Mario Andretti Racing

Mario Andretti Racing was named after the famous Italian-American driver Mario Andretti, one of the most successful racers in motorsport history, and tried to leverage his name into its own licensed game for EA Sports. The player progresses through a career across various disciplines of American motorsport - from sprint cars through stock cars to open-wheel single-seaters resembling IndyCar - and each class behaves differently on track and has a different level of difficulty in handling a slide, so the player has to gradually learn how each car reacts to the throttle and brakes.

The game uses a pseudo-3D view from behind the car, with the track smoothly built from redrawn segments, which at the time of release gave the Mega Drive a decent sense of speed and helped evoke the feeling of real racing. The handling is more demanding and simulation-oriented than arcade competitors like Out Run - the game emphasizes braking correctly before corners and the weight distribution of the car, which players looking for more than a pure arcade feel will appreciate. The presentation uses Andretti's likeness and name in the menus and between races, which was meant to give the game the authenticity of real motorsport and set it apart from nameless competitors.

Contemporary reception was mixed to slightly positive - the game was praised for the variety of disciplines and its attempt at a more realistic approach to handling, but criticized for a slower start and less arcade addictiveness compared to contemporary competitors, which relied on simpler and faster fun without the need to learn how different types of cars behave. Today it's more of a curiosity for collectors and fans of licensed 1990s racing games than a title that a wide range of players would actively play - yet it's a reminder of how diverse the racing game genre was on the Mega Drive and how many different approaches to handling developers tried back then, from pure arcade all the way to this more simulation-oriented branch of the genre.

Why play it: More for collectors of licensed 1990s racing games than for a wide audience, Mario Andretti Racing offers a look at the more simulation-oriented branch of the genre, with varied disciplines and a slower start.