There are basically two carsets offered, the "full" and the "superlite". Although packaged separately the "superlites" should be viewed as one of the options of the "full" set. The separate packaging allows superlite users to just download the small superlite package without having to download and then store the much larger full package. Also, since the superlites offer just the same optional cars for the player to drive as the full set, packaging them separately makes choosing options a bit simpler. The superlites shouldn't just be seen as for very low spec machines. Even modern PCs struggle with full carsets at some tracks and for on-line racing the superlites may be just what you need.

Packaging

When downloaded with GEM, GEM will take care of installing the standard cars. If dowloaded as a separate file, the cars are self extracting files. The separate files are also GPLCSM compatible.

Given very few of the files stored in the original car dat files are still used, we have taken the opportunity to package the standard cars as a dat file. This results in a much cleaner installation and makes undoing options easier. For example, if you want to use a 2D helmet car, you can copy the appropriate 3do file into the car's directory and it doesn't delete the 3D helmet file (which is stored in the dat). To go back to the 3D helmet, all you need to do is delete the 2D helmet file.

Compatibility

The standard cars have no textures larger than 256x256 and so are Voodoo compatible. We have also only used 4bit glove and arm textures as these have been known to cause problems.

Wheels

The standard cars have 3D wheels as you would expect. At launch there isn't a 2D wheel option for the full cars as the superlites have 2D wheels. A 2D wheel option for the full cars will be added later.

I think the beta 65 cars were the first to have 3D wheels visible in mirrors, though of course some of the GPLEA cars now have this feature. The frame-rate hit seems small so this kind of wheel is standard, with the 2D wheel visible in mirrors as an option. The 65 wheels require a few more polygons to re-create the tyre sidewall which was much more curved than on the 67 tyres, but again the frame-rate hit is small. Another feature of the 65 wheels is the use of different textures for front and rear. To prevent the number of wheel textures getting out of control, the 65 wheels use the same texture for inner and outer faces.

Other Standard Features and Options

The large majority of textures are 16bit though a few remain as 4bit where detail isn't critical or 16bit texures cause problems. Texture sizes are as for the standard GPLEA cars. 4bit car skin texures are an option for all the cars. Textures larger than 256x256 are an option for the Ferrari cockpit only.

Where the standard perspex screen textures feature glare/reflection, we also offer a "clearscreen" option for those who prefer this.

You have the option to drive in any of the participating teams colours - works and privateers. More detail on this tomorrow.

One other feature of the 65 cars is their reasonably accurate gauges. The ability to change gpl.exe has allowed us to have gauges that look right and also read accurately unlike some of the 67 cars.

Credits

We have Gustavo Olivera to thank for these wonderful cars. He has produced the car models and most of the textures. We are also grateful to the GPLEA for allowing us to use their 67 textures or use them as a starting point. Other textures have been produced or modified by Bill Guillaume, Doug Hardy, Gary Simpson, Rolf Farrell, Sam Dobie, Steffen Weitzdoerfer and myself. Gary Tall has produced the 65 3D wheels. Period photos were supplied by Dan Archey, Nils Ruwisch, and Arturo Pereira who also did the vital job of co-ordinating and posting the latest betas.