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TOCA Race Driver 3

Platform(s): PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox
Genre: Racing
Publisher: Codemasters
Developer: Codemasters

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'TOCA Race Driver 3' - Multiplayer Demo Available NOW

by Rainier on Feb. 21, 2006 @ 8:17 a.m. PST

Race drivers will be competing in a massive variety of the world's most aggressive motorsports, complete with explosive damage effects, head-to-head online multiplayer racing and a game engine rebuilt for a greater degree of simulation.

Get the TOCA Race Driver 3 Multiplayer Demo off WP (550mb)

This document contains information relating to general problems or questions you may have regarding the game or the set up of your computer.

Minimum Requirements (Single player)

- Windows XP
- DirectX 9c
- Pentium 4 or Athlon at 1.5GHz
- 512Mb RAM
- Supported 64Mb Graphics Card
- DirectX 9 Compatible Sound Card
- 1.5 Gigabytes Hard Disk Space

Recommended Specification

- Windows XP
- DirectX 9c
- Pentium 4 or Athlon at 3.2GHz
- 1024Mb RAM
- Graphics Card: ATi Radeon 8xxx and above, nVidia GeForce 4 and above (Not including MX versions)
- 2.0 Gigabytes Hard Disk Space

Supported Graphics Cards

- ATi Radeon 8xxx, 9000, 9100, 9200, 9500, 9600, 9700, 9800, x700, x800, x850, x1300, x1600, x1800

- nVidia nForce 1 & 2, GeForce 3, GeForce 4 (Not including MX versions), GeForce FX 5200, 5600, 5700, 5800, 5900, 5950, 6800, 7800

Installation

Follow the on-screen instructions to progress through the Installation.

It is advisable to close all other applications other than those required to access the Internet during installation.

Race Driver 3 requires the presence of DirectX 9c on your system.

It is recommended that all other applications should be closed before launching the game. Any problems caused by losing focus, task management or competing applications whilst running the game cannot be supported.

If your hardware configuration changes after installation please re-run the hardware configuration program prior to running the game.

Controls

Controls for Race Driver 3 can be set from the driving options menu within the game options screen. The default controls are

Steer Left Left arrow
Steer Right Right arrow
Accelerate Up arrow
Brake Down arrow
Gear Up A
Gear Down Z
Handbrake Space
Boost (when available) B
Look Left ,
Look behind End
Look Right .
Change camera C

Known Issues

i) Installation not working?

Installation and Game Saving will not work if the user has only guest privileges in Windows XP. Please ensure that there are sufficient privileges as to allow write access to the registry and the "savedata" folder where Race Driver 3 is installed.

ii) 'Save and Play' button of the Hardware Set-up program in Windows XP may cause game to start up minimised?

On Windows XP, the game may lose focus when started from the "Save and Play" button in the Hardware Set-up. If this happens the game will minimise, and you can continue to play by clicking on it from the task bar.

iii) Unsuitable default graphics settings?

The Hardware Set-up program may choose unsuitable default settings on systems that have more than one display adapter (graphics card). If this happens, the setting can be changed manually in the 'advanced settings' section.

iv) Poor controller responsiveness?

Very low frame rates will reduce the controller responsiveness. You can reduce graphics detail settings to remedy this. You may also find that reducing the sound quality slider bar results in a higher frame rate.

v) Stuttering frame rate?

Stuttering frame rate when a controller is unplugged - If you normally have a controller plugged in to your pc, but have recently unplugged it then you may experience severe stuttering of the frame rate. This may be caused by Windows trying to find the unplugged controller. If you experience this problem, please ensure that you also remove the drivers of any unplugged controllers prior to running the game.

Some low end PC's may struggle to play the cut scenes and videos smoothly, resulting in choppy sound and bad frame rate. This is usually only a problem for low spec machines at 1.0GHz or less. If this is the case, best performance can be obtained by performing a full installation of the game and deselecting the "High Quality Videos" checkbox from the advanced graphics page in the Hardware
Set-up program.

vi) Some of the controls are stuck on or inverted?

This can happen when your controller is set-up incorrectly in the front end driving options screen. When reassigning controls be careful not to assign the axis as an inverted function (indicated by an upward
arrow on the right hand side). This occurs when the button or axis is released (instead of pressed) at the point when you assign the controls. The problem is avoided by waiting for the assignment to turn green before pressing the button or moving the axis, and making sure the axis is moved in the direction that you wish to use.

vii) nVidia nForce 1 and 2 onboard graphics cards

Users with the Unified chipset driver are advised to update to the latest ForceWare drivers. Failure to do so will result in the in-game graphics not appearing correctly.

viii) Desktop gamma ramps

On some graphics cards the in-game graphics may appear corrupt if you have adjusted your desktop gamma settings. To solve this problem, please ensure your desktop gamma is set to default.

ix) Visible shearing or tearing

You may experience tearing across the picture. This can be avoided if the "Lock Frame Rate" option is enabled in the Hardware Set-up program.

However, please be aware that the lock frame rate option can reduce the performance of the game, so by default this option is disabled.

x) Long delays during start-up.

If you experience any long delays on the legal screen or other screens within the game please make sure you have the latest drivers for your hardware installed.

Sound Performance / Compatibility Issues

i) Detail level slider

The sound detail slider in the 'Race Driver 3 Hardware Setup' application allows compromise between sound quality and game performance. High quality sound may be having a significant impact on low spec systems.

ii) Clicking in sound.

If you notice clicking or popping in the sound this may indicate that the latency is too low. In the Hardware Set-up program try increasing the Sound Latency checkbox to the next level.

Gamespy

When creating a new Gamespy account in the 'Create Account' Screen, please note that there are a few rules for the account name you choose:

i) Account Names must be between 3 and 20 letters long

ii) Account Names cannot start with @, + or #

iii) Allowed characters: Alphanumeric characters (AZ, az, 09), and #$%&'()"*+-./:;<=>?@[]^_`{|}~

Network Chat

In a network race, press backspace to chat whilst driving. If you are using the keyboard to control your car you will be temporarily switched to AI cruise control while you type. To 'whisper' a message to one player only, prefix your chat message with /Name. For example, typing "/PlayerOne Hello" (without quotes) would send "Hello" to PlayerOne only. Warning: If you attempt to 'spam' the other players in the game with chat messages you will be prevented from chatting until you stop.

Driving Force Pro (900 degree wheel) support

For this wheel (and other future wheels with extra wide lock), change the following line in PCHardwareSetup.ini

ExtraWideWheelLock=0

to

ExtraWideWheelLock=1

This will give better response for these wheels. We recommend using the extended lock of these wheels only in pro-simulation mode.

Force Feedback and Steering Wheel Setup

As well as saturation and deadzone controls, the following force feedback wheel options are available in the driving setup screen in RD3. Modifying the force feedback level, linearity or tightness may increase the amount of 'oscillation' felt in the force feedback - e.g. the wheel vibrating slightly when driving straight. We tend to prefer settings with a small (non zero) amount of this effect as giving the
best overall feel, but it depends on your specific wheel and personal preference. To reduce this effect consider reducing the 'force feedback tightness' setting.

1) Force Feedback Level

Overall strength of force feedback. Higher values may increase amount of oscillation.

2) Force Feedback tightness

Positive values make the force feedback 'tighter' - only small changes in the wheel orientation are required to cause large forces. This increases the percieved strength of the force-feedback, but removes some of the subtlety and smoothness. Positive values increase amount of oscillation, negative values reduce it.

3) Force Feedback Inversion

If your wheel feels like it's always pulling in wrong direction consider enabling this to invert the forces. With all the wheels we've tested Race Driver correctly auto-detects the suitable force direction, but there could be wheels we've not checked which may require this.

4) Wheel Linearity

Negative values make the steering concentrated about the centre of the wheel - moving the wheel only a small way gives you most of the steering response, and then moving the steering wheel all the way to full lock only gives a little more. Positive values do the opposite - moving the wheel around the centre accomplishes little, but as you approach full lock you start to get the full steering effect. Wheel
Linearity is very much an issue of personal preference. You may find that using negative values requires the 'force feedback tightness' to be decreased to reduce oscillations, depending on the hardware you are using.


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