Tweak what settings to reduce horrible in-traffic stutter?

[Vaughn Stegeman]

I'm one of those guys that likes to set his graphics as high as possible. I like my games to look pretty .. BUT they still need to be playable.
I've got everything pretty cranked here, including tweaks in my .plr file .. and for the most part the game runs nice and smooth.
However, when I get into dense traffic, I sometimes get HORRIBLE stutter.
So, my question is: What setting(s) will have the BIGGEST effect to reduce this stutter. I'd like to reduce as little as possible to rectify this issue. Including .plr file tweaks.
Thanks! and Race On

 

[Arunas]

I've some problems when everybody is braking in the corner with a lot of smoke, so i've reduced spec effects..

 

[Vaughn Stegeman]

HEY! Wow, that could be it!! Thinking about it, it usually DOES happen in heavy corner braking traffic. I'll try that!

 

[Justin Swan]

I hear special effects and shadow quality have a big effect

 

[Dario Baic]

this is the problem i have in most racing games and i can understand that in newer games beacuse my pc is not the best, but why in old games it just doesnt make any sense

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

Largest factor is the number of vehicles drawn on the screen. Decrease that first, i use 12 (6 in front and 6 behind). Then shadows, level of detail and so on. But usually dropping the number of cars is the only thing needed to run this game at max settings. Max settings are the one to use, lowering the overall level does not helps get any more FPS in modern GPUs, in fact, you most likely will hurt performance lowering it (or dropping resolution, native is the fastest..). 8 visible vehicles is the minimum IMHO, lower than that and you risk running in to invisible cars, you need at least two rows in both ways, three to be sure.