.read me

.about
Racing Line Developments presents CART Factor: Prologue, a preview of the upcoming CART Factor simulation.

.features

.car list

#7 Bobby Rahal, Team Rahal, Reynard/Ford Cosworth/Firestone
#10 Richie Hearn, Della Penna Motorsports, Swift/Ford Cosworth/Firestone
#16 Helio Castro Neves, Bettenhausen, Reynard/Mercedes Benz/GoodYear
#17 Mauricio Gugelmin, PacWest Racing, Reynard/Mercedes Benz/Firestone
#25 Max Paris, Arciero-Wells, Reynard/Toyota/Firestone
#36 Alex Barron, All American Racers, Reynard/Toyota/GoodYear

.chassis configurations

All cars come with 4 aero/setup packages which are selectable via the car upgrades menu. Where possible the appropriate package will be loaded automatically with trained AI files. The available options are:

.road course The road course package is the default chassis configuration.
.short oval The short oval configuration uses the same aerodynamic package as the road course but with new setup ranges with reduced downforce 3D wing models. This allows both the player and AI to have competitive default setups with relevant graphics, and was used in the 1998 Nazareth, Rio and Milwaukee races.
.speedway The speedway package comprises an adjustable single element front wing and a fixed single element rear wing, and again a suitable default setup. It was used at the Homestead, Motegi and Gateway rounds in 1998.
.handford wing Finally, the Handford speedway aero package comprises the speedway front wing and the famed Handford Device rear wing. The Handford Device comprised a non-conventional wing profile with a vertical plane at the rear, designed to cause massive drag which resulted in reduced top speeds and huge drafts. The result was large, often frantic drafting battles which usually resulted in close finishes. This configuration was used at Michigan and California.

.driving tips

Unlike Formula 1, CART did not use tyre blankets to preheat the tyres before a stint; therefore they take longer to get to full operating temperature than many drivers will be used to. Please allow for one or two laps to get the tyres up to temperature before exploring the limits.

The chassis, engine and tyre differences are not just eye candy - they do have their own physics and performances. The GoodYear tyres take longer to get up to temperature than the Firestones, and the Toyota engine has less power and is more prone to failure than the others. We won't ruin all the fun for you, so you'll have to drive the mod to discover the performance differences between the cars.

Brakes on the CART machines were made of steel, not carbon, so braking distances are longer than F1 sim drivers will be used to. They also take longer to heat up, and when cold are very easy to lock a wheel. Please allow for this when exploring the limits of the cars for the first time.

The gearbox was a mechanical sequential unit with an ignition cut-off triggered by pressure on the shifter and as such it did not require the driver to lift on upshifts. The most realistic way to simulate its operation is by having auto-lift enabled in the plr.

CART Factor: Prologue has been tailored to work with the following ovals (via the trackconfigsbase.ini files):

TPSCC Loudon (The Pits) - Short Oval
TPSCC Arizona (The Pits) - Short Oval
Gateway International (The Lonely) - Speedway
Orchard Lake Speedway (ISI) - Speedway
Texas (Crossfire Motorsports) - Speedway
TPSCC Illinois (The Pits) - Speedway
Indianapolis (RacerAlex) - Handford
Jacksonville Superspeedway (ISI) - Handford
TPSCC Fontana (The Pits) - Handford
TPSCC Brooklyn (The Pits) - Handford

Several other ovals are available from JNS.

Since the road course aero/physics package is the default, recommending road courses is less critical than ovals. However, here is a brief selection of favourites during testing:

Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (Virtua_LM and MonSum)
Laguna Seca (Com8)
Vanport International Raceway (GMT)
ElkhartLike (Neel Jani)
Essington Park (ISI)

Whilst some of these tracks are conversions or perhaps not of 2008 standards, they provide a highly satisfying experience in conjunction with the CART cars. Additionally, RLD is developing several circuits in-house; however these are not ready for public release at the current time.

.installation

It is recommended that the downloaded .rar is extracted to a temporary directory, and then the files manually copied to the rFactor directory to ensure all files are installed to the correct location. An executable installer may be added in the future.

RealFeel users are advised to use default settings, with the only adjustment required changing the MaxForceAtSteeringRack value from 1500.000000 to -1500.000000. It is also recommended that all wheel users turn speed sensitive steering down to 0% in the ingame options.

.special thanks to

Image Space, Inc.
Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates
Mark Page/Swift Engineering, Inc
Cosworth
Dr. Joseph Katz, BSc, MSc, DSc
Dario Franchitti
Marino Franchitti

.the development team

Nick Ovey
Dave Ellis
Renato Simioni
Justin Ziarko
Newman
Roman Mika
Sim Steele
Jeroen Goedhart
Michael Adenekan

.beta testing

Greger Huttu
Dom Duhan
Michael Manning
Chris Kirk
Neil Pearson
Matt H
Matt Bye

.misc.

Andreas Neidhardt, Alexander Borro & Shaun Stroud of CTDP for driver body model and suit template
Ace8 for updated wall tyrerub and fire textures

.additional thanks to

Elan Motorsport Technologies
All American Racers
Rob Bastian
Gjon Camaj
Michael J. Fuller/mulsannescorner.com
Chris Hoyle
TechAde
Grand Prix Classics
Team Redline
CTDP
Ian Woollam
Siim Annuk
rFactorCentral
RaceSimCentral
VirtualR
Race2Play
Simbin

.music

Joe Satriani & Steve Vai

As featured in Psygnosis' "Formula 1"

.notes

This release utilises ISI's Panoz Esperante pace car as our own 1998 Toyota Supra is not yet ready for public release. It has been made standalone to ensure no default files are overwritten, and this has the added bonus of allowing us to resking the car to more approximate a CART pace car. Nonetheless, the Panoz remains a placeholder.

Due to the limited data presented on the Pi dash unit in the Ford and Toyota powered vehicles, and the small size of the LCD on the Mercedes steering wheel, it is recommended that the HUD info panel (press 6 to toggle on/off) is used even in the cockpit view. The tachometer and shift lights in the Ford and Toyota powered cars is not visible in any external camera, this is an rF issue due to the materials used only working when connected to the steering wheel instance.

The damage model in Prologue is somewhat limited, and is in the process of being improved for the final release. Due to an rFactor limitation, both sides of the front wing are in the same object so they can be fully replaced in the pits after an incident. It may look a little odd when crashing but functionally it is the best option (but will be improved with a detachable nosecone for the final release).

.disclaimer

CART Factor: Prologue has been developed by Racing Line Developments for free distribution. Racing Line Developments takes no responsibility for issues caused by CART Factor: Prologue and any problems or issues derived from its installation are the sole responsibility of the user.

Any commercial or demonstrational use is strictly prohibited without prior written consent.

Third-party brands and logos are the property of their respective owners.

© 2008 Racing Line Developments
All Rights Reserved.