The Pits

THE NASCAR RACING FAQ

NASCAR RACING

How do I get started? - To really do well at NASCAR, forget the keyboard driving. You really need to have, at the least, a decent joystick. Much better is a yoke or steering wheel with buttons on the grips. A joystick can be very hard to use, and will most probably give you inconsistent results. A wheel or yoke will give you the consistency you need to be able to tell what your car is doing. You don't really need an expensive one, the one I use is the G-Force yoke by Suncom Tech. It cost me about $50, and has given me great results...4 wins in '95 in the NASSCAR Racing Series. When you first start, you may want to set the competition down to about 80% and try to follow them through the corners. Don't overdrive the car...use easy braking, and try not to throw the car into the corners. Accellerate evenly out of the corners. You are going to crash, figure on it, because this takes practice. If you are having problems figuring out where to brake, pick an object, then practice hitting the brakes each time you pass it. If the object is too far or near where you should be braking, pick another one. You want to find a spot where you can brake into the corner, but not slow to much to be able to accellerate smoothly back out.

How do I learn the tracks? - If you are finding that you are having problems navigating certain tracks without remodeling your car, try setting the car damage to "off" (Options Menu, then Realism). That way you can do alot of practice laps, get the tires heated up, and get plenty of sticky tire track time without wasting time crashing and restarting. You'll find you progress alot faster this way. Then you can set car damage back to "on" after you've got a feel for the track.

How do I keep from breaking the pit road speed limit? - If you have a problem keeping below pit road speed, while your car is on the jacks, type "alt-b". This will enable auto-braking, and keep your car from going over the speed limit of pit road. Remember to type "alt-b" again before you start racing. Word of caution...some people have reported that they got a black flag at certain tracks anyway...you may want to test each track before you try it. Do not use auto-braking to race, as each time you let off the gas, the brakes are applied...can you say "slow as molasses"?

What's the best setting for the graphics? - Auto is the best setting for the game, as it allows the computer to control the graphics when computer resources are being overworked. You will notice items and textures disappear from the screen when the computer needs to free up memory, but the cars, walls, and track will all stay on. However, make sure that you set skid marks to on, as you will need to see them if you want to learn the correct racing line for the track.

How do I set up my car? - Keep the setups that come with the game, (ace, qual, ect). Load whichever setting you want to use, make the necessary changes, then save it to another name; "racetall" for Talladega, ect. Some people even have a 2nd version saved, so then they can go out, make a change to the race car, save it, try it, and then update the main one if they like the changes. The MAIN thing to remember is to make ONLY ONE CHANGE AT A TIME! If you change several things at once, you may find that the car works better or worse, but you won't know which changes affected the car. Take special care of your tires, remember, the tire temp is the telltale clue as to how your car is set up, and how you are driving it. Attempt to make all tires as equal in temp as possible, and slightly over 200 when hot. This can vary alot, and is not always possible, but is a general rule of thumb. Use my Qwikfix Guide if you are having problems setting up the car.

How do I find the best line around the track? - Every driver has a different style...some push hard, some are very smooth, some back out at the first sign of trouble. How you drive is up to you...there is no wrong way. The Winston Cup drivers all have many different styles, but no matter what, they win! Here is some good solid advice, though... Beginners (and even pros) alot of times push the car too hard thru the corner. This usually results in a hot right front or rear tire, and a severe push or loose condition. Before you go adjusting away on your car, try slowing in the corner a bit more.. you may be surprised to find your lap times actually pick up, not drop off! This is a result of your car actually going smoother and faster through the turns, because if you push it too hard, you actually lose more time trying to gather it up coming out of the corner than you gained going in. Follow the other cars...they will usually take the best line around the track. Follow the skid marks...same thing. On most corners, you want to roll in smooth, then pour on the power about halfway through the corner. On certain tracks, you may find it benificial to "trail-brake". This maneuver involves hitting the brakes while still keeping the accellerator down. It is benifical when you are losing too much speed while braking in the turns...you slow down, but not at near the rate you would if you just hit the brakes.

How do I get restarted? - Any time you have a problem during the race or qualifying, you can type "shift-r" to restart. It will throw you back in at the beginning of whatever session you are doing. If you have qualified, but don't like your speed, you don't have to restart the whole race session, just use "shift-r". Your previous time will still stand, until you can better it. Winston Cup drivers wish they could do this...

How do I keep from crashing? - Unfortunately, at this point in time, you don't have a "spotter" to tell you what is going on around you on the track. Hopefully, later versions of "NASCAR Racing" will have this feature. Until then, while you are racing, you will see a "Pit Closed" flash in front of you if a wreck happens somewhere on the track. Hit "p" to pause the game, then from the race, go into the Replay menu, and look around the track by viewing the different cars on the track. When you find the car/s that are involved in the accident, you will know where on the track it is, and will be able to slow down in time to avoid hitting the wrecked cars. Go slowly. Try to stay to the inside and you may even be able to pass cars waiting for the wreckage to clear.

How do I pit? -This is an art in itself. You need to have a clear idea of what your car needs way before you enter pit road. Keep constantly abreast of how your car is doing during the race...are the tires getting worn? Does the spoiler need to be bumped up a bit? How far to the end of the race? How many laps can you run with the fuel left? Constant monitoring of these things makes the difference between a winner and a loser. Right prior to entering pit road, hit "p" to pause the game, then make sure you have all your adjustments in order...do you need to change only right side tires? Can you get by with only 4 gallons to finish the race? Does the air pressure need to be added to some tires? How about damage? Does your car run just fine with whatever damage it has now? Don't fix it then. The faster your pit stop, the better track position you have. Use pit stops to your full advantage. Practice pitting. Find out where you can slam on the brakes to slide right into your pit stall without having to back up or pull forwards. Try to get your nose pointed out so you don't have the car in front of you blocking you in.

What's the best way to save the game? - If you find that you want to practice racing at a track, first get the qualifying done, then go to the garage, get your race car, hit Next Session until "Warmup" is displayed, then exit and save the game. This way, you can come back in, do warmup laps if you need to, and start the race right away. If you save it with "Race" displayed, you won't get any warmup time if you have to come back later.

How do I remove the restrictor plates? - If you want to go really fast, remove the restrictor plates. This is can only be done at Talladega. Go into the /nascar/tracks/taladega directory, and use an editor to edit the taladega.txt file. Where it says "SPDWY 1 42 45", change the "1" to a "0". This tells the game that this is NOT a superspeedway, so allow full power. Also edit the "RELS" line so that the other cars will be able to keep up. Set this value somewhere near 115 to 120. Enjoy the results!

What does the drivers2.txt file do? - The drivers2.txt file changes the way the other drivers drive...here are the values for the drivers2.txt file... remember to make a backup! You can use any editor to change values. Here's what the editable lines look like:

DINFO 94 1 0 500 562 500 562 100 150 500 562 John_Smith John Somerville,_MA USA USA NASCAR_Team_USA
Here's what the values of the series of numbers after the "DINFO" mean...

The car number, chassis, style and tire numbers are self explanatory. The minimum/maximum numbers require a bit more explanation. Each number can be between 000 and 999. The higher the number, the more power, etc. the driver will have, except for drag...this must be low. Drivers names may also be changed in this file. Always remember to place an underscore (_) between the first and last name. You can also download a driver editor to make this easier!

How do I use Nascar over a Network? - Version 1.20 and later of Nascar has an undocumented feature which allows you to play another person over a Novell Network. To use this feature, both users need to be logged in and have NETBIOS loaded. Nascar should be loaded with the -N:UserId option. The UserId should be replaced with the login name of your opponent.
With this done, you should both select multiplayer game and switch to Direct Connect mode. You should see the words IPX and your oppnents name in the right hand box. The user which is to take the lead should switch to answer mode and the other user should select Dial.

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