May 14, 2004 - Maryland-based Bethesda Softworks had IHRA Professional Drag Racing 2005 behind closed doors. But on the show floor, the developer-publisher had a real drag car and a grip of Hooters girls to keep show goers happy. What we saw behind closed doors is the latest in the publisher's series of drag racing games. It takes the formula the east coast company is known for and makes some changes that are necessary in 2004.




The biggest change is an entirely new code-base. Ditched was the previous code library; IHRA Pro is an all-new game from scratch. If you're a crazy top fuel-watching nut or just someone dabbling in drag you can go either for the quickie, arcade mode or the more advanced career/simulation mode. The latter still has all the intricacies of previous Bethesda drag racing games, but with a more user-friendly environment. According to producer, Ashley Cheng, you don't need to know how an engine works. All the necessary tuning parameters have been changed to sliders and other similar graphical interface elements.


We won't see any online play. At least that's our gut feeling. When questioned, Cheng didn't seem too positive in his response. We're guessing the closest we'll get to warming the tires or waiting at the tree with another player is a sort of ghost or leader board online element. This isn't the official word from the publisher, but we're pretty sure there won't be any side-by-side 1/4 mile runs. It's a shame, too, because we see a huge market for an online drag racing game, especially on Xbox Live. Without this element it just is a bit empty, lacking that extra touch. We're positive Xbox Live support for IHRA would sell units, more so back east.



For 2005, IHRA features more than 50 vehicles, all fully customizable, detailed weather in day and night racing. The roster of vehicles and drivers come from professional IHRA levels like Top Fuel, Pro Mod, Pro Stock and Alcohol Funny cars. Multiplayer support is through split-screen (vertical or horizontal, still up in the air). For the drag fanatic there are part and paint shops as well as a garage and a trophy room.



In our short, non-playable demo the Xbox version looked good with the Maryland raceway looking pretty, if a bit boring, during a sunset race, down to the camping trailers and paddock. Warming the tires is done through repeated button presses then it's onto the staging tree. As a single player, this might only appeal to the drag audience, but we really need an online multiplayer mode; maybe for '06. At least the single player game will come through with loads of tuning options, real strip, drivers and cars. We really dug the Havoc-based physics engine, that has been tweaked to give crashes some flare.



Game producer, Ashley Cheng, told us to expect IHRA Professional Drag Racing 2005 on PC, Xbox and PlayStation 2 by fourth quarter this year. There is an insane amount of racing games coming to consoles and PC later this year, but IHRA has the disctinction of being more or less the only dedicated drag racing game. Visually, it's looking good with authentic recreation of all the licensed venues. Let's keep our fingers crossed that there's some form of multi-player online mode and this might just do well. Better start practice staging.