I want to drive!

Here is the manual for the players who want to drive in TORCS 1.3.0.

First of all you should install and run TORCS, for that see the installation manual. After that you can drive a car with a joystick or a steering wheel, or the mouse or keyboard. To configure the player, go to the Player's Configuration menu.

To select a player to configure, click in the "Players" zone on a player's name or on "--- empty ---" if you want to create a new player. To delete a player, select it then use the "delete" button.

Here we have selected the player named "Player". In order to change its name, click in the "name" field and edit it. If you do not want to come back later to change the car create multiple players with different cars, this can safe quite some time.

This configuration screen is also used to:

• select the player's car:
  1. First select the car's category you want:
     • Track-RWD-GrA: Track rear wheel drive cars with more than 500 hp
     • Track-RWD-GrB: Track rear wheel drive cars with less than 500 hp
     • Track-4WD-GrB: Track all wheel drive cars with less than 500 hp
     • Track-FWD-GrB: Track front wheel drive cars with less than 500 hp
     • Historic: 60-70's cars
     • Nascar: Nascar cars
     • Offroad-4WD-GrA: Off-road all wheel drive cars (rally cars)
     • Offroad-RWD-GrA: Off-road rear wheel drive cars
  2. Then select you car within the category.
• Select the transmission mode (automatic or manual)
• Program the number of pit stops you want for the race, so the initial fuel amount is adjusted accordingly.
• Change the player's skill level:
  • Rookie: no dammage (0%)- high traction (+40%)
  • Amateur: small damages (50%) - high traction (+35%)
  • Semi-Pro: normal damages (80%) - medium traction (+30%)
  • Pro: high damages (100%) - low traction (+0%)
• Select the auto reverse function (engage automatically the reverse gear when the car is stopped and you continue to brake).
• Configure the controls

The player's control configuration is explained on next screen.

Player's Control Configuration

To configure the controls click on the "Controls" button

Now, click on the control you want to change

And press the key you want to use to that control, or even move the mouse to use the mouse to control the car

If your joystick is configured, you can also move the joystick to use it for that control. See the Vojtech Pavlik's joystick driver site for more information on how you can have your joystick work under Linux. (see also Linux Gamers FAQ).

Proceed with all the controls you want to configure (you can also use joystick buttons), and calibrate the joystick. Beware, before you enter the calibration screen the axis should be centred.

Then follow the calibration instructions

When the calibration is done, press the "back" button. If something went wrong during the calibration process, don't panic, use the "reset" button to start over the calibration.

You'll have to save the configuration before exiting

General Configuration Options

You can configure general options using the "Options" menu

The Graphic parameters are located in the "Graphic" menu

The following parameters are customisable:

• Visibility: The depth of view factor (>0) can be reduced on less powerful systems or increased on more powerfull systems, you can go beyond 100%
• Smoke: The number of smokes per car (>=0) can be reduced on less powerful systems or increased on more powerfull systems
• Skid Marks: The number of skid marks per car (>=0) can be reduced on less powerful systems or increased on more powerful systems
• LOD Factor: The cars LOD (Level Of Detail) threshold (>=0.0) can be reduced on less powerful systems or increased on more powerfull systems

The display configuration is done in the "Display" menu

You can adjust the screen resolution, the colour depth and the display mode (windowed or fullscreen) then apply to validate the modifications. Note: If the program does not start with the parameters you have chosen, don't panic, you just edit the "config/screen.xml" file and reset the values to a more conservative choice.

If you are experiencing problems with the mouse cursor, you can try to launch TORCS with the option "-m". And if you have texture problems, you can try the "-s" option to run in single texture mode.

Racing

Go to the racing menu:

Select one of the type of race:

Configure it:

Select the track:

Select the drivers:

Save the parameters:

Configure the race length:

Launch the race:

Gentlemen Start Your Engine

Press F2 to cycle through the driver views:

Press F1 to get the help about all the commands:

Press F1 to get the help about all the commands. Beware, most views, camera and the map keys are "modal", so if you hit them multiple times you will get different variations of the view/camera/map.

Now drive as fast as you can...