Since the last update it seems the AI loses pace as soon as you overtake them. It seems really odd when I have to push to close down a car, trailing him for a couple laps, then fight as he defends his position. Then when I finally make the pass, he suddenly drops back, just gives up and start fading into the background. I don't remember it ever being like this. How do they go from running a good pace, to suddenly being 2-3 seconds behind after being overtaken?
This is as old as PCARS 1, it's a Madness Engine AI signature. Needs Reiza attention, not sure this is planned for next updates or not (maybe when -if?- they revamp AI). Has been reported more than once, already.
I've noticed this as well, it's very apparent but I assume it will be fixed soon. Last night I was trailing a car for 3-4 laps before I finally overtook, and he had pace, but within a lap after the overtake he was so far behind me it was comical.
I don't believe that's true. As I said, this just started after the update. I've been racing AMS2 since it released. While this might have been the case early on (I honestly can't remember it being like this, though), it was definitely corrected, because this hasn't been an issue for me before. In fact, it was the complete opposite, as I used to have to keep an eye on my mirrors, because the AI was always within range and ready to capitalize on my mistakes or slowing pace. Now it's so bad, it's impossible not to notice. If had been like this before, I would not have enjoyed racing in the sim as much as I have. I hope it's corrected soon, because this week, the racing has been just boring and uninteresting. And for the first time in a several months, I'll be racing another title over the weekend (if I can't get any decent MP in AMS), because the AI is now bonked so bad, unless you start from the rear there's no point.
You're lucky then. Always ran 100% AI strength, and always had this behavior, either in PCARS1 or 2, and now on AMS2. It wasn't this way on AMS1 (rF engine). I learned that AI varies wildly according car/track combo, maybe this can explain our different experience? I mostly run closed wheels for that matter. In fact, this exact behavior was the reason I quit racing SMS titles in the past. But still there's fun to be had. Nowadays, I usually do "last to first" races with few laps available to force a difficult race. The challenge is to finish first with few laps to spare and with a clean race (no ramming or forcing passage). The AI will put a very nice fight while you're chasing them, sure, but after being passed they're gone. To be fair, on rare occasions there may be only one out of the pack that will keep racing very close, but this has been an exception. The "normal" way is that AI will pass you back only if you do a *serious* mistake (i.e., spin or go out of track). What I did observe after the last patch was that now you cannot dare to pass an AI when you're on the outside approaching a curve - door to door or even a little bit ahead of AI - you'll be door rammed for sure while still going straight (like the AI doesn't know you're there and still wants to get to the entry point). Doesn't happen on all tracks, though, so again, the combo matters. The sim is still fairly new - there's a ton of things that still have to be tuned and adjusted again and again patch after patch. We'll get there.
I don't know. I usually run AI above 100, depends on how much I've been racing the car and which track I'm on. The pace fading behavior I'm seeing now didn't exist before. If it had, I never would have been racing the sim so much. And it's quite noticeable now, so there's no way I could have overlooked it before.
