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Review
September 14, 2006
netKar PRO
by
Jens
"McGonigle" Lindblad
Introduction
 Flashback to the summer of 2003: netKar Namie was released as the final freeware version of the popular and acclaimed simulation. Stefano ” "Kunos"” Casillo had single-handedly created a
simulation that put to shame quite a few of the established developers. Especially in the department of pure driving physics.
Good as it was, for the netKar project to evolve and grow, "Kunos" some months later announced that Namie was to be followed by a payware version; a PRO evolution of netKar.
Now the latest incarnation of netKar is upon us, and it is probably fair to say that expectations have been sky-high in the light of sparse but relevant and always interesting developer
updates, several delays, and only a few weeks before launch of the
software the opening of the netKar PRO web-site with teasers such as a short video, and CD- and DVD covers for download.
Still very much a ”one-man effort” as far as I am aware, "Kunos" has shared with us his vision of a simulation with the most accurate driving physics available for the PC, coupled with
an uncompromising quest for hardcore realism. Primarily intended for online use, there’s currently no AI, and we gather that the inclusion of AI is not high priority, especially with the creator's wish
for perfection. Coding an unsatisfying AI-component is not an option.
It is very important to understand that netKar PRO is a work in development. The current version is the framework upon which future updates and add-ons will center. A few months down
the line, a developer's kit should be released, and hopefully this will lead to high quality add-ons being developed by 3rd party modders. The quality is ensured by the fact that
"Kunos" himself will integrate each mod into nK PRO, as he alone has the tools to do that.
Innovation
History records many cases where well-proven and accepted ideas or ways of doing things are rejected by someone insisting on starting with a clean sheet of paper and no preconceived
ideas.
Sometimes this approach enriches the world, as is the case with the inventions of Burt Rutan and the designs of Gordon Murray. At other times such uncompromising a stance leads to
items like the Sinclair C5. 
Rutan, should anyone not know, has pioneered radical aircraft designs for years and is currently looking into making trips into space affordable and safe.
Murray not only designed groundbreaking and championship winning Formula 1 cars for Brabham in the eighties, but was the master-mind behind the McLaren F1 GTR where the driver is
seated at the center in the car with room for a passenger slightly aft and to either side of the driver. This car is still rated the best supercar ever being built.
netKar Pro is radical like Rutan and uncompromising like Murray. At times it is also a bit quirky, like some of the inventions of Sir Clive Sinclair,
who should be no stranger to anyone due to his pre-PC computers like the ZX and
the Spectrum.
Invariably there are some bugs that "Kunos" and the small team are currently working hard to exterminate. Please fix the intolerable hard lock-up that occurs if the car crashes heavily and gets airborne,
requiring a complete reboot of the PC! This was a problem in Namie too, and I really thought that it would have been fixed for PRO.
We'll talk a bit more about a few bugs later on in this review but for now
it
should be noted that in spite of some bugs, netKar PRO is a solid step forward in the quest to provide the ultimate driving realism for the PC, bringing much desired innovation
into our beloved genre. Instead of just letting a marketing department add cliché-ridden adjectives and superlatives, netKar PRO offers such novelties as interactive cockpits, tires
you can and will flatspot, and they pick up dirt too, when you go off the course. We saw the tires picking up dirt too in Ubisoft's Formula 1 Racing Championship a few years ago and then
apparently every developer overlooked this important immersive addition. Until now.
Additionally the damage model is very authentic and unforgiving, don’t forget to tell the garage guys to fix the broken wings and bent suspensions because if you don’t, your
car will not be fixed. If you select netKar Full Mode" you'll even have to wait some 10 minutes while the mechanics fit a new wing, or repair the damage you have incurred!
With the full mode option turned on in multiplayer, this might just be the way to discourage wreckers to join in the first place.
There’s the ”doom” mode which lets you step out of your car and go for a ”walkabout”. You can even walk the entire track, if you feel like it. In multiplayer, I like to cross over
the pit-lane to stand and watch from the pit area as the cars zoom past me!
Doing away with the showrooms, renders and spinners to show off the cars, netKar PRO's doom-mode lets you watch
your car in the garage and in-the-sim, while changes to the cars set-up are being made. You will see the
adjustments to toe, camber, preload, wings etc as they are adjusted. This is absolutely brilliant
and should become de-facto standard for every new sim!
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