Data files and versions of the game

Actually there are no different running versions of the game. Just different data sets.
You will find two different LOTUS.DAT file :

LOTUS.DAT - 1.265.153 byte :
This version is dated 15 September 1993. When you exit from the game, game types "Lotus III Version 15/09/93" on text screen and exits. This version correctly works with Livesplit Autosplitter.

LOTUS.DAT - 1.337.856 byte :
This version is dated 14 July 1993. When you exit from the game, game types "Lotus III Version 14/07/93" on text screen and exits. This version doesn't work with Livesplit Autosplitter.

LOTUS.EXE : You will probably find 4992 byte exe file or 4997 byte exe file. Both works same.

DOSBox Configuration

This guide aims to define configuration on DOSBox for Lotus III.

Most developed machine in the begining of 90s was PC computers with 80386 microprocessors.

Game is created in the begining of 90s to use most developed audio and video technology which were Sound Blaster 16 and VGA 256 colour with 320x240 screen resolution.

Below configuration is enough for the game :

"Lotus3.conf" file content :

[START OF FILE]

[sdl]
fullscreen=false #if you want to play game in full screen, you can turn it to "true"
fulldouble=false
fullresolution=original #your desktop screen resolution
windowresolution=1024x768 #i like to play game in a window with good visibility. This i my choice. You can alter it as you like"
output=openglnb #Other selections were blury as output. This is best i find for clear visibility in screen
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
waitonerror=true
priority=higher,normal
mapperfile=mapper.txt
usescancodes=true

[dosbox]
language=
machine=vgaonly #320x240 resolution with 256 colour. Better graphic options don't have better effect.
captures=capture
memsize=4 #4 Mb memory is enough

[render]
frameskip=0
aspect=false
scaler=none

[cpu]
core=dynamic
cputype=386 #80386 CPU is enough
cycles=max 105%
cycleup=10
cycledown=20

[mixer]
nosound=false #we use sound card. So, set it to "false"
rate=44100
blocksize=1024
prebuffer=20

[midi]
mpu401=none #if you like to use something like Roland MT-32. Set this to "intelligent"
mididevice=none #if you like to use mpu401 device "win32" is best option
midiconfig=0

[sblaster]
sbtype=sb16 #Best sound card in that time. You can choose better cards, but there will be no difference. Actually every Soundblaster soundcard types sounds the same. This is my choice.
sbbase=220
irq=7
dma=1
hdma=5
sbmixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplemu=default
oplrate=44100

[gus]
gus=false #make sure you set it to "false" since gus conficts with Autosplitter
gusrate=44100
gusbase=220
gusirq=7
gusdma=7
ultradir=

[speaker]
pcspeaker=true #It is nice to have pcspeaker sound in the game time to time
pcrate=44100
tandy=off
tandyrate=44100
disney=off

[joystick]
joysticktype=none #set up as you like. I use no joystick for this game
timed=true
autofire=false
swap34=false
buttonwrap=false

[serial]
serial1=disabled #make no sense to have serial port.
serial2=disabled
serial3=disabled
serial4=disabled


[dos]
xms=true
ems=true
umb=true
keyboardlayout=auto

[autoexec] #standard autoexec.bat commands
mount C D:\MSDOS\LOTUS\LOTUS3\ #This is my path for the original game files
C:
Lotus #runs the game
exit #when you exit the game, also exits DOSBox

[END OF FILE]

Put Lotus3.conf file where Dosbox directory is (C:\Program Files (x86)\DOSBox-0.74-3\)

Shortcut for the game to run DOSBox with Lotus3.conf (Game configuration file) :
"C:\Program Files (x86)\DOSBox-0.74-3\DOSBox.exe" -conf "C:\Program Files (x86)\DOSBox-0.74-3\lotus3.conf"

Easy Arcade Hints

This is a hint list for those who want to master and make good runs in easy arcade.

To start Easy Arcade you need to activate below options :

1. Select first option (chronometer) from "Game" box.
2. Select first option from "Course" box.

Difference between arcade and champinship is as follows :

1. No fuelling in arcade.
2. You race against time, not against opponents.
3. On right upper corner, you see how many seconds left before you finish the lap.
4. If you hit 0 (zero) second, you are out of race and out of arcade.

General Strategies :

1. I advise you to practice and master each race before you run the whole easy arcade.
2. There is no race line advantage in the game. Game is so developed that racingline doesn't matter.
3. "Race time" doesn't count for speedrunning. Only "In Game Time" matters. There is no "Timetable after each race" on Arcade running. So, you have to bring your own "In Game Time" with Livesplit with Autosplitter. To how to do this, see "Livesplit with Autosplitter" guide in Guides section.
4. In the start, first opponent front of you, tend mostly to go left to block your way. So, it is logical to first push gas pedal and push right in the start. This doesn't always happen anyway. You need to see in first 0,5 second what happen and react accordingly.
5. Overtaking strategy is different in every track. So, you need to study, practice for each track and remember in the arcade.
6. You need to remember every corner to avoid to run out of track. This needs practice.

Track Strategy :

1. Turbo (3 Laps) : 
Easy turbo race if we compare with championship. There is only one shock tower.
To avoid shock tower : Do not go full gas in first lap or shock tower will hit. You need to slow down a bit to avoid shock tower for all laps. Then you can go full speed all the race.

2. Dirt Rally (5 Laps) :
This track need much practice for curves and muds.
Overtaking needs a bit practice if you familiar with championship track.

3. Foggy Road (6 Laps) : 
Cars are really slow here. You need study on mostly overtaking.
Seeing cars inside fog can be sometimes hard.

4. Windy Road (4 Laps) :
Cars are really fast here. You need to be careful on overtaking.
Curves are very hard especially when they are turning left during wind.
Try to avoid to hit bushes. Each bush slows you down few km/h. In the middle lane you hit most bushes, on the left few. But you hit on the left lane some anyway. Not always possible, but you can see bushes from long distance and avoid. Anyway, it is almost impossible to avoid all bushes.

5. Mountain (10 Laps) :
There is only one rock on 4th curve right lane. So, you can use also right lane most of the time.
Overtaking is also easier than championship track.
Curves are easy if it's compared with championship track. Even you don't need to remember.

6. Marsh (3 Laps) :
Short but hard track. You need good remember where the logs are to avoid to hit them. Overtaking cars and avoiding logs sometimes can be hard. Curves are long here.

7. Roadworks (13 Laps) :
As in Championship track, you need good study and practice to learn perfect path. This perfect path thinner and harder than that we have in championship. So, needs much practice also for consisteny. Because this is long track with 13 Laps. Overtaking is hard especcially in first lap since you need run in perfect path and overtake.

Easy championship

This is a guide for Easy championship category.

Driving: The game is programmed in such a way that racing line doesn't matter. Only speed matters, so driving in the middle of the road is recommended.

Tricks: You can finish each track faster if you crash into a barrier right before you cross the finish line.

Fuel: The more RPM you are in, the more fuel you consume.


Tracks:

Windy road - Stay on the left side from the start, overtake everyone, then keep driving in the middle. Try to avoid as many bushes as possible as each will slow you down by 3-5kph. You can reach up to 280kph on this track. Beware of the wind as it can push you out of the track. Depending on how many bushes you avoided, you can lose/gain up to 3 seconds.

Metropolis - Very easy track. Get fuel at the end of 3rd lap, you will only need about 1/4 of the tank. Beware of AI which is really slow here.

Rally - Stay on the left side from the start and if necessary, overtake AI out of the road. There are several nasty mudpits and puddles, so it's recommended to remember and avoid them.

Desert - Another easy track. There's tricky 5 turns in the 1st lap and a few tricky turns after crests, so you have to remember them.

Turbo Zone - Pretty difficult track due to shocks towers and "pushers". There is a certain pattern for missing shock beams, but I've never been able to finish this track without a single hit. The best you can get is one hit in lap 4 right before turbo zone, so you won't lose that much time. "Pushers" are a bit random and they can sometimes push you out of the track. You need to get fuel twice here.

Unknown Touge - Another difficult track. The hardest thing here is overtaking as there is not much space. Avoid the right side as much as possible as there are conveniently placed rocks. Then try to anticipate AI movement and always take the opposite side (if AI goes left, overtake on right and vice versa). I would recommend to get fuel one lap before you actually have to.

Construction Zone - Once you learn every corner, it shouldn't be too difficult to finish this track without a single bump.

Easy Championship Hints

This is a hint list for those who want to master and make good runs in easy championships.

To start Easy Championship you need to activate below options :

1. Select second option (cup) from "Game" box.
2. Select first option from "Course" box.

General Strategies :

1. I advise you to practice and master each race before you run the whole easy championship.
2. There is no race line advantage in the game. Game is so developed that racingline doesn't matter.
3. "Race time" doesn't count for speedrunning. Only "In Game Time" matters. "In Game Time" : The timetable you see after each race.
4. Start Position : You start 20th only if you won the previous race.  if you finished at second place, you will be 19th in the next race and so on.
5. In the start, first opponent front of you, tend mostly to go left to block your way. So, it is logical to first push gas pedal and push right in the start. This doesn't always happen anyway. You need to see in first 0,5 second what happen and react accordingly.
6. Overtaking strategy is different in every track. So, you need to study, practice for each track and remember in the championship.
7. You have to be in top 10 or you are eliminated from race and also from championship.
8. You need to remember every corner to avoid to run out of track. This needs practice.
9. AI Cars are not clever but their moves are unpredictable. They move on some patterns, so you can learn those patterns and prevent to hit them.
10. Fueling strategy :
10.1. Fuel Consumption : Fuel consumption does not depend on speed. A full tank allows you to drive 10000km.
10.2. By Track :
Easy 1 is "8750km over 3 stages" you know you can drive through the full track without refueling. Easy 2 is "4 laps over 3022km", so the whole track is 12088km long, and you will be refuelling after 3 laps, after a little over 9000km. So goes on.
10.3. The fuel gauge on the top right has the "dark red" area at 38,7% of tank and the bright red at 12,9% of the tank.
10.4. Re-fuelling station is a little bit after the checkpoint, so after refuelling you need to have a little less than a full lap in your tank.
10.5. About the decision on which lap to refuel:
10.5.1. Refueling drops your speed to 0, so if the track layout is such that you take more than one lap to reach max speed on the track you're driving on (because of the downhills etc), you want to refuel as early as possible to drive the longest with max speed, and possibly to slow down to 0 from less than max speed
10.5.2. One reason to refuel as late as possible is when you can reach max speed in less than a full lap (e.g. with turbozones on turbo track) AND when there are stages instead of laps - because then after refuelling you aren't overtaken by as many cars.
11. Speed matters in the way that if you're fast enough then you can reach the finish even when "out of fuel" is displayed.
12. You typically start a few meters before the initial checkpoint, so the distance to drive is typically just a tiny bit longer than the game says.
13. Keeping practice advantage for championship :
If you make pratice on the same track after and after, you gain practice very quick. But you loose faster, if you run another track. This is not the same for every track anyway. In some tracks you loose your practice faster and in some slower.
To keep your practice most the best for you, you need come up with some sort of track list to run before championship to keep your best practice for each track. You will lost some pratice anyhow. But you will lost the practice at minimum before you run championship. This is my list for running each track (each track for many time) before championship :
Roadworks, Metropolis, Desert, Mountain, Dirty Rally, Turbo
Yes, you don't see first track Windyroads in the list. Because you can run first track many time as you want when you start the championship.
I have made my this list form easiest to hardest to not to lost practice much.
This list may be different for you because easy to hard will probably be different for you.
14. Fueling need is optimized and following fuel amounts are best by practice :

![](/static/blob/3ekd1rzx.png)

14. Track Strategies :
15. Windy Road (3 Laps) : 
In the first few straights, try to stay in the second left lane and pass every opponent. You need sometime change your lane.
There is wind from time to time. When wind comes, it can push you out of the track, especially road turns to the left. Stay on the left and turn easy. Wind comes and goes random. When you have more wind, you have more bushes. Hitting bushes change your timing huge like between 2m2.5s and 2m9.5s.
Try to avoid to hit bushes. Each bush slows you down few km/h. In the middle lane you hit most bushes, on the left few. But you hit on the left lane some anyway. Avoiding bushes is set of few strategies and it takes too much practice to learn it. To learn how to avoid bushes, look at my individual track videos. After developing this skill, you can score under 2m6s.
Fuelling : No fuelling needed.
Max speed : 285 km/h

2. Night Metropolis (4 Laps) :
Opponents are really slow here. When you are fast, be aware of opponent and see them from long distance to avoid to hit.
Fuelling : Fuel at the end of lap 3. You need practice and check how much fuel do you need to complete the race.
Max speed : 273 km/h

3. Dirty Rally (3 Laps) :
Tricky track especially in the first two straights. There are three muds on the right lane. So, try to overtake all opponent from left lane. You need to make too much practice to develop your own overtaking strategy or can watch my video on IL category.
There are muds on different locations on each lap. So, you need to remember them to not to hit.
Fuelling : You don't need to fuel in this track.
Max speed : 264 km/h

4. Desert (4 Laps) : 
You can easily overtake all opponents in two straights. Then you can go mostly full speed. Needs mostly curve remembering.
Fuelling : You don't need to fuel in this track.
Max speed : 283 km/h

5. Turbo (7 Laps) :
Very hard track due to shock towers. S curve is very hard to make same move every lap. You need to practice for S curve to not to hit trees.
Shocking towers are not random but it is hard to find any strategy to get through without hit. By my experience this could be done by stopping position on fuel lane and amount of fuelling strategy. I found few consistent strategies after many many trials. It is still hard to repeat it because it needs high timing precision which timing windows is very narrow like few tenths of seconds. You can watch my videos to learn or you can develop your own strategy.
Fuelling : You need to fuel twice in this track.
First fuel : Best is to fuel in the end of lap three.
Second fuel : You can fuel the car in the end of lap four.
Max speed : 292 km/h

6. Mountain (6 Laps) :
Difficult track due to space is limited to overtake all cars in first lap. Due to randomity of opponent cars, it is still very hard overtaking all cars in first lap without hit even you are experiences. If you make good practice, rest of the laps are easy. You need to remember where the rocks are in the right lane to not to hit.
Fuelling : You need only one time fueling. Best to get fuel at the end of 5th lap to avoid to need for overtake other cars. You need 1/8 to 1/10 of tank or something like that. Make practice and see how much do you need.
Max speed : 247 km/h

7. Roadworks (7 Laps) :
You need to learn the perfect path to not hit any roadwork plates. To do this, you need to make practice. After that, it's an easy track to complete without a hit. Sometimes you may not be lucky, while you turn specific curves and must overtake at the same time. This is the most difficult situation you can face on this track. You can even overtake them most of situtations. Few situtation seems to me not possible without hit.
Fuelling : You need only one time fueling. Best is to fuel at the end of 3rd lap.
Max speed : 281 km/h

Individual Race Codes for MSDOS and Amiga

If you want to race in any individual level, you need to do below steps :

In main menu :
1. on "GAME" box, choose first option (chronometer) for Individual Arcade Races or choose second option (cup) for Individual Championship races. 
2. on "COURSE" box, choose fourth option (race track) 
3. Put one of below choosen codes to "CODE" box. 
4. Push "START" to run.

CODES FOR CHAMPIONSHIP RACES

                   EASY LEVEL:     MEDIUM LEVEL:     HARD LEVEL:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RACE 01- "CRRIPWBXX-28"     | "RLQYDVAKA-48" | "PPRGGQFVL-52"
RACE 02- "QPWMVQKCQ-34" | "HDMOQFAKA-51" | "JPIQKUHCE-65"
RACE 03- "XGPGPZHHS-42" | "WXQBQMDXD-88" | "EIIBGGAFE-48"
RACE 04- "FGWLSYCKM-51" | "UDONAJHAL-47" | "CIGIUQCLT-92"
RACE 05- "PRRUMPUMV-68" | "NKWCXXXXK-33" | "KNHUPHHKE-64"
RACE 06- "NANCXXXXZ-39" | "AONGLQKTC-63" | "VVOSHGSIS-86"
RACE 07- "IPWONWOBP-65" | "ZXJGHBKHF-70" | "RGHSVBRET-89"
RACE 08- ---- N/A ----- | "DPGTQKBHQ-42" | "YDOERACTJ-86"
RACE 09- ---- N/A ----- | "IPMIJOBHQ-62" | "GXQFSUMPP-45"
RACE 10- ---- N/A ----- | "MUYURWFHA-86" | "TVQLSYUFU-89"
RACE 11- ---- N/A ----- | ---- N/A ----- | "WMQHYMTVJ-85"
RACE 12- ---- N/A ----- | ---- N/A ----- | "OKUOBJIAC-86"
RACE 13- ---- N/A ----- | ---- N/A ----- | "FIMJJIBCK-68"
RACE 14- ---- N/A ----- | ---- N/A ----- | "SIGTXXXXH-35"
RACE 15- ---- N/A ----- | ---- N/A ----- | "WNQKMPHVN-80"


CODES FOR ARCADE RACES:

                   EASY LEVEL:     MEDIUM LEVEL:     HARD LEVEL:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RACE 01- "PWRWVWHNM-30" | "ANNSMQLPN-60" | "IYVVNVEQR-35"
RACE 02- "XMQIYSKAS-80" | "VZVDOPHCY-50" | "KAZZNIKAI-45"
RACE 03- "UVQSNPBCM-70" | "RTLMYJKHB-60" | "FGQLJGDAF-65"
RACE 04- "CWVBQPCAV-50" | "ERRURV----67" | "MFFSRPYDU-60"
RACE 05- "SFXUXXXXP-60" | "NSSSXXXXS-60" | "PLQTZQDPE-80"
RACE 06- "HSYWYSKCG-50" | "WSVUQPCSJ-70" | "ZKZGKJKKK-50"
RACE 07- "IVVEMMKOZ-50" | "OUNDEFACG-99" | "TGGJGGTTT-63"
RACE 08- ---- N/A ----- | "GXWDYPACV-68" | "AFZYBQCJT-70"
RACE 09- ---- N/A ----- | "BZ ZF BAT-90" | "JBOUKJHKA-99"
RACE 10- ---- N/A ----- | "LWNJWKACN-90" | "DASICOTET-80"
RACE 11- ---- N/A ----- | ---- N/A ----- | "XDNUSEECE-85"
RACE 12- ---- N/A ----- | ---- N/A ----- | "QDSCJVEBT-75"
RACE 13- ---- N/A ----- | ---- N/A ----- | "SKGYXXXXK-57"
RACE 14- ---- N/A ----- | ---- N/A ----- | "YKGJWVNAK-92"
RACE 15- ---- N/A ----- | ---- N/A ----- | "WJMEGMEQH-60"

Individual Race Codes for Sega Genesis

Known Glitches

1. If you are out of fuel, you can not re-fuel even you stop in re-fueling lane and you are retired from race. See examples in :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elRy2DG6odY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZkrP5oW6FE

**Important note:** In two-player (split-screen) mode, you WILL be allowed to refuel and continue race if you stop in re-fueling lane while out of fuel!

2. Car is pushed to the left by game without pushing buttons. This happens in particular curve on Easy Championship Turbo track. This doesn't always happens. Check Lap 4 (Time stamp: 3:12) and Lap 7 (Time stamp: 5:40)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNcp8RSEr5Y

Most known Lotus III Custom Tracks

Thanks to Lotus III's RECS custom track creation tool, there can be millions different tracks. So, Racer Community work about that and created a list :
These are most known Custom Track Codes which are created Racer Community :

Code                Effect
----------------------------------
evilracin-[00-99] - Highway race
challenge-[00-99] - Enable wind effect and turn physics.
character-[00-99] - All scenarios +80% (except length and obstacles).
wrongways-[00-99] - Alternate Jupiter race.
sharpness-[00-99] - Alternate Mountain race.
callmebob-[00-99] - Alternate Windy race.
get enemy-[00-99] - Difficult enemies.
sceneries-[00-99] - Mountain race with turbo.
steepness-[00-99] - Mountain race with first column +80%.
amcodpsnr-[00-99] - Windy race on turbo.
jkvuawhrm-[00-99] - Foggy forest race.
highspeed-[00-99] - Forest race at high speed .
kkkkkkkkk-[00-99] - Forest race with only curves, six laps and mountains.
mrgihwpvq-[00-99] - Swamp race with a lot of hills.
mrgixwpvq-[00-99] - Swamp race with no hills.
uhqjcyawl-[00-99] - City race when dark.
ftfyxsmuq-[00-99] - Desert race.
qoxzxjqml-[00-99] - Moonlight race.
nlgiodzbn-[00-99] - Mountain race.
odbssziux-[00-99] - Arctic race.
letsmosey-[00-99] - Rainy race.
eznuyfjpb-[00-99] - Highway race with farmers on the road.
racingfun-[00-99] - Oily road race.
xxxxxxxxx[00-99]  - Oily road race with no curves.
pvtumjbqt-[00-99] - Orange planet race.
pvmqrwhak-[00-99] - Orange planet race with turbo.
obstacles-[00-99] - Snow race.
Space (9x)-XX - Golden middle way.

Setting Up LiveSplit with Autosplitter

Livesplit with Autosplitter aims to autodetect race starts & finishes on Lotus III :

Autosplitter works on below setup and may work other versions of DOSBox & Livesplit :
-> DOSBox 0.74-3 (https://www.dosbox.com/) Install latest version of DOSBox from this site and made proper configuration for Lotus III game. See "DOSBox Configuration" guide for detail.
-> Livesplit 1.8.25 (https://livesplit.org/) Install latest version of Livesplit from this site.
-> Autosplitter script for Lotus III (for information) (ASL File : https://raw.githubusercontent.com/WinterThunderSpeedrun/Autosplitters/master/Lotus3.asl) 
Actually, It's not necessary to manually download this file. It should be available in LiveSplit, when you select "Lotus III - The Ultimate Challenge" as the game.
(Thanks to "WinterThunder" to write this script)

-> Main Page for Autosplitter (for information) : https://github.com/LiveSplit/LiveSplit.AutoSplitters

Note about Autosplitter :
DOSBox autosplitter breaks (doesn't find correct memory address) if you alter the dosbox.conf in a specific way.
Known ways to break the autosplitter:
1. Alter the PATH system variable -> don't invoke SET PATH=xyz
2. Set gus=true (make sure gus is set to false)

The only limitation to it is that you have to start/reset it manually. You need to push start button in Track selection screen. Timer will start automaticaly when race starts and Timer stops automaticaly after you pass finish line. Autosplitter works race after race automaticaly until you pass finishline on last race in championship or arcade.
After you are done with timer, you need to push "Reset" button to reset timer. 

Setup for Autosplitter :
-> in Livesplit, right click and select "edit splits"
-> in Game Name, find and select "Lotus III: The Ultimate Challenge"
-> in Run Category, select "Championship"
-> under "Start timer at", you should see a text saying "Autosplitter with IGT for Lotus III on DOSBox 0.74-3 (manual start an reset required)"
-> Click Settings and Locate "Lotus Autosplitter Script File : Lotus3.asl"
-> in Settings, I suggest you tick "Start" and "Split" if they're not already
-> make sure to activate the autosplitter right next to this text (if the button displays "Deactivate", it means you're fine and autosplitter script is active)
-> in Additional Info, select MS-DOS as Platform, Easy for Difficulty. It may not influence the autosplitter or not.
-> click ok, then right click again on Livesplit and select "Edit layout"
-> make sure you don't have in the list anything like "Auto Splitting Runtime", "Manual Game Time" or "Scriptable Auto Splitter" as it could conflict with the autosplitter you activated in the splits.
-> in Detailed Timer, make sure your Timing Method is "Game Time".
-> if you didn't do it already, add in the layout a Timer for Real Time, as it's mandatory for the leaderboard : click +, Timer -> Timer, and set it to "Real Time".

Thanks to Winter Thunder and Vel'Cheran to provide this details.

Nombre	Autor
Data files and versions of the game	Wogen 2 years ago
DOSBox Configuration	Wogen 2 years ago
Easy Arcade Hints	Wogen 1 year ago
Easy championship	Ewil 7 years ago
Easy Championship Hints	Wogen 1 year ago
Individual Race Codes for MSDOS and Amiga	Wogen 2 years ago
Individual Race Codes for Sega Genesis	Wogen 2 years ago
Known Glitches	Wogen 1 year ago
Most known Lotus III Custom Tracks	Wogen 2 years ago
Setting Up LiveSplit with Autosplitter	Wogen 2 years ago