Sounds like some missing DirectX 9.0c files to me, jason.
Did you install those when you installed the sim?
I have no experience with Win 8 so YMMV.
I don't mean to step on your toes here FF, but that GTX 660 is a beefy discrete component card. So there should be no shared RAM like you would find with an integrated chipset on a motheboard

.
By the way, 24/7 weather watch?
Jason might be gunning for you after we submerge the boat.