what is the map format better for the carmageddon style game

In the beginning i use 3ds as the map, but when it very big fps down. What format is better?I heard that majority of 3d programers use BSP trees(but it for action games, i think, if i wrong please correct me). BSP trees? What is it? Can i use it as the map for carmageddon style game(if(yes && it is the one of best ways) where can i find some tuts or samples and EDITOR)

bsp is only good for indoor type games, with small closed rooms.

quad trees or similar might proove to be good for open terrain.

you might also want to ask this question in something like a newsgroup like comp.graphics.algorithms

BSPs are only a way of splitting up the the world in to smaller bits, on modern computers with a carmargedon style map I think splitting your world using octrees would be best (quad trees might be better but it depends- if you will be travelling at different heights and if there is much difference in the volume of polygons at different heights octrees are better.) Do a search for tuts, there are loads and are simple to implement- basicly a bounding box with a list of sub-bounding boxes and eventualy a list of polygons making a tree.