GTR2

GTR 2 - FIA GT Racing Game

GTR 2 – FIA GT Racing Game is a sports car racing simulator developed by Blimey! Games and SimBin Studios (later Sector3 Studios) for the x86 PC and is a sequel to GTR. Since its release in September 2006, it has received widespread acclaim. The game simulates the 2003 and 2004 FIA GT Championship racing series. (Wikipedia)

https://www.youtube.com/embed/LioTJNIQTwM

Why a game from 2006?

GTR2 was/is one of those rare occasions when a game developer is given the opportunity to produce a game as it was meant to be. All the features you see in one game or another but never all in one game these days was actually included in one game: GTR2. And it's still being updated by modders to this day!

Here's some links that may give you a better understanding of why a game from 2006 still holds its own:

• GTR2: Why are Modern Sims Still Not as Good? [Article]
• Still The Greatest Racing Sim Ever, Here is Why [Video] - EmptyBox
• Thoughts on GTR2, And Why I Look At Sims Differently Now [Video] - SimRacing604
• GTR2 Still Rocks [Video] - GPLaps
• GTR 2 - The Sim That Keeps On Giving [Video] - Jimmy Broadbent
• GTR 2 - This is what immersion feels like [Video] - Jimmy Broadbent
• GTR2 At Its Best Looking 2023 [Video] - Shovas
• Vanilla GTR2 At Its Best Looking 2024 [Video] - Shovas
• GTR 2 - How Does It Feel With A Direct Drive Wheel? [Video] - Jimmy Broadbent
• GTR2 in VR is AMAZING (Thanks Crew Chief) [Video] - Rampski

Getting Started

Getting the Game

Steam is probably your best bet. Head over to the GTR2 store page and pick up the game. It's pretty cheap but offers amazing bang for buck.

Windows XP/Vista/7/10/11+ Compatibility

Try GTR2 first. If GTR2 is running fine for you, no need to worry about this section.

Follow this GTR2 and Windows 11 thread for more comments from other people including generic tips for 'how to run older software on newer windows'.

Compatibility Modes:

• Steam
  • GTR2Config.exe > Properties > Compatibility > Check "Run as Administrator"
  • Do NOT set a Windows Compatibility mode on either GTR2Config.exe or GTR2.exe
• Steam with Crew Chief GTR2 Enhancements Plugin
  • Do NOT set either Run As Administrator or Windows Compatibility modes on GTR2.exe or GTR2Config.exe
  • If using DXVK: GTR2Config.exe functionality can be replaced by new GTR2.exe command-line switches and dxvk.conf
  • If you're having any issues check the manual for more details
• Disc
  • GTR2Config.exe > Properties > Compatibility > Check "Run as Administrator"
  • GTR2.exe > Properties > Compatibility > Check "Run as Administrator"
  • GTR2.exe > Properties > Compatibility > Set "Windows XP SP3" Compatibility mode

GTR2 and Windows 10/11+

You may need to install additional DirectX 9 June 2010 Redistributables (direct link).

If you're really stuck

There's some registry changes for GTR2.exe that may help.

This DXVK Integration > Troubleshooting section may also help in the Crew Chief GTR2 Enhancements Plugin manual.

StarForce Disc Protection DRM

The following applies for Disc versions:

• StarForce Disc Protection was used at least for the Disc version of GT Legends but it is no longer compatible with Windows 7/8/10+ (see comments here)
• Never install Official SimBin 1.1: Use No-CD and EXEs from GTR2 and GTL HQ Anniversary Patches
• Never run EXEs from Disc or Demo downloads
• You can still use the Disc version after GTR2 HQ Anniversary Patch is installed (May also apply to GTL/GT Legends)

Minimum GTR2

This section outlines what I feel are the minimum tweaks to create the best vanilla GTR2 experience possible.

These are not strictly necessary to enjoy a vanilla GTR2. You can try vanilla GTR2 and come back to this later.

Skip Intro Videos

These are always annoying, here’s how to stop them (from PC Gaming Wiki.com GTR2 article):

1. Open Windows Explorer and find your Steam Library folder for the game: steamapps\common\GTR 2 – FIA GT Racing Game\MovieFiles
2. Rename (or delete) these files: Intro.bik, GameIntro.bik, SimBin.bik

NVIDIA Profile Settings

tl;dr

• Antialiasing compatibility: 0x004412C1 (Diablo III)
• Antialiasing – Setting: 8xS [Combined: 1×2 SS + 4x MS]
• Antialiasing – Transparency Supersampling: 8x Sparse Grid Supersampling
• Anisotropic filtering mode: User-defined / Off
• Anisotropic filtering setting: 16x
• Texture filtering – Negative LOD bias: Clamp(*)
• Texture filtering – Quality: High quality(*)

Considerations

• I run in Windowed mode, not Fullscreen mode, that may matter I’m not sure.
  • The Crew Chief GTR2 Enhancements Plugin enables perfect Borderless Windowed mode. Highly recommended.
• Ensure GTR2’s Video Options (GTR2Config.exe) has Full-Screen Antialiasing -> Disabled (Unchecked)

NVIDIA Control Panel

• 3D Settings > Manage 3D Setting > Global Settings:
  • Power management mode: Prefer maximum performance

NVIDIA Profile Inspector

Download NVIDIA Inspector, virus scan at virustotal.com, and install.

Run nvidiaInspector.exe, click the Start Profile Inspector button (right-middle), find GTR 2 in the Profiles drop-down, and then set and apply these settings:

• Reset to NVIDIA Profile Defaults
• Compatibility
  • Antialiasing compatibility: 0x004412C1 (Diablo III)
• Sync and Refresh
  • Maximum pre-rendered frames: 1
• Antialiasing
  • Antialiasing – Mode: Override any application setting
    • Disable in-game Antialiasing using GTR2Config.exe
  • Antialiasing – Setting: 8xS [Combined: 1×2 SS + 4x MS]
  • Antialiasing – Transparency Supersampling: 8x Sparse Grid Supersampling
• Texture Filtering
  • Anisotropic filtering mode: User-defined / Off
  • Anisotropic filtering setting: 16x
  • Texture filtering – Negative LOD bias: Clamp(*)
  • Texture filtering – Quality: High quality(*)
• Common
  • Ambient Occlusion setting: High quality(*)
  • Ambient Occlusion usage: Enabled(*)

(*)I couldn’t quickly visually confirm these were actually doing what they should be doing but left them enabled anyway

Caution: Antialiasing can decrease performance. Reduce the setting if it slows down GTR2 too much for you.

Force Feedback Settings

I highly recommend the SHO Competition FFB mod which crowd-sources wheel-specific FFB parameters and provides PLR files for popular wheels.

Click here to download SHO Competition FFB

This is a little bit obvious, we all go pretty quickly for setting up force feedback, but I felt the need to emphasize this because the default force feedback options are, I feel, not enough to bring GTR2’s force feedback closer to modern standards.

You will most likely have to edit your UserData PLR file to get the right feel of your force feedback.

The HQ Anniversary Patch provides new UI menus that give you access to more FFB tuning parameters than the default screens provided. They don’t provide access to the most important FFB tuning parameters, unfortunately. The only other method is, unfortunately, to edit the GTR2\UserData\User.PLR file.

So, for those reasons, see the SHO Competition FFB mod linked above.