Though F1RS has been widely available in Europe for some time, it has only begun to trickle into the US as of this writing. I got my copy through Interact CD-ROM Store, 818/578-7282. Unfortunately, they've suspended shipments and it's uncertain when these shipments will resume.
F1RS should be available through Ubi Soft US now. Call 1-800-UBI-SOFT and ask when you can get your copy.
You might also try what one poster on the rec.autos.simulators newsgroup did:
"I ordered my copy from Gameplay UK. Received it in about 1 week. Their phone number is 011-44-113-234-0999. If I remember correctly, the final cost after exchange was $52 or so."
Hardware. For hardware, I suggest a serious game machine: minimum Pentium 200MMX or AMD k6/200 with a Voodoo Graphics card (not Voodoo Rush) and a decent wheel and pedals (Thrustmaster T2 or better).
I strongly recommend you run F1RS on a 3Dfx card. Some people with fast machines and very fast 4mb D3D cards (Riva 128-based in particular) are lucky and get good results with the D3D version of F1RS, but this version seems to have quite a few more problems than the 3Dfx version, and doesn't run well on most other 3D cards. It won't run at all on 2D cards.
The price of 3Dfx cards is coming down. At this writing, the Guillemot Maxi Gamer 3D is selling for $150 at Electronics Boutique, bundled with Pod, a very nice arcade racer from Ubi Soft. The nearly identical Diamond Monster 3D, which comes with a larger games bundle, is $180 at EB or Software, Etc. The Canopus Pure 3D is also $180 from Canopus direct. You could wait for the Voodoo 2 cards, due out in March or April, but then you'd miss half a winter of great racing!
Installation. Do a full install of the Glide version; you'll need 200 mb on your hard drive but can recover some of this by installing the no-movie patch (below). Once the install is done, download and pply the latest F1RS patch from Ubi Soft. If you have trouble getting the Ubi Soft installer to recognize a Maxi Gamer, use the standard DirectX 5 driver for Voodoo cards, or grab the Monster 3D driver from the Diamond site.
Whenever you are running F1RS, make sure there are no other applications running. This includes any applications that normally run in the background, like System Agent or a virus scanner, or Office Task Bar. F1RS is memory hungry, and it will be happier if you let it have the machine all to itself. Also, if a program like System Agent wakes up and accesses the hard drive, it will cause the F1RS display to freeze for a moment. You do not want this to happen while you are going through Eau Rouge or Casino!
Sound. You can adjust some sound settings inside the game, but for some of them you need to edit a config file. Go into F1RS\CPA\DLLl\SND_CPA.INI and disable the music from the CD tracks by setting CD_ON_OFF=OFF. This will speed up track loading. Quiet down the raucous opponents by setting SXD_DIST_FADE=15.
So far I know of no way to turn off the incessent racket while in the menus without also turning off tire-squealing and impact sounds, and I don't know of any way to silence the annoying announcer in race mode either.
Video and Graphics. Download and install the no-movie patch. This will make the game start up more quickly, and will save about 25 mb on your hard drive. You can get this patch, and a utility to add Jacques Villenueve in place of Driver X, along with other good stuff at The Unofficial F1 Racing Sim Page.
Make sure the refresh rate on the Voodoo card is at default, and 3Dfx acceleration is set to max compatibility. You can get more info about setting up your Voodoo card at this Operation 3Dfx.
If you have a Voodoo card, you can turn all graphics details on, but turn replays off unless you've got something faster than a P-200.
Controls. Make sure your wheel's pots are perfectly clean: the pointer should move smoothly with absolutely no jumping when you calibrate the wheel in Windows 95's Control Panel/Game Controllers. In F1RS Configuration/Controls, click the little round button near the bottom and set Steering Sensitivity. If you have a wheel, and defined your wheel as such in Control Panel, set this to about 25% to start with. If you have a joystick, you may need to set it somewhat higher.
Game Play. Select the Realistic option on the main menu. If you're an experienced sim racer, turn off all driver aids in Options. If you're relatively new to this, turn on ABS and traction control; the car will be much easier to drive. Eventually, though, if you want a really realistic experience, you'll want to turn these off.
Finally, grab some setups from the Web; see links on my F1RS page for where to get some. Also these sites have more tips on adjusting the sound parameters and other things you can do to optimize F1RS.
Online. When you've tweaked your setups to the max, and honed your driving skills to a fine edge, check out my tips for racing F1RS online. Then head on over to the "Where to Race" server on Kali, and meet up with some other internet-savvy Formula 1 sim racers.
Maybe I'll see you online!
The car in F1RS is extremely sensitive to all control inputs. This is because it models cars which have a very high power to weight ratio, excellent brakes, a very peaky power curve, and are extremely light. Consequently, tiny steering inputs have a big effect . When the engine comes on the power band in low gears, it is very difficult not to spin the rear wheels, which will cause an instant spin if you are in a corner. And the brakes lock easily at low speeds.
You must learn to feather the controls, applying power very gently until you are going fast enough to get enough downforce for the tires to take the torque from the engine. Conversely, you can brake very hard at high speeds but you must delicately ease out of the brakes as the speed drops and the downforce tapers off. Also, your steering inputs must be very smooth, especially in slow and medium-speed corners, to avoid darting and weaving and to allow you to work up to flying though these corners at the very limit of adhesion.
As you can see, precise control inputs are critical for driving a Formula 1 car quickly. As a result, you must be totally intolerant of any "noise" in the pots in your controller. Test or calibrate it frequently; I suggest you recalibrate every time you reboot to make sure the steering is centered, since Windows seems to lose track of this sometimes. If you see any jumping of the cursor when you are calibrating or testing the controller, replace the offending pot immediately. Otherwise the car will be twitching and spinning for no apparent reason, and you will think you have suddenly become a terrible driver!
If you have a Thrustmaster controller, you can ask tech support to send you new pots. They will send two at each request. Make sure you have a stock on hand so you can replace them immediately when they get noisy. Note that the pedal pots differ internally from the steering pot. While a steering pot would probably work ok as a pedal pot, I wouldn't use a pedal pot in the steering because it has an audio taper. This would make the car steer differently in one direction than the other. The steering pot tends to wear out quickest, while the gas will probably last longer and the brake even longer.
Some people clean the pots by spraying Tuner Cleaner into them, but this has never helped mine at all. I have had some success cleaning the pots by disassembling them and wiping the contact areas clean. I consider this an emergency measure, best avoided, but it's easy to do: just pry up the four tabs on the top of the pot and then pull the center assembly out of the body. Make sure you remember how to put it back together! They don't seem to last very long after this, but maybe it will get you through till the package arrives from Thrustmaster.
GP1 Wheel and CH Pedals. If you have a Thrustmaster GP1 wheel, and CH Pedals, F1RS will allow you to configure the controls so that the CH pedals do gas and brake, and the paddles on the wheel do the shifting. You can separate the gas and brake functions by selecting the "Car" position on the CH Pedals, which causes the pedals to use the X and Y axes of Joystick B for brake and gas.
See my pages on the Thrustmaster T2 and GP1 for more tips on modifying and maintaining these controllers, including a clever idea for adding fingertip shifting paddles to the T2.
For more information about setting up the car in F1RS, see my F1RS car setup page.
Under Construction!