The options in this setup screen allow you to control the graphics quality. Fine tuning of these options can raise the frame rate or improve the image-quality. Turning off some of the options can vastly improve the gaming experience on some computers that are not quite 'up-to-date'.
User LOD:
This option influences the 'Level Of Detail' meaning the quality of the objects, textures and the drawing distance. The tyres will, for example, look angularly on a Computer with a low detail level.
Performance: 0.25 | Quality: 1.00
Mirror LOD:
This influences the quality of the picture displayed in the mirrors just like the User LOD.
Performance: 0.20 | Quality: 0.30
Dust LOD:
This influences the quality of dust as well as smoke.
Performance: 0.25 | Quality: 1.00
Haze effect: [no / yes]
Turns the haze effect on or off. When on, objects in the far distance are drawn like behind a very slight layer of mist or fog, increasing the depth feel. Like drawing the sky, has almost no effect on performance unless on very old systems.
Draw sky: [off / 16 bit / 32 bit]
Sets whether the sky should be drawn or not, and if it is in 16 or 32 bit resolution. Turning the sky off can increase performance on very old systems.
Shadow type: [off / low res / high res]
Sets the type of shadow used for the cars. 'Off' disables the shadows completely, 'low res' displays shadows, but at a low resolution to increase performance, 'high res' displays full detail shadows. Medium and even (in today's standards) low end systems shouldn't have a problem with the high resolution option.
Draw trees: [off / main / + mirror]
Sets how trees should be rendered. Affects only those trees which would sway if wind is enabled.
Draw flags: [off / main / + mirror]
Sets if the flags around the track should be rendered. These can be for example used to determine the direction and strength of wind. Has a rather small impact on performance, otherwise the same logic as for the 'Draw trees' option applies.
Draw rubber: [off / main / + mirror]
Sets if tyre marks should be drawn. Usually has a rather small impact on performance during a normal race, the only exception being if there are lots of tyre marks drawn in a small area, like when doing donuts or burnouts. Same logic as for the 'Draw trees' option applies.
Full-scene antialiasing: [none / 2x / 4x / 8x]
Smooths the jagged edges. Highly recommended if your system can handle it.
Texture filtering / AF: [none / 1x / 2x / 4x / 8x / 16x]
Mip bias ... interface / text:
Mip bias ... objects / walls:
Mip bias ... grass / gravel:
Mip bias ... road surfaces:
The question mark next to this option explains what these options do.
In short, a sort of blurring effect is applied at a distance set by the sliders.
Textures (excluding skins): [low res / high res]
Sets if textures should be used in full resolution or downsized. Selecting 'low res' will decrease texture usage considerably and can help increasing performance on older graphics cards.
Car and helmet skins: [compressed / full]
Sets whether car and helmet skins should be compressed or left at full quality. Using compression decreases the skin quality, but can greatly increase performance if many cars are on the screen.
Z-Buffer Depth: [15 / 16 / 24 / 32]
Basically sets how big the vertex depth buffer used by the graphics card is. The higher the bit amount, the more depth information can be stored. A lower value means that on distant objects that are close together the graphics card may not be able to discern which object is in front of the other, usually causing a striped texture overlap. Not all buffer depths are available on all graphics cards. The best idea is to simply set it to the highest selectable amount.
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