Screenshots
US Open Wheel 85-95 Manager
Tim Wheatley · Published by Tim Wheatley
Last updated 28 Sept 2026
Manage a racing team through the golden era of US-based open-wheel racing. Handle finances, drivers, chassis and strategy - all leading to one goal: conquering the 500.
Indie, Strategy, Sports, Racing · More free games
About this game
It is 1984. You, a retired racing driver, have a dream to take a small US open-wheel racing team to glory in your quest to win the championship and seasons premiere 500-mile race.
Beginning in 1985 on a ten year campaign, you will manage your own team with staff hiring and firing, building and upgrading of facilities, designing or purchasing race chassis, making deals with sponsors, signing engine, fuel and other suppliers, and deciding on fuel and tire strategy in real-time simulated races that are determined by the choices you made.
OVERVIEW
Ten year campaign set in the golden era of US-based open-wheel racing from 1985 to 1995.
Varied starting team setups with different facilities and financial backing.
European and US driver and team personnel markets.
New and Used Engine, Fuel, Tyre and Chassis markets.
Design your own racing chassis to use or sell on the market.
Real-time race simulation with 3D viewer.
Qualifying and Race simulation affected by team facilities, staffing, drivers, chassis, engines and tyre stats, dynamic weather (cloud cover) cooling the track and more.
Open structure with editable names and other parameters.
System Requirements
Will my PC run this? →Minimum
- OS: Windows 10 or later
Supported Languages
*languages with full audio support
Latest news
Patch NotesOfficial
Dev Update (June 3, 2026)
Changes since last update:Fixed pitting positions.Added pit board in team colors that lifts to race side if not pitting, pit side if pitting.Added team color placeholders for pit crew area.Added clouds that orient to wind direction.Added cloud detection over race track.Used cloud detection to determine track temp reduction.Added air temp (which existed before) to UI along with new track temp, new clouds count over track (which might be hidden on release).To do: Add cooling offset for higher winds.Read full article on Community Announcements (88mphTim)Patch NotesOfficial
Dev Update (June 1, 2026)
Changes since last video:Added sound. Different engine samples for each engine, varied pitch within those samples.Added gradual speed up and slow down (still needs adding to some situations like yellow flag pack catchup). But they do, in code, effectively take a lap to reach full speed from a standing start where I have this working.In code, tried to add some decision making. When 3-wide slowest car may decide to back out. When 2-wide slowest driver may decide to back out. With less than 20 laps to go backing out is less likely.Reworked crowd visual (I do want to add something 3D, low poly, ontop of it).Added brick colored pixels to S/F line.Added driver intro showing grid order that plays during pace laps before race start. This shows the actual color selection being used on the car, creating the texture in real time, so when players can paint their car it will show their paint.Added skip button to skip driver intros to race start.Added TV cameras that follow a selected driver (or leader), triggering by distance and switching camera around the lap.Clickable 2D (race standings) and 3D (in the actual game) car selection for camera focus.Working scoring pylon.Dynamic sun/shadows and wind.Rewrote pitting, pretty much works, but I need to stop them trying to avoid other drivers who have stopped by driving to their left (which would be behind the wall when I add one).Some technical retirements can be fixed (with extended stay in pit box).Race and restarts out of T4 instead of at S/F.Some yellow flag issues fixed. Lots of yellow flag issues not yet fixed.Read full article on Community Announcements (88mphTim)Patch NotesOfficial
Dev Update (May 20, 2026)
The visual AI is incredibly challenging, but I'm getting there!Read full article on Community Announcements (88mphTim)Patch NotesOfficial
Dev Update (May 16, 2026)
The background simulation (and issues) hasn't changed since the last video, but I do have a 3D track model and all the cars now represented in 3D, which felt like a big enough step to post.Read full article on Community Announcements (88mphTim)Patch NotesOfficial
Dev Update (May 11, 2026)
Latest developments show off a track map, lap chart and a lot of yellow flag bugs.Read full article on Community Announcements (88mphTim)
