Virtual Grand Prix 3 Playable Demo (Win/OS X version)

Welcome to Virtual Grand Prix 3, the advanced Open-Wheeled Racecar Simulator! VGP3 features some unique algorithms especially developed for an accurate simulation of the virtual car components (tyres, dampers, engine, wings) in order to deliver an unparalleled realism in the driving experience! In addition, a strong and clever AI has been built into the VGP3 engine in order to complete the racing feeling - drive a real racecar and challenge strong, realistic opponents even in offline races!

VGP3 is not a game, it's a real simulator. This means that the main target has always been to achieve the most realistic simulation, any other part of the software (including graphics engine, sound f/x and any other "cosmetic" element) has been developed in order to be functional to the final driving experience and not to be a "per se" key feature. Moreover, VGP3 has been designed to be fully customized, allowing for the development of new or modified contents (car types, tracks, championships) from third parties.

Please go to www.vgp3.com for additional resources, including online manuals (in the VGPedia section) and complete license Terms and Conditions, Copyright notices and all. By using the VGP3 software you abide by the terms of the above license.

Redistribution

The VGP3 Playable Demo can be redistributed by any medium, provided that you distribute it without profit. The VGP3 Playable Demo can be copied and distributed only in the form of the original compressed archive in its unaltered state. No part of the VGP3 Playable Demo can be copied or distributed separately without permission from the Copyright holders. Archives or software distributions that contain the VGP3 Playable Demo original archive in any form must not be claimed to be the VGP3 Playable Demo without permission from the Copyright holders, but it must be stated that they include the VGP3 Playable Demo as part of the archive or software distribution.

VGP3 Playable Demo Installation

If you're reading this file, you have already unpacked the VGP3 Playable Demo archive. Simply place the VGP3demo folder, the one that contains this file, wherever you like on your Hard Disk. To run the demo, double click the VirtualGP3 icon.

VGP3 Playable Demo Uninstall

Simply delete the VGP3demo folder. VGP3 doesn't span any strange file on your system, no other unistalling procedure is required!

Some Important Notes

1. Steering wheels.
You can play VGP3 with an analogue joystick or a steering wheel. Connect it to your system before starting VGP3, then start the simulator and, from the Options/Input menu, select "Joystick" as the primary input. Click the bottom right button to configure the joystick or wheel.
VGP3 is usually able to discover by itself how to map the steering wheel, it may be necessary to manually configure the axis assigned to the gas and brake pedals. First of all, if you're using a steering wheel with separate gas and brake pedals readings you should click the "Toggle Separate Brake" button. Then, use the "<" and ">" buttons to cycle through the various axis until you find the joystick/wheel axis that correctly map the gas or brake pedal - you can discover it by pressing the gas or brake pedal, when you find an axis that "moves" the red bar accordingly to the pedal, this is the right axis. The red bar should go to the maximum (right) when you press the pedal and to the minimum (left) when you release it, if exactly the opposite is happening click the "Invert Axis" button. When you're done, click the bottom right button.
On some wheels Force Feedback may be too low in low turns. In that case, you can reduce FF linearity (from the Options/Input calibration menu) - this way VGP3 will apply a non-linear force mapping, boosting low forces to higher intensities. If this still isn't enough, you can increase the FF maximum strength; pay attention to the fact that values beyond 100% will "saturate" the force, ie force will be clamped earlier to the maximum available, thus introducing unrealistic behaviour (such as quick left-right oscillations) at higher speeds.

2. Screen resolutions.
VGP3 starts in standard 800x600, 16bit per pixel video mode. You can change the resolution and color depth from the Options/Video menu.
The Windows version of VGP3 has problems with some nVidia drivers switching monitor resolution from within the game, in that case use the ScreenPrefs utility.
The MacOS X version of VGP3 comes with a set of fixed "standard" resolutions. This means that the Options/Video menu may either show you resolutions not available to your Mac or not show different resolutions that may be supported by your hardware.
In the latter case, you can still take advantage of your hardware capabilities by manually modifying the "opzioni.config" file located in the "config" folder. Open it with a text-editor, in the first lines you can modify the resolutions that the 
Options//Video menu will show you the next time you start VGP3 again by substituting some of the fixed resolutions by the ones supported by your hardware.
If you select a resolution not available to your hardware, VGP3 will fall back to standard 800x600, 16bit per pixel video mode.

3. Advanced 3d shaders.
VGP3 features some interesting 3d effects through 3d shaders. However, depending on your hardware these effects may be simply unavailable (if your hardware doesn't support GLSL shaders) or too slow to be useable. For this reason, VGP3 starts up with advanced 3d shaders turned off (compatibility mode). If you want to turn them on, enable them from the Options/Video menu - if everything works well you can "save as default" the new settings so that shaders will be enabled by default the next time you play VGP3.