netKar Pro

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netKar Pro

Developer(s)	Kunos Simulazioni
Publisher(s)	Self published by Kunos Simulazioni
Designer(s)	Kunos Simulazioni
Platform(s)	PC (Win)
Release date	version 1.0.0 10 April 2006, version 1.0.1 24 April 2006, version 1.0.2 31 October 2006
Genre(s)	Sim racing
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer
Media	initially distributed by Internet download or with magazines (requires online purchase)
Input methods	Gaming wheel, TrackIR

netKar Pro (also nKPro) is an online racing simulator that is developed with an emphasis on realism. It provides advanced features such as a complex tire model (visible dirt, tire wear and flat spots, that influence the car's handling) and a fully interactive cockpit such as those seen in flight simulators.

Developers worked with companies involved in real car racing such as Sparco (design of steering wheels, helmets and driving suits), AIM Sportline [1] (official and fully functional AIM data acquisition systems are reproduced in netKar Pro), Cooper/AVON Tyres [2], Brembo (braking systems), BETA Tools; they worked also with a Formula 3 team Target Racing, with the race engineer Andrea Quintarelli and the driver Riccardo Azzoli (Formula Gloria, Formula Renault and Formula 3).

netKar Pro debuted at a fair held in Lanciano (Italy), February 24-26, 2006. Version 1.0 was released for download 10 April 2006. This initial release and subsequent patch had many bugs that hampered gameplay and therefore was received reluctantly by the sim racing community.

In the summer of 2006 it was announced that netKar Pro and BallRacing Developments Ltd - developers of hardware and software for the professional racedriver and simracing community - have joined forces "to co-develop the next generation of motorsport simulation" [3].

BRD are using netKar Pro to help with the running of their Formula BMW team, as their version of netKar Pro has a Formula BMW car programmed in it. Although it is unlikely the public will ever see this car. Also they are running a version of the Osella PA-21 car and Hill Climb addon, which at some stage will be made available to the public.

In October of 2006, the netKar Pro development team released version 1.0.2, a patch that improved the multiplayer experience and fixed several other bugs present in the previous two versions.

The netKar Pro community is currently waiting for more game content. Meanwhile several add-on tracks based on real racing circuits have been released by the community. Forthcoming is a track editor that will enable the community to start working on adding more content to the simulation. The community is also waiting for new cars to be added by the development team in addition to the four open wheel cars that already exist in netKar Pro.

Still a very controversial game, the online racing community for netKar Pro is rather thin compared to other sim racing games, and contact with the developers has been sparse. The community is still waiting for a promised "1.03 patch" to solve framerate issues and to allow a properly working multiplayer session for the players with computers that meet the "guaranteed system requirements" as advertised at game launch. There is also an add-on planned for release after the 1.0.3 patch featuring a hill climb track and Osella PA-21 car, although there is currently no release date announced for it. Jaap Wagenvoort - a member of the online netKar Pro community - has been issuing Community Updates on many forums, trying to help improve communication problems between customers and Stefano Casillo, the game's main developer. Latest information suggested that the 1.0.3 patch would be released at the end of September 2007, although this never happened. The patch will come "when it's done", so netKar-Pro users shall have to just sit tight and wait for the patch/addon.