and MSG working on getting the game to a full release while MSG is looking for an investor or a buyer.

The other two have not happened, and Motorsport Games CEO Stephen Hood has recently admitted that the company grew too fast and collected too many licenses a few years ago. While MSG has reconciled with the BTCC since, the IndyCar game is not in the hands of the company anymore. Despite its relatively advanced state, MSG did not feel like it could finish it properly - as a result, IndyCar themselves can now look for a studio to finalize the game, although this has not happened yet, either.

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A Franchise To Eventually Rival F1?​

Interestingly, Motorsport Games had planned the IndyCar game to be one of the pillars of the company, the other being LMU. "We thought that with the right physics, the right handling, the right game engine and a proper career mode, we could probably make it pretty cool and comparable to the Formula One game, if not better over time", Hood told OverTake. "We could build a new franchise and maybe one day, the Formula One license might be available. This was the romantic dream."

First, some convincing had to be done with IndyCar themselves, though, as Hood remembered: "We had to persuade IndyCar to give us the license, but we weren't competing against anybody. We weren't pushing them out or outbidding them - nobody wanted to make those games, because there was no franchise, nobody knew what the revenues would be, and everyone considered archaic." MSG saw this as an opportunity, "We imagined that if we make a good game with the great Studio 397 rFactor 2 physics, we could do something special and revive these products as a valuable franchise."

It did not quite work out that way. The IndyCar game got delayed and eventually, the licensing agreement with the premier US single-seater series was terminated, with the assets that had been developed so far now being in IndyCar's hands as a result. The series is free to look for another studio and publisher to finish the title, with MSG having agreed to aid the transition.

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No Timeline, No S397 Physics​

What exactly did prompt Motorsport Games to axe the first standalone IndyCar game in 20 years, though? Put simply, it was a trip to Australia that Hood took. The purpose was to visit Motorsport Games Australia, which took care of developing the game - but the state of things were not exactly promising for a company that was already struggling to make ends meet at that point.

"I went to see them in person and to see what they were working on. I wanted to talk to the team. To my surprise, they had no idea when the project could be delivered", Hood looks back on the trip Down Under. "They asked me when it should be delivered, and I said 'yesterday', because we needed the revenue. They gave me a bunch of excuses as to why it couldn't be done." Hood admits that the studio was "somewhat understaffed, maybe underresourced, but that's fine if it means that the project would take longer to deliver. But there was no timeline."

Following this visit, Hood had to make a decision. "I came away with an external producer who used to work with me at Codemasters, and we both looked at one another and thought: 'If they can't even tell us when the project is going to be delivered, how do we keep financing it?' Money is tight, so you have to make some difficult decisions", Hood said. In addition, the game apparently also did not feature the Studio 397 physics engine, "which is why we acquired the studio in the first place", according to Hood.

This, then, led to one of these difficult decisions Hood mentioned - and the project was put on hold, while the studio got shut down. "It wasn't IndyCar pulling the license, it was us saying 'we are not going to make this'", explained Hood. "As a result of that, the license goes back to IndyCar, and they can give it to somebody else while we had to pay a massive penalty."

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"IndyCar were very good with us"​

While Hood did label the situation itself "a massive sh*tshow", he underscores that the relationship with IndyCar is still rather positive: "They were very good with us, we talked about many ways of architecting delivery of the project with their help. But at the end of the day, I just didn't think that we were able to deliver it, so I focused on Le Mans.

The fact that I closed IndyCar had nothing to do with the dream, it was more about the reality on the ground when I came back. It wasn't going anywhere, and I had to make a choice: Am I going to favor Le Mans Ultimate and put the resources into that, or should I favor IndyCar? It was much more advanced technology-wise. Especially using Unreal Engine, it would have been a great foundation for the future.
"

With all the eggs firmly in the Le Mans Ultimate basket, Motorsport Games and Studio 397 are looking to complete the 2024 season DLC for the game. With two packs already released, the third one is expected before the end of 2024, which will bring the first few LMGT3 cars into the sim. Two more tracks from the 2024 calendar are also still missing, those being Lusail and Interlagos.

IndyCar fans, on the other hand, still have to hope that a dedicated game around their favorite series will see the light of day eventually.

Are you still hoping to see a standalone IndyCar game? Let us know in the comments below and join the discussion in our forums!
About author
Yannik Haustein
Lifelong motorsport enthusiast and sim racing aficionado, walking racing history encyclopedia.

Sim racing editor, streamer and one half of the SimRacing Buddies podcast (warning, German!).

Heel & Toe Gang 4 life :D

Comments

Well.. the same devs took 15 years to arrive at a semi complete kart game. Wonder what MSG was expecting?

Talking of said kart game, if MSG reads these pages, please sell it to someone please so that it can be maintained and finished.
 
Is this company all the reporters on this site can think to make stories about? It's like come on trolls come feed off this again. So the same prats can have the same old boring arguments.

That is why you never see me in "other engine forums"

Except ACE and I did not bag it ;)

That is why I said I never watch news anymore, it is the same philosophy, bad news sells better.

Actually the noddies that put laughing emoji in ISIMotor posts has slowed to a trickle, only took 12 years. LMAO
 
I'm sorry for my ignorance and not even reading all article and watch for screens mainly but I think for American audience official Indy car game is as much important as F1 games for other part of the world. I remember Papyrus in '90 develop a great NASCAR games, EA tries but fails (probably near 2000). There are no real alternative at the moment (I don't talk about possibility to race indy cars) but it's like with ACC. It's the only official GT class game on the market so if you are a fan then I doubt you look for something else IMHO. But I can be wrong. Just loud thinking;)
 
Premium
For awhile I considered this chaps media interaction to be some form of damage control in regard to his next opportunity. But this is just naive nonsense and again highlights MSG never had the capacity to run company or a project.

If one of your flagship projects is that unorganised then its the managements fault, to get that deep on something that was taking money and to have no idea of the state of it is shocking. For it to take a trip to Australia to find out is even worse.
 
He couldn't check in on one of his studios without a 17,000km flight?

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Maybe in a couple of years LMU will be ready enough to join this hallowed list. :D
 
In addition, the game apparently also did not feature the Studio 397 physics engine, "which is why we acquired the studio in the first place", according to Hood.
Well, even I look in the egg box before I buy it... you know, just to make sure nothing's missing.
A case of buyer beware... :(
 
The failure of the IndyCar game says far more about Motorsport Games management and far less about MSG Australia who rather conveniently cannot defend themselves regarding the assertions of Hood.

Describing the IndyCar situation as a “sh*tshow” is how nearly everyone would describe MSG’s management of all their licence acquisitions, the NASCAR game, the abandonment of rF2 and the future of S397. LMU has been their only bright spot, the future of which is also a sh*tshow.

Not a S397 hater as I own rF2, all DLC and LMU and the DLC.
 
Once in a while, it's good for the CEO to actually visit the offices of the people who work under him. It can be a good motivational tool and it's also a way to keep the troops in line. It's also necessary to really see for yourself what's going on, instead of relying on conference calls or zoom calls. I'm pretty sure that the previous CEO of MG never bothered to visit the Australian studio, which would explain why it was such a mess to start with: it looks as if the employees were left to their own devices, with no clear objectives to achieve and nothing to account for.
 
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Honestly, we dont need an Indy car game like LMU, we just need rFactor 3. With moving HUD, better AI, all the famous tracks, all the famous cars, better night reflection....like AC EVO in fact.
 
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Premium
Once in a while, it's good for the CEO to actually visit the offices of the people who work under him. It can be a good motivational tool and it's also a way to keep the troops in line. It's also necessary to really see for yourself what's going on, instead of relying on conference calls or zoom calls. I'm pretty sure that the previous CEO of MG never bothered to visit the Australian studio, which would explain why it was such a mess to start with: it looks as if the employees were left to their own devices, with no clear objectives to achieve and nothing to account for.
Its even more important to have a scope, A budget, a program, a reporting structure and oversight.

Then you get to ask questions that you already know the answers to, before digging into the cultural failures and planning out the strategy to bring it back on track.

I perhaps should give Mr Hood the benefit of the doubt and assume he was just dumbing down his actual understanding of multiple levels of failure that killed a project for the sake of his target audience and he didn't really discover neither party on a flagship project had an expected date of completion after flying across the entire planet.

But even so, Still a naive way to frame the discussion.
 
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COVID gave a lot of people hope of simpler times ahead... Instead we've tried to go back to the grind largely due to the cost of living... People want simpler easier games, something they can pick up and get right into after 5 minutes and be done for the month in 30... The simpler times are after the AI take over, but as we know from sim racing games, we're a little while away from the AI take over...

MSGS invested the heaviest into sim racing and is still paying the price for that investment... But they also made many other mistakes that doomed their future... Almost every choice made for Ignition was on a level only seen in pCARS... Making Turn 10 and Polyphony look good to others... And turning iRacing, Kunos and Reiza into darlings in many people's eyes... The way they handled the BTCC licence was also a huge flop, it's some great content for rF2, but it wasn't meant to be simply be content for rF2... On top of many other marketing fluffs and the years of misdirection and mishandling the development of rF2 itself...

If they had of pulled an LMU for Ignition they'd be the darlings of sim racing and we'd have the Indycar and BTCC titles... But instead they pandered to the eye candy crowd by moving to a different engine and produced a flop... Which continues to haunt everything they've tried to do since, including what they've done with LMU... The Indycar projects fate was doomed the day MSGS chose the UE4 engine for Ignition...
 
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If they had of pulled an LMU for Ignition they'd be the darlings of sim racing and we'd have the Indycar and BTCC titles... But instead they pandered to the eye candy crowd by moving to a different engine and produced a flop... Which continues to haunt everything they've tried to do since, including what they've done with LMU... The Indycar projects fate was doomed the day MSGS chose the UE4 engine for Ignition...
Agree and yet LMU looks damn good actually. I think it looks miles better than ACC in VR. Quite surprised me tbh.
 
Agree and yet LMU looks damn good actually. I think it looks miles better than ACC in VR. Quite surprised me tbh.

The engine just needed a polish and a focused title on it...

But the promise of UE4 and the success of ACC was too much to bear... It's been a slow realization for the industry that the Unreal engine just doesn't make good racing games...
 
Honestly, we dont need an Indy car game like LMU, we just need rFactor 3. With moving HUD, better AI, all the famous tracks, all the famous cars, better night reflection....like AC EVO in fact.
Or maybe rFactor Ultimate and just work from there like RaceRoom but with DirectX12 😅🤓
 

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