Game of Theseus Gets Graphics Upgrade, Force Feedback 30 Years On
Indycar Racing 2 was a good game, back in 1995; in some ways, it was the Crysis of the Clinton years, in that most mortals could not run it to its full potential when it was new. Still, that potential was surely fairly limited, as weโre talking about a DOS game from 30 years ago. Sure, it was limitedโ but limits are meant to be broken, and games are made to be modded. [TedMeat] has made a video showing the updates. (Embedded below.)
It turns out there was a 3D-accelerated version sold with the short-lived Rendition graphics cards. That version is what let the community upscale everything to the absurd resolutions our modern monitors are capable of. Goodbye SVGA, hello HD. Specifically, [sharangad] has created a wrapper to translate the Rendition API to modern hardware. It doesnโt sound like higher-res textures have been modded in, in which case this looks spectacular for graphics designed in 1995. Itโs not the latest Forza, but for what it is, it impresses.
The second hack [TedMeat] discusses is a mod by [GPLaps] that pulls physics values from game memory to throw to a modern force-feedback wheel, and it shows just how good the physics was in 1995. You really can feel whatโs going onโ stopping a skid before it starts, for example. Thatโs normal these days, but for the kids playing with a keyboard in 1995, it would have been totally mind-blowing.
As tipster [Keith Olson] put it: โWhat can I say? Fans gonna fan!โ โ and weโre just as grateful for that fact as we are for the tipoff. If youโre in a fandom thatโs hacked its way to keep old favourites alive, weโd love to hear about it: submit a tip.
youtube.com/embed/-0U8wrEh_YI?โฆ
hackaday.com/2025/10/19/game-oโฆ