INTRODUCTION Slot Car Racer is an exciting 1- or 2-player game based on the world of high performance racing. Compete on actual Slot Car Racer circuit courses or design your own with the remarkable icon-based track-editor. This is the racing that leaves all the others in the dust. Features: * Integrated icon-based track designer * 17 real world Slot Car tracks to scale; from Monaco to Villeneuve * 1 or 2 player options * 3D point-of-view for each driver * Overhead view for each driver * Realistic skidding and braking * On-screen lap timer * 3 different types of curve and straight tracks * Joystick and keyboard control Slot car Racer brings the excitement of Formula One racing to your computer screen. The program includes a full-featured icon driven track editor as well as a state-of-the-art racing simulation GETTING STARTED What You Need: * Commodore 64 or 128 computer * Disk drive * Monitor or TV (color recommended) * Joystick (optional) * A formatted storage disk if you wish to design and save your own track layouts. Follow the instructions that came with your computer to format a storage disk. Loading 1) Plug your joystick into port 2 (optional). If you will be playing the two-player game, plug a joystick into port 1 (optional). 2) Yurn on your monitor, computer, and disk drive. 3) Insert the Slot Car racer disk into the disk drive. 4) Type: LOAD"*",8,1 and press RETURN The game will automatically load and run. Remove the program disk at this time and replace it with the storage disk. Note: If you are using a 128, you will need to put it into 64 mode before loading Slot Car Racer. THE SET-UP PROCEDURE: After the title screens, the set-p prompts appear: PLEASE ENTER NAME PLAYER 1: Type a name up to 6 letters long followed by RETURN. PLEASE ENTER NAME PLAYER 2: If the there is no second player,press RETURN for a computer-generated player. Otherwise, type up to a 6 character name, and press RETURN. DO YOU HAVE A JOYSTICK PLAYER 1?: Press Y if you are using a joystick, Press N otherwise. DO YOU HAVE A JOYSTICK PLAYER 2?: Press Y if you are using a joystick, Press N otherwise. DESIGN CIRCUIT? If you wish to design your own circuit press Y, otherwise press N. If you choose to design a circuit, you will immediately enter the track editor program. LOAD TRACK: If you wish to load a previously-saved track, press Y. You will be asked if you wish to load from tape or disk, and asked for a file name. Once the track has loaded, you will be ready to start the race. CHOOSE A CIRCUIT - ACCEPT? If you choose not to load a track, you will be asked to choose from the circuits included in the program. These represent the 17 Formula One courses of the international circuit. The track will be drawn and you will have the option of choosing it (press Y) or skipping to the next track (press N). TRACK DESIGN The first stage in track design is to position the start/finish line. The large crosshairs in the middle of the screen marks the current location of the start. Use the cursor keys to position the crosshairs. When you are ready to draw the start/finish section of track, press H or V to place the track horizontally or vertically. You can now use the joystick in port 2 (or the cursor keys) to choose the next kind of track section you wish to place. The available pieces are shown at the top of the screen. Simply move the arrow to the piece you wish to add to the track. Press RETURN or FIRE, and the chosen track section will be appended to the track. Continue to add pieces until the circuit is complete. If you make a mistake, press F3 to back up a section. You have an unlimited number of pieces with which to build your track, but there are a few rules you should keep in mind. 1) Banked curves should always be used in groups of 3. 2) Although you can cross track sections over one another, you cannot make a complete circle which contains no straight segments. 3) Chicanes can only be added to other chicane pieces - except the in/out chicane which is the only piece which can start or end a chicane (more about chicanes later). If at any time in the course of designing a circuit, you decide to start over, press F1 and you will return to the setup portion of the program. A Slot Car Racer track must form a closed loop. To do this, you must add/subtract pieces of track until the last piece in the design is facing the start/finish segment you started with (it can overalp the start/finish or be slightly off-center). At this point, press F7 and Slot Car Racer will close the circuit for you. Once your track is completed, you will want to save it for future use. When you use F7 to cloose the loop, you will be asked SAVE TRACK? Answer Y or N and choose to save to disk or cassette. Note: If you choose to save to disk, be sure that a formatted, non-write protected disk is in the disk drive. DO NOT save on the program disk. Once you are ready to go on and try a race on your new track, press F5 to start the race. RACING Now that it is race time, you must choose the number of laps you wish to run. Type a number between 1 and 99 and press RETURN. If player 2 is a computer driver, you will to set OPPOSITION QUALITY. Type a number between 1 (rookie) and 3 (pro) and press RETURN. The track now appears in a split-screen view. Both cars are on the starting grid waiting for the flag to drop. Player 1 controls the red car and looks out at the lower 3D view. The plan view for Player 1 is to the left bottom of the screen. Player 2 controls the yellow car and looks out at the top view. Player 2's plan view is to the lower right. Once the flag drops, the race is on. To start moving, accelerate and press FIRE (on the joystick), or LEFT and RIGHT simultaneously (on the keyboard). The vehicles are controlled with the following controls: Player 1 Joystick Port 2 . Forward - accelerate. Back - brake. Left - move left. Right - move right. Player 2 Joystick Port 1 . Forward - accelerate. Back - brake. Left - move left. Right - move right. Keyboard Left Side D - accelerate. X - brake. SHIFT - move left. Z - move right. Keyboard Right Side : - accelerate. / - brake. < - move left. > - move right. CURVES There are 4 different curve types in Slot Car Racer: OUTER, STANDARD, INNER and BANKED. Each of these will appear differently to the driver, and each affects the car in a unique way. In general, the sharper the curve, the greater the centrifugal force exerted on the car. In other words, you will need to take sharp curves more slowly to keep from skidding off the track. The banked curve allows you to take the curve more quickly than you could the equivalent flat curve. If you start to skid, you will hear your tires screeching as they try to regain the road. You can counter a skid by braking. If you run off the track onto the grassy verge the car will slow dramatically. You will not be able to re-enter the track until your speed is less than 50 miles an hour. CRASHES In a crash, the rear car is always destroyed. If the relative speed of the two cars is less than 20 miles an hour, however, the rear car can safely bump the forward car. If two cars are side-by-side, they may jostle each other in an attempt to gain an advantage. This does not cause a crash. Chicanes A chicane is a narrow section of track which requires great skill to negotiate. It is only wide enough for one car at a time. If both cars try to enter a chicane at the same time, the results could be unfortunate for one or the other. Lap Times Lap Times are posted after each lap. It can be informative to check your opponent's time as well as your own. Ending the Race The race ends when someone wins or when a car is destroyed. You can abort a race in progress by pressing F3 at any time.