I never had this problem, at least now with the D3D driver that's
included with the GPL Demo, or the rastd3d7.dll that supports 1280x960
instead of 1280x1024. The newer LCD monitors runing at 1900x1200
resolution are probably adding to the problem.
You just had to mention GPL, which prompted me to go back and do a run
at Kyalami in the Lotus, a bit challenging since it's been over a year
and I've been messing with NFS Underground 2 lately. After the initial
first spin was over, it only took about half a dozen laps before I was
running low 1:22's again. It seemed like GPL plays like this:
http://jeffareid.net/nfs8/n8dlhrx8.wmv