I guy that is in the multi-platform sim league, that I frequent, has purchased GP4. While he prefers the F1-2002 physics, he is impressed with GP4s graphics. he getting very nice frame rates at very high graphic settings. Here is a quote:
" This game has one thing going for it that puts it way ahead of
any F1 sim/game out there. GRAPHICS.
Not talking the in-game menu here. Not talking the Advanced in-game
menu. If you have this game, and a stout rig,do the following:
1.) Go into Program Files.
2.) Find the Infrogrames folder. ( What kind of F'ing name is
Infrogrames? No wonder they are outta business or soon will be.)
3.) Open up your GP4 folder. Inside look for a file named
f1graphic There are actually 2 of them. One is a BAK file.
Leave that one alone. The other is a CFG file. That's the one you want.
Open this file using Notepad. At the top, the very first line says
something like "f1config.file is the dominant file." Next to this is the
number zero.(0) Turn that zero into a 1 and save it. That makes this CFG file the master file for the graphics in the game.
Now, go to v-sync under
the [Release] list. Set that variable to 1 as well. Now go down to
"Use compressed textures if available". Set that number to 0. Compressed textures suck,
that's why you just turned it off.
Now look for the variable...
"Use true-32bit Textures". Set that number to one.(1) (1 is on, 0 is off
in most cases)
Now, look for a variable that says Stencil, Yuck, 0 (looks terrible)
Stencil Alpha 8 (best). We want the best here, so put that number
on 8.
Now look for MIP-MAP LOD BIAS. There is a large variable here.
From -8 to +200. When dealing with MIPMAP Detail, the lower or
even more negative the number the better. The in-game menu will
only allow you to go to 92. 92?!!!!! F*** that s***! Put it on 50 first,
play a few laps. PC rig still have plenty of muscle? Go back and lower
it to 30. Still got power to spare? Put it on Zero. (0)
Now save all this stuff, before you ever leave the file.
Boot up the game, pick a race or free practise or whatever, and be
amazed. The sun reflecting off the concrete as you head into Turn 1
at Imola is flat out beautiful. See the sense of scale this game has?
GP 4, when tweaked right, can look better than the LIVE On-board
footage you see on Speed Channel.
As far as framerates go. I'm getting 50 - 60 with everything turned
WAY UP, like I described. In spots, with about 10 cars on the screen,
it will bog down to 30 or 40.
My rig?
AMD Athlon XP 1900 +
512 MB DDR RAM
nVidia Geforce 4 Ti 4600
Gigabyte GA-7DX mobo "
Anybody try all these changes ? It sounds like he's got it running very well.
JohnW