• Platform: Arcade
• Release Date: 2000

Game Description

CART Fury Championship Racing is a racing game which seeks to simulate the speed of CART rather than its realism. The CART cars are incredibly difficult to drive in real life, and that wouldn't work in an arcade setting, so rather than a being a true simulation, CART Fury displays all of the characteristics of an arcade racer. You select from ten of CART's biggest stars, although there are no difference between their attributes or their cars. Choose between three or four levels of difficulty, as well as whether or not you use automatic handling or a four-speed. Twelve different raceways await you, featuring either oval style tracks or jaunts through the hearts of cities from across the globe, from Chicago to Rio. There are four tracks for each difficulty: easy, hard, and expert. You can play each individually, winning extra races for first place finishes, or take on them all in a Seasonal or Time Attack mode.

You'll have a rolling start from the back of the pack to begin your race, but you're also given a rival to face which will pace you constantly throughout the match. You can use a special boost feature to try and pull ahead, but be mindful of the level of your boost, as you only get refilled once a lap. If you beat a lap within a preset time for every track, you'll gain a super boost, which is a bit faster than the normal speed increase. ~ Jon Thompson, All Game Guide

Review: Enjoyment

The game is sort of generic, and in no way resembles real CART racing, but it's still a blast to play, especially against friends. It might be a touch unfair, but the speed and excitement that it creates are undeniable. ~ Jon Thompson, All Game Guide

Review: Overall

Poor CART. The stepchild of Formula One has never gotten the respect it desired. While many not realize it, car racing is one of the most popular sports in the world -- in fact, the highest-paid athlete in 2000 was a Formula One racer. But CART hasn't been held in the same esteem, exactly, although it is still fairly popular on a global scale. Popular enough, it would seem, to have its very own arcade game released by none other than the bastion of unrealistic racing titles, Midway. Their tradition holds up here, as anyone hoping to find a realistic representation of CART racing are going to be severely let down. However, those looking for an entertaining arcade racing experience might just be surprised with CART Fury.

CART Fury Championship Racing is molded from the Hydro Thunder engine ... yup, a car game built from a boat game, but considering how little Hydro Thunder relied on actual boating physics, it really isn't too much of a bother. CART Fury has its own properties, of course, including a somewhat more realistic damage model (your tires, at least, take damage when you smash into walls or other cars). It also builds on the boost power found in Hydro Thunder by giving you the power to perform a super boost if you complete laps quickly.

The racing lacks realism but manages to be quite entertaining. The tracks are all flat, and throw challenges at you through tricky, twisted design. There are two basic styles of track, the traditional oval styles and then the grand prix format where you zoom through the streets of a city. The variety of track designs, different levels of challenge, and day and night racing, is quite nice. Their ability to be tricky without being overly hard is certainly a nice touch. It keeps the pace of the game blazing fast and subsequently, highly entertaining.

Like most other arcade racers, you're put you at the back of the pack in the very beginning, but the addition of a single racer that will challenge you all throughout the race was a clever idea, and keeps things constantly intense even when you're in the back of the pack. Midway should be commended for such a simple yet functional addition to CART Fury, as it truly adds to the experience.

This game isn't going to replace Daytona USA for those who look for a little more meat in their arcade racers, but after a long, fairly obnoxious streak of repetitive Cruisin' titles, CART Fury manages to breathe fresh air, not only onto Midway racing titles, but into arcade racing in general. ~ Jon Thompson, All Game Guide

Review: Graphics

While this game suffers from the same sort of odd blandness that most Midway arcade racing games seem to fall prey to, it is decent enough to watch, and it moves quickly, which is important to a title such as this. ~ Jon Thompson, All Game Guide

Review: Sound

The sound is only slightly above average, with the humming of the motors and screams of exhaust. They all sound fine, but nothing here is extremely noteworthy. ~ Jon Thompson, All Game Guide

Review: Replay Value

While this racing game isn't terribly deep, it does provide enough cheap thrills to draw you back time and again. ~ Jon Thompson, All Game Guide