NETKAR PRO

'netKar Pro' (also 'nKPro') is an online racing simulator that is developed with an emphasis on realism. It provides advanced features such as a complex tire model (visible dirt, tire wear and flat spots, that influence the car's handling) and a fully interactive cockpit such as those seen in flight simulators.
Developers worked with companies involved in real car racing such as Sparco (design of steering wheels, helmets and driving suits), AIM Sportline [1] (official and fully functional AIM data acquisition systems are reproduced in netKar Pro), Cooper/AVON Tyres [2], Brembo (braking systems), BETA Tools; they worked also with a Formula 3 team Target Racing, with the race engineer Andrea Quintarelli and the driver Riccardo Azzoli (Formula Gloria, Formula Renault and Formula 3).
netKar Pro debuted at a fair held in Lanciano (Italy), February 24-26, 2006. Version 1.0 was released for download 10 April 2006. This initial release and subsequent patch had many bugs that hampered gameplay and therefore was received reluctantly by the sim racing community.
In the summer of 2006 it was announced that netKar Pro and BallRacing Developments Ltd - developers of hardware and software for the professional racedriver and simracing community - have joined forces "to co-develop the next generation of motorsport simulation" [3].
In October of 2006, the netKar Pro development team released version 1.0.2, a patch that improved the multiplayer experience and fixed several other bugs present in the previous two versions.
The netKar Pro community is currently waiting for more game content. Meanwhile several add-on tracks based on real racing circuits have been released by the community. Forthcoming is a track editor that will enable the community to start working on adding more content to the simulation. The community is also waiting for new cars to be added by the development team in addition to the four open wheel cars that already exist in netKar Pro.
Still a very controversial game, the online racing community for netKar Pro is rather thin compared to other sim racing games, and contact with the developers has been sparse. The community is still waiting for a promised "1.03 patch" to solve framerate issues and to allow a properly working multiplayer session for the players with computers that meet the "guaranteed system requirements" as advertised at game launch. There is also an add-on planned for release after the 1.0.3 patch featuring a hill climb track and Osella PA-21 car, although there is currently no release date announced for it. Jaap Wagenvoort - a member of the online netKar Pro community - has been issuing Community Updates on many forums, trying to help improve communication problems between customers and Stefano Casillo, the game's main developer. Latest information suggest's that the 1.0.3 patch will be released at the end of Septermber 2007.

Contents

See also

External links

See also

★ Formula Ford, Formula Renault 2000, Formula Three

★ Double wishbone suspension, a type of suspension modelled in netKar Pro

★ Comparison of racing simulators

External links

★ Official site
'Reviews'

★ AutoSimSport (version 1.01)

★ SimHQ (version 1.01)

★ DrivingItalia (version 1.02)
'Articles'

★ "netKar Pro - How Real is Real?" An interview in AutoSimSport regarding netKar Pro's physics

★ Developer's diary on DrivingItalia explaining technical aspects of netKar Pro
'Online communities'

★ Race Sim Central forum

★ DrivingItalia forum

★ RacingFR forum (requires a free user registration)

★ SimRacingPortugal forum

★ GPChampionship netKar Pro online championships