Notebook for playing FIA GTR Racing...

Right, I've just spent about half an hour putting together a beautifully crafted first post on this forum describing what I'm querying, and the **** thing had logged me out and I lost the whole lot.

So, here's a brief resume of what I was saying...

I'm looking for a notebook that can play the game GTR. I had a search through the forums and didn't find much mention of it so I'm guessing not many of you know too much about it.

My first question I need to know is how GTR compares to the likes of Doom 3, FarCry etc in terms of the demands on the system. All the magazine reviews use those kinds of games as the benchmark tests, but I have no idea how that correlates to racing sims like GTR. Any clues?

At the absolute outer limits of my budget potential is the Dell XPS 1710, base spec model. It's the one with the nVidia 7900GS and the Intel T2500. I understand that this is a pretty kick ass system, but I worry whether this might be a bit of overkill and that I might not really need this much graphics and processing power. I wanna try and avoiding blowing my whole savings account on the notebook and have none left over for accessories like a decent wheel & pedals etc.

Another system I've looked at is called the Rock Direct Quaddra T64, the maximum spec model available. A brief look at the specs...

AMD Turion 64 ML-42 Processor (2'4Ghz)
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home
1Gb DDR400 RAM
17” WXGA+ X-Glass TFT
80Gb (5400rpm) HDD
256MB ATI Radeon Mobility X700
Graphics
8 x DVD Dual Layer (-/+) Writer
Built In Video Camera
Microsoft® Works 8
BullGuard Antivirus
Carry Case

Will the Turion ML-42 with the ATI X700 be a competent enough combo for playing modern games? I know it's not as good as the 7900GS, but I'm not exactly what you'd call a hardcore gamer, I'd be happy to turn off a few of the more fancy in-game lighting effects with a less powerful card if need be, and if it saved me a load of cash.

Are there any other notebooks around the £1000-1300 mark that you guys would recommend for gaming?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Here's the requirements

Minimum Specifications

1.2GHz CPU (AMD / Intel)
1GB free hard disk space
Windows ME, 2000, XP
384MB RAM
DirectX 8.1 compatible graphics card with 32 MB video RAM
4x CD-ROM

Recommended System Specifications

2GHz CPU
Windows XP
512MB RAM
DirectX 9.0C

So I would say you could play it, but probably not to it's fullest...but at least well

 

The Turion and X700 is a good gaming combo - not cutting edge, but still fast. Judging by the minimum specifications for that game, you should have zero problems.

 

Thanks guys. I asked this question on another forum and they all made out like my only sensible option would be to spend big and go for the XPS, which would wipe me out completely money-wise for a few months. This is certainly a lot more encouraging!!

Especially as I found out a decent wheel is gonna cost me in the region of £80, which is about twice as much as I was hoping to spend.

It's not cheap this gaming lark is it?!

 

Hi, my notebook is this configuration, wondering if it could work with GTR too?

Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2
System Manufacturer: TOSHIBA
System Model: Satellite A80
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1.60GHz
Memory: 510MB RAM
Page File: 664MB used, 583MB available
Display: ATI MOBILITY RADEON X300 (0x5460)
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c

 

That shouldn't have any problems with GTR either.

 

You could also try the demo for the game if you want to try and run it first on your computer. I've been waiting for GTR 2 as it should be released soon this summer. It'd be nice to know when it is released...

 

I do play GTR and GTL on my Aspire 5024 (Turion 1.8 and x700 128MB).
Basically it's OK, with highest details but there are problems with more than 9 cars on track. x300 is a bad idea- that's if you'd like to see some details. Besides remember that if you have any drop-downs below 25fps at any point your race is pretty much finished- you can't recover from even half a second of deconcentration @200km/h.

I'd recommend 256MB x700 at least- I play with ATI Tray Tools on and in GTL and my video memory is down to 0MB, so I could use another 128MB- and I'm not talking HyperMemory(GTL is newer than GTR but still far from GTR2 in terms of graphics- judging by the screenshots. As for GTR alone 128MB is enough)

As for the GTR2- I guess x700 will be OK for practice sessions but it will not handle multiple cars on track during the race. In GTL my average framerate during practice sessions is around 60fps but it gets much lower during the races even though I limited the number of cars on track to 9 in order to keep the framerate playable. Also keep in mind that night races or rain decreases your framerate and you cannot avoid Spa at night.

I don't know how much into sims are you, bur keep some money for MOMO Racing- otherwise the whole thing does no make sense- I guess that is this 80Ł reserved

Regards