***ATTENTION***: If you are experiencing choppiness, or a slow framerate, while driving on the track, please at least read the last section of this document, "Framerate Issues". It contains many simple and helpful steps that may solve your problem.
Contents
Introduction
System Requirements
Getting Started
Joystick Setup
Setting Controls
How to Race
On the Track - keyboard commands
Replay
The Tracks
Framerate Issues
Introduction
Welcome, this is the NASCAR Racing for Macintosh Demo version 1.0.0. This Demo includes 3 tracks and 19 NASCAR licensed computer-driven cars. You will not be able to save or load anything other than control settings and are limited to three gallons of fuel. You will also not be able to pit while racing. The full version will include 31 top drivers, 16 licensed tracks and a Paintkit to create your own cars. NASCAR Racing will support two player racing via AppleTalk, modem and direct connection.
System Requirements
Apple Power Macintosh 6100 60mhz minimum (7100 80mhz or higher recommended)
16 MB RAM ( 8MB free)
system 7.1 or later
Sound Manager 3.1
Plain Talk 1.51 ( For speech recognition)
256 color display
Joystick or steering device (recommended)
Getting Started
The best way to get started in NASCAR Racing is to check a few things before you launch the program. You can drive using the keyboard or with the mouse, however an analog joystick or steering wheel controller are recommended for top performance (most "gamepad" -type controllers, such as the Gravis Gamepad, are digital controllers. Using them is like using keyboard keys). NASCAR Racing supports and recognizes the latest Macintosh joysticks from the leading joystick controller companies (CH Products, Gravis and Thrustmaster). We recommend using your joystick in NASCAR Racing if you already have one, and purchasing one to use with the game if you don't. You won't regret it.
Joystick Setup
If you don't have a joystick or steering wheel, but will be driving with the mouse or keyboard, you can skip ahead to the section on Setting Controls.
In order to use your joystick in NASCAR Racing, you'll need to make sure that it's Control Panel or Extensions are installed and loading on your system. If you are unsure of how to check this, please consult the documentation that came with your joystick or contact your joystick's manufacturer.
Most joystick control panels have a way to add or select a game to a list of games in your joystick control panel. NASCAR Racing directly supports all CH Products, Gravis and Thrustmaster joysticks. If you have another type of joystick you should use the joystick's control panel to configure it for NASCAR Racing. If you are unsure of how to do this, please consult the documentation that came with your joystick or contact your joystick's manufacturer.
Once you've completed this step, restart your computer and launch NASCAR Racing. If your joystick is recognized by NASCAR Racing, you will be prompted to calibrate it. Move the joystick to its furthest extents in all directions and then release it, letting it center itself. Some joysticks have dials or screws you can adjust to fine-tune their centering. If your joystick has such features you should use them to center your joystick as carefully as possible. Then hit "OK" with the mouse to finish calibrating your joystick.
Setting Controls
NASCAR Racing will go through the Introduction sequence. After you finish watching the intro sequence, you can dismiss it by hitting the mouse button or any key from the keyboard. Then, from the Main Menu, select Set Controls from the Options Menu. This will bring up the dialog box where you can specify which controls you wish to drive with. For example, many people prefer to drive with the horizontal axis of the joystick as steering left and right, the trigger button as the gas, the thumb button as the brake, and pulling the joystick toward them as reverse. For mouse or keyboard steering you'll need to click the Modify button to setup your controls accordingly. NASCAR Racing defaults to mouse steering, so that is what will be active the first time you launch it. Note to Thrustmaster FCS users : Due to limitations of the Thrustmaster driver NASCAR Racing will not know if you have a joystick or a Steering device attached. So when you start the game the program will ask you to calibrate your steering wheel. The FCS will still work with NASCAR Racing. The Joystick Left/Right will be seen by NASCAR Racing as Steering Wheel left and right. NASCAR Racing will not see the Forward/ Back motion of your joystick. In order to get your Joysticks buttons to work you need to set them to keyboard characters in the Thrustware program and use the "extend" feature to simulate continuously holding down a key. See the instructions for Thrustware and for the FCS for more information.
How To Race
[At any time, you can press ESC to exit to the main screen.]
[While on the track, you can press Shift-R to restart any session. It's for cheaters only, but can be helpful if you're checking out this demo version, get in an early wreck, and just want to zip back to the starting line instead of re-qualifying.]
The Full version of NASCAR Racing has 4 driving modes and four race sessions. In this demo version you can try your hand at two of these modes. Under the options menu you will find the following:
Preseason testing: This is where you have the track all to yourself. In the full version you can spend time here to develop your setups or in the demo you can practice without worrying about traffic.
Single race: This mode lets you experience a full race weekend. You start at Practice were you get a feel for the track. The next session is Qualify where you race one lap to get your start position. Warmup gives you one more practice session. Race is the final race on Sunday. Be ready to race because there's no pace lap in this demo. You can change the sessions in the Race menu or you can just press the Session button on the main screen.
Championship season: Not in demo. In the championship season you will race for points over a whole year's worth of races. The driver with the most points wins the season.
Multiplayer race: Not in demo. Multiplayer lets you race with a friend over an AppleTalk” network, direct connection or by modem connection.
On the Track
Once you made it to the track the following keyboard commands will help you win.
Black Box
The Black boxes are where your pit crew get information to you and you get information to the pit crew.
F1-Leader board Info, Best lap speed, Last lap speed, and how many laps you have completed
F2-The current standings
F3-Fuel state, MPG, and projected laps ( In this demo you are limited to 3 gallons)
F4-Your tire temperatures
F5-Tire change. Lists the pressures and the state of wear of your tires ( the green bar)
F6-Cross weight
F7-Spoiler
F8-Stagger
F9-Pit Status. This tells you what your pit crew will do when you pit (there is no pitting in this demo)
The spacebar and the "<" and ">" keys will let you navigate the Black boxes.
In the full version you will also be able to control the black boxes with speech recognition using Apple's PlainTalk” software.
Graphics keys
The following keys will let you adjust the graphics detail while you drive.
1-Grass texture on/off
2-Road texture on/off
3-A three position switch. Buildings on textures on, Buildings on textures off, Buildings off.
4-Crowd texture on/off
5-Wall textures on/off
6-Horizon on/off
7-Car texture on/off
8-Smoke/dirt on/off
9-Paint marks skids on/off
General Keys
Alt-h Turns Autoshifting on/off
Alt-b Turns Braking assistance on/off
ESC exits to the main screen
Shift-r Restarts race
Replay
After you have driven on the track and pressed ESC you will see a short replay clip of your driving. If you wish to view more of the replay click on the Replay button on the Main screen. This screen lets you view the replay from a number of different camera angles and to view the replay from another driver's perspective. In the full version of the game you will be able to edit the size of the replay and to save it, and you may even save part of a replay as a QuickTime” movie.
The Tracks
The demo includes three of the tracks from the full version of NASCAR Racing. The tracks are as follows:
Martinsville Speedway is a short oval located in Martinsville, Virginia. Its .562 miles long with 12 degrees of bank.
Charlotte Motor Speedway is an oval super speedway located in Charlotte, NC. It is 1.500 miles long.
Sears Point is a road course located in Sonoma, CA. It is 2.520 miles long.
Framerate Issues
You own a powerful Macintosh. The PowerPC Macintosh family of computers are much faster than Macs were a few years ago. The PowerPC processor is significantly more powerful than the old 68K processor chips were. Unfortunately, not all PowerPC chips are created equal. The 604 chip is currently the fastest PowerPC, followed by the 601 and 603, respectively. At the time of this writing, NASCAR Racing has been extensively tested on all these processors in several configurations. What we have found is that the gameplay on some of the older entry-level Performas and PowerMacs running 601 or 603 chips at less than 100 MHz is not as fluid as PowerPCs running at 100 MHz or higher. The PowerPC 604 chip is by far the fastest machine we have tested NASCAR Racing on.
What Does All This Mean?
What this means is that if you own a slower PowerPC, you may want to adjust several options in NASCAR Racing to increase your framerate. Framerate is a term used to describe the number of full-screen "frames" your computer can draw per second. Framerate is measured in terms of frames per second (fps). To give you an idea for comparison, film and video run between 24-30 frames per second, respectively. The more things a computer has to draw on the screen and the more complex their textures are, the slower the framerate. Sound also has an effect on framerate because the computer needs to process the sounds it's making at the same time as it is drawing what's on the screen.
Fortunately NASCAR Racing makes it possible to for your to adjust your graphic and sound options to a level your machine can handle. If you have a fast machine(604 or 601@100+ MHz), running NASCAR Racing with most textures and sounds playing probably won't impact framerate too much. Some things to try if you have a slower framerate are:
Make sure that your Monitor's color depth is set to 256 colors. Anything higher will have negative impact on your framerate.
Shutting off more of the graphic options. Grass Texture and Asphalt Textures have a huge impact on framerate. Shutting them off will make NASCAR Racing run faster.
In the Advanced section of graphics you can set the framerate when objects set to automatic will shut off or turn on. The left framerate threshold slider controls when objects will be shut of and the Right slider controls when objects will turn on. Note: If you set these sliders too close together you may experience a flicker as the objects turn on and off. You can eliminate this by separating the two sliders more. There is also a Detail Priority List. Objects on the top of the list will be the last to shut off.
Decreasing the number of cars drawn ahead and behind in the Graphics Dialog will help to increase framerate.
Reducing the number of engines sounds heard (chosen by setting the "Heard" value in the Sound Dialog) will also impact your framerate; the fewer engine sounds your computer needs to play, the more processor time it can devote to framerate.
Running NASCAR Racing at a lower resolution--Lower resolutions increase framerate. Select the resolution you want in the Graphics dialog options. 320x200 pixels is the lowest resolution you can run NASCAR Racing in, and 640x480 pixels is the highest. 640x400 is a compromise between the two extremes of resolution; it is not as small as 320x200, but is blockier than 640x480.
Note: You should set the Sound Out in your Sound Control Panel to the lowest possible frequency. Most Macs automatically default to 44 kHz, but NASCAR Racing doesn't need this high of a sound frequency. If you need more framerate, check this option and set it to the lowest possible frequency. 11 kHz is ideal, but most Macs only go as low as 22 kHz. If you are unsure of how to set this option, consult the documents or manuals that came with your Macintosh.
Speech Technologies by Apple Computer, Inc.
Apple, PlainTalk, and QuickTime are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.
