NASCAR® Racing 2003 Season Demo
1.0.0.1
Readme File
01/30/03

I. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
=======================

Operating Systems:
Windows 98/ME/2000/XP*

* NOTE: Users on 2000 and XP may need to be logged in to Windows with local administrator privileges.

Minimum:
Pentium II 450 MHz processor
64 MB of RAM
16 MB Direct3D compatible video card
8X CD-ROM drive
DirectX 9.0 or later
OpenGL* 1.1 or later

Recommended:
Pentium III 800 MHz or higher
128 MB or more of RAM
32 MB or higher Direct3D compatible video card
DirectSound compatible sound card
DirectInput compatible game controller
56 Kbs modem

* NOTE: The OpenGL renderer may not work on all cards and/or system configurations. Leaving the game's "Show Intro/Exit Sequences" option enabled may help eliminate some initialization problems on subsequent game launches. If you continue to experience problems using the OpenGL renderer it is recommended that you instead use the game's default DirectX renderer.

The following video cards have known issues:

- ATI R7000 series
ATI R7000 series chipsets do not currently render the Track Specular Highlights option properly.

- ATI R8000 and R9000 series
Catalyst 3.0 or earlier drivers have both DirectX and OpenGL issues, but the current beta driver has fixed all known DirectX issues and most of the OpenGL issues. The next official Catalyst driver release should resolve the remaining OpenGL issues. Additionally on 8500 cards the backfire effect may appear to come from the center of the 3D car model instead of the driver's side exhaust pipes.

- Intel I845 on-board Video
Current video driver (.3317) has issues with NR2003 in full-screen mode. It is recommended to run DirectX in windowed mode until Intel releases updated drivers to allow full-screen modes to function properly.

- Matrox Parhelia
The Matrox 1.03 drivers have OpenGL issues which have been fixed in 1.04 drivers. Unfortuntely the 1.04 drivers have introduced some DirectX issues. Until the 1.05 drivers are released it is recommended to use the 1.03 drivers with DirectX and the 1.04 drivers with OpenGL.

Matrox G400 and G500 series
Matrox's latest 'beta' drivers are recommended, especially for Win98/ME users.

- NVIDIA Geforce4 MX
The Geforce4 MX chipset boards have a known crash under DirectX when Car Detail is set to High and the on-car Shadows are enabled. An NVIDIA driver release post-41.09 is being targeted to resolve the issue.

- NVIDIA 2X and Quinunox Antialiasing
When using 2X Quinunox Antialiasing you may experience garbled graphics if the game's on-car shadows option is enabled. This appears to be a diver issue, which NVIDIA will hopefully be able to address. Until that time it is recommended that on-car shadows not be used in conjunction with 2X or Quinunox Antialiasing.

The following sound cards have known issues:

- Diamond Monster Sound MX 300 and other Aureal Vortex 2 based cards
3D Sound may have significant issues and is not recommended.

- Creative Labs SB Live! and Audigy
The cockpit engine sound may not always play when 3D sound is enabled.

- Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
User interface audio may not function on initial run of the game prior to entering the car to drive. Enabling 3D sound on the Options screen should fix the problem.

- Nforce2 on-board sound
nForce2 motherboards using on-board audio has known issues with pre-2.0 drivers. 2.0 or later drivers should resolve the issue. People using third-party audio cards should make sure the on-board audio has been disabled in the BIOS, and NR2003 should run fine. If using the ASUS nForce2 Deluxe motherboard and having issues with motherboard audio, you can try to copy the ASUS audio .INF file into the same directory as the nForce 2.0 universal driver set's audio drivers and re-run the audio setup/installer program.