Simulator does not play smoothly

[hellracer11]

Whenever I play the demo, it is very choppy and the right side of the screen fluctuates from dark to normal.  The audio is also choppy and the kart engine sounds like sirens. My first problem fixed itself but I don't know what is causing this one. Also when I change the resolution in game, it changes for a fraction of a second then goes back to normal. Does anybody know what may be causing these problems?

[Birel-Rotax 42]

Your hardware probably isn't good/fast enough to run the game at its minimum requirements.

[hellracer11]

Your hardware probably isn't good/fast enough to run the game at its minimum requirements.

That's what I was thinking also but I don't know how to check the specs of my video card and I'm not sure if my DirectX is updated. Could it be either of those causing the problems?