The steal deal for racers with low money or old platforms
 

I "rediscovered" this a bit recently, netKar Pro 1.3 Final. It is by the makers of the actual Assetto Corsa.

The two important things first: it can be had for 4 Euros, and its physics are superb.

I stumbled over this two or three years ago, and experimented with it. The sim - it is a sim, no arcade game - is designed for online play, and offline play only is like AC currently: you can do pratcice and hotlapping, but there is no AI.

Due to the lattrer, this title never gained the fame and acknowledgement that it in the opinion of many knowing racers would have deserved, more, in th beginning, online was said to be unstable.

However. For four Euros you get a superb simulation for driving kart-like cars and low formula cars, plus an Abarth 500 and an oldie sports car. There are free car mods around, which i do not know. The graphics are a bit dated by now (the sim celebrated its 5th anniversary last year, so the engine actually is even older), but they should not pose a problem for low end machines nowadays.

And that is why I post this, because occasionally somebody pops up in the forums and says his machine is older style and what games there are that it nevertheless can run. Boy, if you belong to this group, you cannot afford to let this steal deal pass on you! This simulation is excellent in feeling of driving, and physics. Its a joy to drive in this even if there is no online and no AI, just because it feels so well done (no wonder that AC is like this, just improved, the team really has build its competence for this matter over several years).

A FFB wheel however is definitely recommended.

I currently have it reinstalled, due to the wonderful Trento-Bondone hillclimb race (17 km) and the fact, that it offers the chance to drive the Nordschleife, a port-over from a track done for rFactor originally. The hillclimb is not yet implemented in Assetto Corsa, and the Nordschleife will take quite a longer time until somebody mods it for AC, so...

Today, I had a vague feeling that I missed something, I searched my things, and then found the origin of my strange feeling: a DVD with over 2 dozen additional mod tracks that somehow, somewhere I must have picked up - and forgotten almost immediately. Many of these tracks are in heavy demand, and most of them are really very well-done, visually. It looks dated, yes, but it still looks good, some tracks really are very appealing. Here is a link where you can see a list with stuff available, and download it - its free, so the sim and these many tracks, great physics - for just 4 Euros! Hilarious, its a steal!

http://www.drivingitalia.net/forum/i...07#entry594190

http://www.netkar-pro.com/main/

I think the sim can also be bought at Steam. With the payment code of netKar, you also get access to the tech preview of Assetto corsa, featuring the status of spring 2013 and the Magione track and the Lotus - Elise, I think.

Physics-wise, this still competes with the best racing sims out there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetKar_Pro

Tzzz, would you believe it. This old good game has been given Greenlight support by the community and is now to be republished via Steam, Steam confirmed.

quality has its own charm, I assume. :yeah:

This brings back some memories, I'd completely forgotten about it, thanks for the reminder Skybird :D

On a semi related note, supertuxcart is an opensource mario kart knockoff. kinda fun.