TORCS Requirements

Hardware

Introduction

You need a 3D-accelerator with OpenGL support for your platform. I recommend a CPU with 800 MHz or more, 256MB RAM and e.g. a Nvidia GeForce 2MX AGP or better (or similar ATI, Kyro,...). Below I comment some systems where I tested TORCS so that you can get a feeling what works well and what does not. Your z-buffer should have a depth of 24 bits or more to avoid glitches.

K6-III-400

K6-III-400MHz (66MHz memory bus) with 256MB RAM, motherboard Asus TX-97E, graphics card Nvidia Riva TNT with 16MB RAM (PCI). I ran it with 16 bit color depth and came to the following conclusions: This system is ok to practice without opponents (8-45 frames per second). Running races with robots alone is possible, but driving manually is difficult because the 6-20 frames per second (with 4 opponents) are not enough for a smooth ride. So the system is the bare minimum sufficient for developing your driver (robot).

SMP-PIII-550MHz

Two PIII-550MHz (100MHz memory bus) with 512 MB RAM, motherboard Asus P2B-DS, graphics tested with GeForce DDR, GeForce 2 GTS, GeForce 3. I ran it with 32 bit color depth. TORCS runs almost as good on the GeForce DDR like on the GeForce 3, so you don't need the latest and greatest graphics card. What is more important is working AGP, recent drivers and a "fast" CPU. TORCS runs just a single process (no threads), so it doesn't take advantage of SMP systems. In practice mode, I get more than 100 frames per second and in races with 20 cars 10-50 frames per second. This system works very well for developing a driver (robot) and to drive manual races with up to 10 opponents.

PIII-800MHz

PIII-800MHz (100MHz memory bus) with 512 MB RAM, motherboard Asus P2B, GeForce 2 GTS, 32 Bit color depth. Runs almost always smooth above 20 frames per second, so with 800MHz or more you should be able to enjoy racing.