It's hard to find a sim which successfully combines realism, performance, and versatility as elegantly as IndyCar Racing II managed to do on its release in 1995. The realism was evident from the moment you took to the track - ICR2 featured authentic handling (the best for its time), very good AI, and intense competition. The excellent performance of the sim reached its peak in the Rendition-accelerated version (ICR2-3D), which, when first released, was simply breathtaking: high-color graphics and 3D effects at a solid 30 frames per second on even a low-end Pentium system. The versatility of ICR2-3D was nearly unmatched; layout and graphics were easily modified, all of which were the domain of a group called The Sim Project (now sadly defunct), whose goal was to enhance the capabilities of the sim in every way possible. (The sim is based on the 1995 season, but could be easily updated to more recent seasons.) All of this made ICR2-3D the essential sim for CART fans, and even today - years after its initial release - it remains the best alternative for the CART fan and an incredible racing experience.

This site showcases the Rendition version, which was initially available (as IndyCar Racing II Rendition) only with a Rendition V1000 card but was later included in the repackaged version titled CART Racing. Only cards using a Rendition Vérité chipset are able to run this version of the sim, and unfortunately they're now a thing of the past. The Rendition version did contain three major bugs which were never corrected: helmet colors changed and often appeared incorrectly; races could not be saved after the first few laps; and multiplayer mode failed. Bugs notwithstanding, ICR2-3D remains a major breakthrough in the PC sim-racing world, holding a place next to the likes of Grand Prix 2, the original NASCAR Racing, and Grand Prix Legends as milestones of the genre.

Even former CART driver Stefan Johansson admitted that "it's as close to the real thing as I've ever experienced." And even in this era of complex 3D physics modeling and graphical glitz, the Rendition version can still hold its own.