What is netKar PRO?
nKPRO is a PC based racing car simulator with realistic physics.
nKPRO is aimed both at professionals in the racing business and
at racing enthusiasts all around the world. It's aimed to offer
an enviroment where people can learn about racing, car handling,
behaviour on a racing track, car setup and data telemetry analysis.
Does nKPro reproduce
only fictional cars and tracks?
netKar PRO’s cars have been modelled using accurate telemetry
data and engineering consultancy from their real-world counterparts.
Their behaviour has been tested by professional racing drivers and
race engineers to guarantee ultimate realism. Our aim for the future
is to join official licenses to reproduce official cars and tracks
in our driving simulator.
What kind of contents does netKar
PRO license include?
A license unlocks all the racing contents of the software and allows
training in track day sessions, or to race online against other
nKPro users. Racing contents are described in the cars/vehicles/features
pages.
Also, a license includes 1 year of technical support. netKar PRO
is an ongoing project, there will be main software releases but
the feature list and the technology behind the project is in a constant
evolution, mostly driven by the user community backing the simulator.
Does netKar
PRO include Artificial Intelligence for single player races?
At the moment, netKar PRO doesn't simulate cars driven by CPU: we
believe that nothing can compete with the thril of online races
against real human drivers.
How many players can join an online race?
At the moment, netKar PRO allows up to 15 players to join an online
race on dedicated servers.
The freeware netKar didn't support keyboard to control the
cars: can I use keyboard to drive in netKar PRO?
Even if we recommend to use a force feedback steering wheel with
this driving simulator, netKar PRO supports keyboard control: you
can switch from game controller to keyboard modes in any moment,
pressing the "K" key.
UPDATE:
version 1.1 allows driving by gamepad, keyboard, and mouse/keyboard.
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>Buying
a license
Where I can
buy netKar PRO?
netKar PRO is a digital delivery product: you will not find it in
stores. You can download the software from the internet and buy
the license needed to unlock it in the shop page.
What
is the price of a netKar PRO license, and how can I buy it?
A netKar PRO license usually costs EUR 36; you can buy netKar PRO
using Paypal or using your credit card directly, with secure access.
How
many activations are avaiable, and how activations are managed?
Unlimited. Initially
there are 3 automatic activations to be used in case of lost data
or format. After the initial 3 activations are used, it will be
necessary to use
this form (free of charge).
Can I
install netKar PRO on two several PC using the same license?
From v1.0.1 licences are connected to a driver. You can copy the
drivers folder to a second PC and use your existing licence.
I've
just bought a license: how I can activate it?
Once the software is installed, launch it and create a driver profile.
Then select the unlock option, insert the paycode you have received
by e-mail and firstname and lastname you specified on the Paypal
form.
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>netKar
PRO DEMO
Where
I can download it?
Demo is free and it is included in the full -locked- version of
netKar PRO 1.0x. Once the installation has been done, you simply
need to create a driver profile, choose your name, nationality and
favourite equipment, and then you are allowed to drive a F.1600
car at the Crema Test Track Circuit and at Prato.
What kind of driving aids are avaiable?
netKar PRO is a hardcore driving simulator. If the -real- car reproduced
in the simulator supports any driving aid (like ABS, traction control,
and so on), the simulator will support them too. The single-seaters
reproduced in the first version of netKar PRO don't allow any kind
of driving help. In consideration of the fact that most users don't
have the third pedal on their game controllers, netKar PRO allows
the automatic clutch. For the remaing controls, you have to throttle,
brake, shift and steer as you usually do in real life. If you drive
by mouse/keyboard, traction control and abs aids are allowed.
Sometime I can't shift gears. How come?
Using the automatic clutch, you have to shift gears at the proper
engine's RPM. To shift up, release the throttle, and then shift
up the gear. To shift down, you have to do it at the proper veichle
speed.
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>Technical informations
Minimum System
requirements
1,7 Ghz Processor or higer
512 MB RAM
64 MB Graphics card with Directx 8.0 support (ATI 9600 PRO / Nvidia
5900 or higher)
Built-in sound card
1 GB hard disk free space
a 100% Windows 2000/XP compatible computer system
Microsoft
.NET 1.1 Runtime (download and install it from here)
To improve your nKPro experience:
1.
Disable running programs that can hurt your PC performance.
2. Install the latest drivers for your soundcard and graphics card
to enjoy the best possible sound for nKPro.
3. Disable 'Boost priority' and 'MSN Messenger notification' if
you encounter lag issues.
Graphics options
netKar PRO supports 16/9 format for those display that use it: in
this case, the graphics shows a larger field of view. If you want
to try this kind of view on your 4/3 display, select a 16/9 resolution
setting (1280x768, or similar) and untick the fullscreen option.
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>Driving netKar PRO
Before
starting
1. Remember:
this is very realistic car racing simulation. You will not see 'credit
system' or 'Shift-R' like systems to reset the car. You can drive
from the cockpit view only. You won't have unrealistic position
information of where the other cars are on-track. You must start
your car manually. You must watch the battery voltage of your car
when you start it. You must watch your tires and manually instruct
your pitcrew to mount new tires. Spin and feel the flatspots on
your tires and the resulting vibration. It's all focused on realism.
2. In online races, you will be informed by the pitboard of how
many laps you completed (or of how many laps you completed - this
is random), who is in front and behind you and what time differences
exists between you and your rivals. But remember, sometimes the
pitboard shows you on what lap you are and sometimes it shows you
how many laps you have to go.
Driver profile
You can set the teamname and carnumber in your profile. This is
especially interesting for drivers competing in leagues.
Car setup
1. You can change
the car setup both from the nKPro Windows menu and in-game from
the setup options menu when you are in the pitbox or pitlane.
2. You can save a current setup on the 'File' tab in the nKPro Windows
menu. Just rename 'newfile' to the name you want to give to the
setup and press 'save'. It will now appear in the setup list on
the left.
3. You can load a setup only from the nKPro Window menu. It is not
possible to load a new setup from the in-game setup menu. From the
nKPro Windows setup menu, simply select a setup and press 'load
setup' to load the selected setup. Remember that the setup will
only be copied to your car when you pressed 'Set up car'.
4. The setup list under the 'File' tab only displays the setup for
the selected car. It does display all setups for the selected car
for all tracks.
5. With FullMode disabled, you can make any setup change without
having to wait for the pitcrew to complete the change. With FullMode
enabled, you will have to wait for your pitcrew to complete the
change, except for mounting new tyres, adding/removing fuel and
changing tire pressure.
FullMode
1. All setup
changes except adding/removing of fuel, mounting new tyres and tire
pressure changes will cost pitcrew working time. This is indicated
with a red square which is displayed on the right bottom corner
of the screen. The square displays the time left until the change
is done.
2. Setup changes that require pitcrew working time can be undone
(except 'Fix car'). Just turn the value back to its original value
and the red square with the timecounter will disappear again.
3. If you damage your car, you can repair it in the pits or box
by pressing the white square labeled 'Fix car'. Remember that fixing
your car in FullMode will cause the pitcrew working timer to be
started.
4. If you press 'Esc' whilst being on-track and click 'Back to pit'
or 'Back to box', your car will be brought back, but the 'working
timer' red square will be shown to simulate that your car has to
be brought back to the pitlane, because you did not drive it back
to the pitlane.
5. When you drove your car back to your pitspot in the pitlane,
you can put the car in the pitbox without getting a 'working time'
penalty by pressing 'Esc'->'Go to box'. In any other case, a
'working time' penalty is imposed. Putting your car in the box instead
of the pitlane can avoid damage caused by other cars in multiplayer.
Skins
1. nKPro support
personal car and helmet skins in online racing. The only thing required
in order for carskins to be visible is that all drivers in an event
need to have the skins installed on their PC. If one driver doesn't
have the skins, this will not lead to errors. The only thing that
happens is that these drivers will only see a red skin for the drivers
whose skin they don't have installed.
2. To create a skin, it is required to make a folder in the cars/<car>/skins
folder.
3. To pick a skin, a driver should go into the car setup window,
click 'Skin' and select the preferred skin. The skin is only selected
once the button 'Set up car' is pressed.
Multiplayer
1. When the server
goes to Race mode, all connected drivers must manually put their
car on the grid. This is done by clicking the green (and flashing)
square button that is labeled 'Go to grid'.
2. You can make pitstops in a multiplayer race to add fuel, mount
new tyres, change your setup or fix your car. Just drive your car
into the pitlane and halt it on your pitspot. Make sure you remember
your box so you stop at the right place. When you are in your pitspot,
the white squares with the car setup options will be automatically
displayed. You can now make any chance to your car or let it be
fixed. Remember that in FullMode any change except mounting new
tyres, adding/removing fuel and changing tire pressure will cost
time (the red 'pitcrew working time' square with a countdowntimer
will be displayed).
3. Undoing a change (if possible) will remove/undo the 'pitcrew
working time'.
Multiplayer performance
1. nKPro v1.01
uses quite some FPS online. Make sure you have over 80FPS offline
in order to have proper FPS in a multiplayer session with a full
field.
2. Before connecting to a multiplayer session, disable all non-required
running processes in Windows, like MSN, Windows Explorer, Internet
Explorer.
3. Put the texture quality, level of detail (LOD) and visibility
to minimum levels in your Video options in your nKPro Windows menu
to maximize performance.
4.
Disable 'data logger' under 'Car setup' -> 'AIM' if you don't
use it during a multiplayer session.
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>Telemetry
Data analysis
I
cannot find any support for telemetry in the main interface, Why
is this?
Thanks
to the partnership with AIM Sportline, netKar PRO reproduces one
of their best products, the MyCron 3 display. Also there is direct
support for their data analysis software, the Racestudio, so that
drivers can use a powerful tool to analize their laps, in the same
way they could do in real life. A full licensed version of netKar
PRO is required to generate the data used by the AIM software.
Where
I can find this telemetry software?RaceStudio 2 (including
relevant manuals) can be downloaded directly from the AIM Sportline
official site, you can find the link in the download section of
this site.
How
can I use AIM RaceAnalysis with netKar PRO?
After
the download and installation process is done, you have to run "Race
Studio 2 Analysis". From here open the file menu, and click
on "import file": in the file list, you will find under
"file types" the option for "netKar telemetry".
Select the file you want to analize, then click to load it. Race
Studio 2 is provided with complete documentation that allows you
to use this powerful tool at its best.
How
to do basic telemetry analysis in AIM RaceAnalysis
1.
Install AIM RaceAnalysis.
2. Enable 'data logger' in your setup window (AIM
tab). Select what parts you want to log.
3. Drive: after your session a file called 'telemetry_dump.nkt'
will be saved in your nKPro/aim folder. This is the telemetry dump
Wink. Will will import this into RaceAnalysis.
4. Start RaceAnalysis (icon says 'Race Studio Analysis').
Remember: nKPro only use the Analysis tool and not the Race Studio
2 tool (which is aimed for downloading data from a real AIM data
logger and not nKPro virtual one).
5. Click 'File' -> 'Import'.
6. Navigate to the 'telemetry_dump.nkt'
file. Import it.
7. Open the test that appeared now. Right-click
it and press 'Open test'.
8. Now the laps from your test should appear. Disable
the laps you are not interested in to analyse (right-click ->
'Disable lap'). This keep the window clear and eases your
analysis process.
9. Now, the important one: create a track map of
the track you drove on. This is the key. First. Click on one of
the laps in which you made no big mistakes. This will be lap uses
for plotting the track map so make sure the lap was representative
and clean. Click 'Map' in the menu and then 'New'. From the white
listbox, select the preferred lap again. Now, the track you drove
on should be plotted on the left. Check if the track is shown correctly.
You might have to mirror the track. Save the track using the name
of the track, for example 'Newbury'.
10. With the track being plotted, analysis can
start. Click the 'Plot measures in a graph' button (or
press Ctrl-F2 to load it) to start the analysis graph. On the left,
you see all telemetry objects, like speed, gear, suspension travel,
etc. First of all, down low, enable the laps you want to analyse
and hide the ones you don't want to see (use the checkboxes to do
this). Note what happens on the left of the screen - it will show/hide
the telemetry data of that lap. Then, click on the button that says
'SPEED'. Also check the checkbox in front of it and see
what happens. It will now add the speed data on the Y-axis of the
graph on the right. Now we're going to add the magic - the track
map we just created. Click 'Map'->'Show track map' or
press Shift-F1 to enable the map. The track map should now pop up.
Make sure you select at least two laps down low and immediately
see the data plotted in the graph. Now comes the cool thing. Click
somewhere on the track and see the + sign changing. Now check the
data on the left. You can see the data at any moment in the lap.
This way, you can scroll along the track. Also see the line being
plotted in the main graph. You can easily see where you lost time
and find out the reason why.
11.
Finetune. You might encounter some issues. For example, the gears
won't display correctly. It will be ranged from 2 to 7, while the
gears are of course 1 to 6. To correct this, press the button that
is labeled "...". You will see under 'Value = (Value x
A) + B' the values 1 and 0. Change the 0 into -1 to update the data
and see the gears being shown correctly now.
