IndyCar Driver Review: Ryan Hunter-Reay - MotorSportsTalk

MotorSportsTalk continues its run through the 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series field. Finishing sixth after a year where he hit the jackpot in May, but again had too much bad luck that sabotaged his season on the whole was Ryan Hunter-Reay.

2014 SEASON PREVIEW

Ryan Hunter-Reay

Team: Andretti Autosport
2013: 7th Place, 2 Wins, 3 Poles, 6 Podiums, 7 Top-5, 9 Top-10, 297 Laps Led, 5.4 Avg. Start, 11.6 Avg. Finish
2014: 6th Place, 3 Wins, 1 Pole, 6 Podiums, 6 Top-5, 9 Top-10, 195 Laps Led, 10.2 Avg. Start, 10.9 Avg. Finish

It almost seems that Ryan Hunter-Reay’s ticked off the racing gods whenever major success hits him. He won the 2012 IndyCar championship after a ten-year fight to the top, then was completely overlooked in the offseason and struggled through an inconsistent, turbulent 2013.

Fast forward to 2014 where RHR wins the Indianapolis 500 in dynamic fashion, and he’s seemingly at the peak of his powers with four top-two finishes from the first five races (and only a momentary lapse at Long Beach cost him a fifth). Then 11 of his final 13 races of 2014 are disastrous at best. Go figure.

Post-Indy, RHR endured a nightmare Detroit, suffered a mechanical issue in Texas, missed the setup in Houston but fought to two top-10s, had a suspension failure in Pocono, stole the Iowa win, had contact with TK in Toronto, spun at Mid-Ohio, qualified poorly, recovered and then had another suspension issue in Milwaukee, scored a surprise second in Sonoma and spun again in Fontana.

In some respects, RHR mirrored the season of the last two ‘500 winners, Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan – he hit the ultimate one-race season-high, but didn’t have a great overall year to complement it. On the bright side, armed with a contract extension with Andretti Autosport and sponsor DHL, he has job stability, and renewed desire to bounce back in 2015.

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An IndyCar executive said there is “absolutely” disappointment that its long-awaited video game recently was delayed beyond its target date, but the series remains optimistic about the new title.

“Well, I don’t know how quick it will be, but the whole situation is important to us,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said during a news conference Monday morning to announce IndyCar’s NTT title sponsorship. “Motorsport Games has spent a lot of money, a lot of effort to create an IndyCar title. What we’ve seen of that effort, which is not completely obvious, is very reassuring.

“I think it’s going to be outstanding. That’s our shared objective, that when it is released, it’s just widely accepted. A great credit both to IndyCar racing, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, something that our fans love.”

In June 2021, IndyCar announced a new partnership with Motorsport Games to create and distribute an IndyCar video game for the PC and Xbox and PlayStation consoles in 2023.

But during an earnings call last week, Motorsport Games said the IndyCar game had been delayed to 2024 to ensure high quality.

Somewhat compounding the delay is that IndyCar’s license for iRacing expired after the end of the 2022 season because of its exclusive agreement with Motorsport Games.

That’s resulted in significant changes for IndyCar on iRacing, which had provided a high-profile way for the series to stay visible during its 2020 shutdown from the pandemic. (Players still can race an unbranded car but don’t race on current IndyCar tracks, nor can they stream).

That’s helped ratchet up the attention on having a video game outlet for IndyCar.

“I wish we had an IndyCar title 10 years ago,” said Miles, who has been working with the organization since 2013. “We’ve been close, but we’ve had these I think speed bumps.”

IndyCar is hopeful the Motorsports Game edition will be ready at the start of 2024. Miles hinted that beta versions could be unveiled to reporters ahead of the time “to begin to show the progress in a narrow way to make sure we’ve got it right, to test the progress so that we’re ready when they’re ready.”

It’s been nearly 18 years since the release of the most recent IndyCar video game for console or PC.

“(We) better get it right,” Miles said. “It’s something we’re very close to and continue to think about what it is to make sure we get it over the line in due course.”