FAQ, Guides and Information requests

nKPRO is a PC based racing car simulator with realistic physics.

nKPRO is aimed both at professionals in the racing business and at racing enthusiasts all around the world. It's aimed to offer an enviroment where people can learn about racing, car handling, behaviour on a racing track, car setup and data telemetry analysis.

netKar PRO’s cars have been modelled using accurate telemetry data and engineering consultancy from their real-world counterparts. Their behaviour has been tested by professional racing drivers and race engineers to guarantee ultimate realism. Also, netKar PRO includes the 500 Abarth Assetto Corse, the Osella PA21s and the Trento-Bondone Hillclimb Course.

A license unlocks all the racing contents of the software and allows training in track day sessions, or to race online against other nKPro users. Racing contents are described in the cars/vehicles/features pages. 

Also, a license includes 1 year of technical support. netKar PRO is an ongoing project, there will be main software releases but the feature list and the technology behind the project is in a constant evolution, mostly driven by the user community backing the simulator.

At the moment, netKar PRO doesn't simulate cars driven by CPU: we believe that nothing can compete with the thril of online races against real human drivers. 

At the moment, netKar PRO allows up to 15 players to join an online race on dedicated servers. 

The freeware netKar didn't support keyboard to control the cars: can I use keyboard to drive in netKar PRO?

Even if we recommend to use a force feedback steering wheel with this driving simulator, netKar PRO supports keyboard control: you can switch from game controller to keyboard modes in any moment, pressing the "K" key.

UPDATE: version 1.3 allows driving by gamepad, keyboard, and mouse/keyboard.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

netKar PRO is a digital delivery product: you will not find it in stores. You can download the software from the internet and buy the license needed to unlock it in the shop page.

A netKar PRO license usually costs EUR 19.90; you can buy netKar PRO using Paypal or using your credit card directly, with secure access.

Unlimited. Initially there are 3 automatic activations to be used in case of lost data or format. After the initial 3 activations are used, it will be necessary to use this form (free of charge).

From v1.0.1 licences are connected to a driver. You can copy the drivers folder to a second PC and use your existing licence.

Once the software is installed, launch it and create a driver profile. Then select the unlock option, insert the paycode you have received by e-mail and firstname and lastname you specified on the Paypal form.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Demo is free and it is included in the full -locked- version of netKar PRO 1.0x. Once the installation has been done, you simply need to create a driver profile, choose your name, nationality and favourite equipment, and then you are allowed to drive a F.1600 car at the Crema Test Track Circuit and at Prato.

netKar PRO is a hardcore driving simulator. If the -real- car reproduced in the simulator supports any driving aid (like ABS, traction control, and so on), the simulator will support them too. The single-seaters reproduced in the first version of netKar PRO don't allow any kind of driving help. In consideration of the fact that most users don't have the third pedal on their game controllers, netKar PRO allows the automatic clutch. For the remaing controls, you have to throttle, brake, shift and steer as you usually do in real life. If you drive by mouse/keyboard, traction control and abs aids are allowed.

Using the automatic clutch, you have to shift gears at the proper engine's RPM. To shift up, release the throttle, and then shift up the gear. To shift down, you have to do it at the proper veichle speed.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1,7 Ghz Processor or higer 

512 MB RAM

64 MB Graphics card with Directx 8.0 support (ATI 9600 PRO / Nvidia 5900 or higher) 

Built-in sound card

1 GB hard disk free space

a 100% Windows 2000/XP compatible computer system

Microsoft .NET 1.1 Runtime (download and install it from here)

• Disable running programs that can hurt your PC performance.
• Install the latest drivers for your soundcard and graphics card to enjoy the best possible sound for nKPro.
• Disable 'Boost priority' and 'MSN Messenger notification' if you encounter lag issues.

netKar PRO supports 16/9 format for those display that use it: in this case, the graphics shows a larger field of view. If you want to try this kind of view on your 4/3 display, select a 16/9 resolution setting (1280x768, or similar) and untick the fullscreen option.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• Remember: this is very realistic car racing simulation. You will not see 'credit system' or 'Shift-R' like systems to reset the car. You can drive from the cockpit view only. You won't have unrealistic position information of where the other cars are on-track. You must start your car manually. You must watch the battery voltage of your car when you start it. You must watch your tires and manually instruct your pitcrew to mount new tires. Spin and feel the flatspots on your tires and the resulting vibration. It's all focused on realism.
• In online races, you will be informed by the pitboard of how many laps you completed (or of how many laps you completed - this is random), who is in front and behind you and what time differences exists between you and your rivals. But remember, sometimes the pitboard shows you on what lap you are and sometimes it shows you how many laps you have to go.

You can set the teamname and carnumber in your profile. This is especially interesting for drivers competing in leagues.

• You can change the car setup both from the nKPro Windows menu and in-game from the setup options menu when you are in the pitbox or pitlane.
• You can save a current setup on the 'File' tab in the nKPro Windows menu. Just rename 'newfile' to the name you want to give to the setup and press 'save'. It will now appear in the setup list on the left.
• You can load a setup only from the nKPro Window menu. It is not possible to load a new setup from the in-game setup menu. From the nKPro Windows setup menu, simply select a setup and press 'load setup' to load the selected setup. Remember that the setup will only be copied to your car when you pressed 'Set up car'.
• The setup list under the 'File' tab only displays the setup for the selected car. It does display all setups for the selected car for all tracks.
• With FullMode disabled, you can make any setup change without having to wait for the pitcrew to complete the change. With FullMode enabled, you will have to wait for your pitcrew to complete the change, except for mounting new tyres, adding/removing fuel and changing tire pressure.

• All setup changes except adding/removing of fuel, mounting new tyres and tire pressure changes will cost pitcrew working time. This is indicated with a red square which is displayed on the right bottom corner of the screen. The square displays the time left until the change is done.
• Setup changes that require pitcrew working time can be undone (except 'Fix car'). Just turn the value back to its original value and the red square with the timecounter will disappear again.
• If you damage your car, you can repair it in the pits or box by pressing the white square labeled 'Fix car'. Remember that fixing your car in FullMode will cause the pitcrew working timer to be started.
• If you press 'Esc' whilst being on-track and click 'Back to pit' or 'Back to box', your car will be brought back, but the 'working timer' red square will be shown to simulate that your car has to be brought back to the pitlane, because you did not drive it back to the pitlane.
• When you drove your car back to your pitspot in the pitlane, you can put the car in the pitbox without getting a 'working time' penalty by pressing 'Esc'->'Go to box'. In any other case, a 'working time' penalty is imposed. Putting your car in the box instead of the pitlane can avoid damage caused by other cars in multiplayer.

• nKPro support personal car and helmet skins in online racing. The only thing required in order for carskins to be visible is that all drivers in an event need to have the skins installed on their PC. If one driver doesn't have the skins, this will not lead to errors. The only thing that happens is that these drivers will only see a red skin for the drivers whose skin they don't have installed.
• To create a skin, it is required to make a folder in the cars//skins folder.
• To pick a skin, a driver should go into the car setup window, click 'Skin' and select the preferred skin. The skin is only selected once the button 'Set up car' is pressed.

• When the server goes to Race mode, all connected drivers must manually put their car on the grid. This is done by clicking the green (and flashing) square button that is labeled 'Go to grid'.
• You can make pitstops in a multiplayer race to add fuel, mount new tyres, change your setup or fix your car. Just drive your car into the pitlane and halt it on your pitspot. Make sure you remember your box so you stop at the right place. When you are in your pitspot, the white squares with the car setup options will be automatically displayed. You can now make any chance to your car or let it be fixed. Remember that in FullMode any change except mounting new tyres, adding/removing fuel and changing tire pressure will cost time (the red 'pitcrew working time' square with a countdowntimer will be displayed).
• Undoing a change (if possible) will remove/undo the 'pitcrew working time'.

• nKPro v1.01 uses quite some FPS online. Make sure you have over 80FPS offline in order to have proper FPS in a multiplayer session with a full field.
• Before connecting to a multiplayer session, disable all non-required running processes in Windows, like MSN, Windows Explorer, Internet Explorer.
• Put the texture quality, level of detail (LOD) and visibility to minimum levels in your Video options in your nKPro Windows menu to maximize performance.
• Disable 'data logger' under 'Car setup' -> 'AIM' if you don't use it during a multiplayer session.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks to the partnership with AIM Sportline, netKar PRO reproduces one of their best products, the MyCron 3 display. Also there is direct support for their data analysis software, the Racestudio, so that drivers can use a powerful tool to analize their laps, in the same way they could do in real life. A full licensed version of netKar PRO is required to generate the data used by the AIM software.

Where I can find this telemetry software?RaceStudio 2 (including relevant manuals) can be downloaded directly from the AIM Sportline official site, you can find the link in the download section of this site.

After the download and installation process is done, you have to run "Race Studio 2 Analysis". From here open the file menu, and click on "import file": in the file list, you will find under "file types" the option for "netKar telemetry". Select the file you want to analize, then click to load it. Race Studio 2 is provided with complete documentation that allows you to use this powerful tool at its best.