Review: netKar Pro v1.0.3

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First Impressions

Since the problems with netKar PRO were primarily related to stability, performance and multiplayer, I shall attempt to concentrate on those specific issues in this review, based on the final release candidate and the actual release version that I have tested.

For more comprehensive information on netKar PRO, my earlier review contains discussions of features that have not changed with the patch and consequently the discussion will not be repeated here. If you’re new to netKar PRO I strongly recommend that you take the time to go through that earlier review.

Features like the AIM telemetry recording software, the interactive cockpits, the “doom” mode, the line-up of cars and tracks, the “full realism” setting that calculates how much time you must stay in the garage for your mechanics to fix the damage if you have enabled this option and wrecked your car, and much more are all dealt with in more detail there.

It is also pertinent to continuously remind myself and the reader that although the patch has been almost three years in the making, work has been intermittent depending on Stefano’s work schedule and that the objective for the patch has been to mature netKar PRO by fixing the known issues from the user's point of view — not to introduce new features or functionality.

From the developer's point of view the objective has been to clean up and streamline the code for future ease of coding and introducing add-ons and new content. All this, without introducing new show stopping bugs.

This should probably be considered more a re-launch than a patch, as you can install a complete version of netKar PRO just by running the new executable.

Montreal add-on track

Installation

First things first; patching: I made absolutely sure that the two folders called “drivers” and “licenses” were copied from their right place in the netKar parent directory to a safe location on my hard disk. Please check that this is where they are located in your installation and if you do not find them there, go to “My Documents” and move them from there into the netKar parent directory, or a secure location on your system just to be absolutely sure that you can recreate them should anything untoward happen. This should ensure that the sim will recognize you as a licensed driver (assuming you are of course).

You can either patch your existing version or start from scratch as the download is a complete version of netKar PRO (download size 236MB).

I went for and recommend a completely new installation. I then moved my “drivers” and “licenses” folders back into the root netKar PRO directory.

Once the installation has completed you’re presented with this screen:

I chose to uncheck the two first boxes as I didn’t think I’d need to run either the .NET 2.0 or the DirectX installer.

If you have trouble starting the sim after installing and you did not check the boxes here, it might be worth installing those two items.
It is more than a year ago that I drove netKar PRO in earnest for the last time so I had to spend some time re-acclimating myself to the sim.

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