Whatever the numbers, I've been an Apple Macintosh (Mac) user since 1984. I used them for designing and speccing my homes as a builder, I used them as a writing and photo tool as a print journalist, and I have used them as a television producer, and of course now internet video producer.
Now I'm trying to use a Mac for online racing. Yikes! What was I thinking?
It all really seemed easy enough. The new Macs have something they call Bootcamp that allows you to run Windows. Bootcamp requires that you decide to start up your computer using either the Mac OS or the Windows operating systems. There are also programs that allow you to actually run both the Mac OS and Windows simultaneously. And that my friends was my downfall!
Because I really didn't want (or have the ability) to use my big 'mothership' dual quad-core Mac Pro that I use for editing, as a gaming computer, I opted (left with no other choice actually) to use my laptop (a MacBook Pro dual-core) that I use for writing and emailing, and those typical daily computer chores, I found it easier to choose a program that allowed me to run both operating systems at the same time.
Don't!
Because I was new to Windows as well as new to online racing (rFactor in this case) I was both overwhelmed, over-ignorant as to what I needed to do and what should be going on. So I first had some issues with the wimple tasks of installing files and setting up things like plugins and drivers and such. But I also had issues with knowing how rFactor should be working. And that included additional items like the workings of the wheels and pedals.
Skipping the computer problems, what I struggled with on the racing end was exasperating to say the least. Driving was very artificial feeling, with wheel and pedal outputs just not close to being as good as they were/are on the console sims.
It took far too long for me to get to the point where I tried it on the Bootcamp running only Windows. Bingo! Suddenly things were different. Although I was left with having to basically start over, things worked so good I was more than enthused and excited to do it.
So, the moral of this story is this; If you choose to race using a Mac (and there are some good points about speed and graphics that can make this a good decision) be sure to run the Bootcamp as a stand-alone setup and not try to run the Mac OS and Windows simultaneously.
I eventually just bought a new iMac to run the online racing programs and am now living 'happily ever after'! Well that is until I decide to run three monitors and then we'll see ;-)
Cheers-
To God, Good Wine, & Great Racing!
DE
Cheers-
To God, Good Wine, & Great Racing!
DE
