same thing, Changing the wheel shape usually messes it up. I have seen a changer for wheels that only changes it on a client's end, but It works for Z28 and has a limited amount of wheels.
I'm fine with some bloom effects, (Not like blurring everything to the point of hurting the eyes, and doing motion blur that makes it impossible to see, like most games nowadays) and a minor HDR effect doesn't do much on the CPU, at least for me.
I use 64-bit Windows 7, much better than when my PC had XP. I have a 3-year old card and it runs well, but it should be incredible once the new testpatch comes in.
It's sometimes hard to see when the gauge is the same colour of the car tbh, I've wished for a translucent backdrop for gauges, but for now, we got the Virtual Gauges OutGauge application.
I have a 512MB Nvidia 9600GT-based card, it appears to be working quite hard, as it has to display 2048x1152 onto a gaming 23" widescreen and 1024x768 on a 15" square. I get 60+ FPS too with high resolution textures and models, but I have VSync on to limit it.
I personally wouldn't say that the Robin would be a "racing" car, although I would find a 3-wheeler interesting, I'd personally would prefer one with 2 wheels up front in a racing sim. Another car example that I know of is the Campangna T-Rex.