AMS2 AI Developer Q&A - Physics & AI

Sorry you can delete , Been up all night with a poorly child so my brain isn’t functioning correctly this morning, Just realised it’s ai/physics related
Questions.
Hi Renato , Thank you for the opportunity to ask questions.
My first question is one that’s caused me a headache a few times , Is it possible to get a proper working flag system even if it’s just a yellow on screen notification for a certain sector as I’ve had a few races ruined by a car that’s stopped on track under no caution.

My 2nd is could it be possible to have some weather scenarios excluded from random weather. I love how the weather system works and try and use random weather when creating offline championships but sometimes storm and heavy fog is just too much and some series would not race in those conditions.
Thank you

 

Hi Renato
A simple one for me. Will Reiza be adding functionality to support custom ai drivers in multiplayer? It would add a whole new immersion and realism to this great sim.

 

Hi Renato, I’ll try to narrow my questions regarding to one subject. Damage

1 - regarding damage, is there a way to add the option of terminal damage, or unrepairable damage once you get to the pits depending on category? Ex: normally if you colide a fórmula car with front suspension damage, that will be a retirement once you get back to the pits (ex: Hill on Adelaide 94).

2 - can we have the option of realistic repair times for endurance races for example? Right now it looks like the time of repairs are too short and this can be immersion breaking for these kind of races. I think I never had repair times bigger than 2 min. (What’s current max repair times allowed in the sim?)

3 - is there a possibility to add the option of missing a session, or missing time on a session due to too severe damage in an event? Ex: you hit the car too hard on practice, and then your team is unable to repair the car on time for qualifying, so you miss the session (or you miss 70% of the session for example)? Or even missing a full race depending on too much damage? This would add to the tension of driving carefully on championship events for example and punish reckless driving.

Thanks for the opportunity of answering these questions directly from users, this is really open communication and a great initiative of having this direct feedback from developers.

 

Hello Renato and thanks for the opportunity to ask questions about the Sim.
Here are my 3 questions:

1- Will you implement more advanced setup options like abs 1 and 2, tc 1 and 2, brake migration etc..?

2- are you planning on reviewing the physics of the fwd cars just like you did with karts?

3- Will you implement the AI sliders for corner and straight performance that we saw before the release of 1.6?

Thanks a lot!

 

Hi Renato,

It was a few months ago, but last I checked (cannot check current state due to not having access to my sim rig for a while), RX AI was very very slow on non-RX tracks (such as Hockenheim Short)
RX cars are great fun on such small tarmac tracks. Are there plan to improve AI for it to make it in line with other race cars ?

 

1) Are there currently considerations to open AI lines and their dry/wet performance to modders (maybe in conjunction with some pertinent dev tools) so they can adjust and finetune them? One way to do this could also be to hand out individual keys. The way I see it, several of the class or track specific AI calibration issues are a matter of not enough (human) resources to throw at them.

2) Will the AI mistake rate in wet weather and especially in changing conditions be (further) increased? Currently I have to crank mistake rate up to 5x wirh formula classes to see mistakes in the rain, but with that rate they also make a little too many in the dry in my opinion... There's also just not enough chaos in rapidly changing conditions.

3) Very different question: Is it possible (or looked into) to make the initial grip loss of the tyres more snappy than it currently is? I don't think AMS2 allows too much slip (if anything it may be too punishing sometimes), but from what I've seen, in real life beyond the optimal slip angle there will often be a snap of the car that you then can save by going opposite lock. In AMS2, there is a much more apparent tendency towards neutral steer than I've seen on average in the onboards I've watched. This is especially true under acceleration, under braking I'm not quite sure...


Thanks for doing this here btw, I think that's an even more awesome way to communicate with the community than the dev updates!

 

I think the question is related to:

TC1 Slip and TC2 Gain are additional, more granular traction control settings found in certain race cars, particularly in modern GT3 or endurance cars. These settings allow you to fine-tune how the traction control system responds to wheel spin and how aggressively it intervenes.

 

Thanks for this opportunity:

1. AI driving out of the pits: ATM in practice or qualifying, AI drives out of the pits one by one with the same gap until everyone is out. This leads to all cars driving behind each other (especially on bigger tracks with a smaller grid). In real life and in other titles, this is more random, the gaps between cars are often bigger, and some cars stay in the pit way longer before exiting. Is this something we can expect to see in AMS2 at some point?

2. In the pit lane, or right before and after, AI cars are "ghosts," and you can't collide with them. Is this something that will change someday?

3. That's more a personal/subjective question: Which car/class is the one you are the most proud of? Which car's physics stands out to you as a lead developer?

 

I apologize for bringing up older topics I've discussed on the forums previously. This seems like the best chance I have of these issues being addressed/seen.

1. Is getting RX, Kartcross, and STT Ai into a more "believable" state possible in AMS2, or is this beyond the scope of the plans for the game?

I've seen several comments in different Discord groups where people who have tried both Adrenaline Pack Pt. 1-2 eventually avoided these DLC due to the Ai. I understand that the Ai are subject to different physics than the player, but the differences in these classes are currently the most immersion-breaking. Single player races with each of these three classes are broken for various reasons:

• STT Ai having no visual body roll or limitations with the front end on left-hand corners. There's moments where the player vehicle has significantly less grip than the Ai.
• Kartcross often being unable to cleanly finish a lap.
• RX Ai occasionally having formula car levels of downforce and taking "traditional tarmac racing lines" through hairpins and other corners that would require using more slip angle/sliding.
• All RX classes often fail to take joker laps at certain tracks.

I understand that these classes are niche content, but it's a shame to me to have one of the best representations of a crosskart, but between the lack of MP interest in this car and the Ai being barely able to stay on track, the only good experience with this car is solo hotlapping.

2. On the physics side, can the KartCross and RX pace be addressed? I've mentioned before on the forum and on the Reiza Discord that these are breaking real-life track records in monsoon conditions on rain tires.

For reference:
Mattias Ekström - 2016 World RX Final at Hockenheim: 6 laps: 5:41.784
Me - AMS2 Hockenheim RX with Ai's in full storm conditions with a wet track state: 5:12.799
Me - AMS2 Hockenheim RX with Ai's in the dry: 4:58.746

That's a dry condition difference in pace of 114.4%. For contrast, the difference in pace between F1 and IndyCar at COTA in 2019 was 114.9%.


I'm sorry if this isn't the place to bring these up, but all of my previous reports on this topic have been buried in forum clutter. Racing the RX ai is often frustrating given the difference between the player's line and Ai's lines often end in them driving straight into the player (or each other).

 

Is there any plans to fix AI pit stop logic?
I’m doing 90 mile Formula USA Gen 3 races with refueling, and a mandatory pit stop changing all tires.

3 out of 6 races in my custom championship the AI has pitted with 2 or so laps left.

This is ruining the entire experience of longer more tactical races for me.

What can I do to fix this? It’s almost pointless to race knowing I’ll win because they do illogical pit stops.

 

Thanks for the opportunity! I hope my questions do fall under the physics subject:

1. What are your thoughts about having LOW/HIGH settings for ABS and TC? To me they sound a bit redundant and confusing, when there are both settings for that but then also different levels 1-8 or so for example. I understand they are controlling different things, but shouldn't ABS/SC behavior only be affected (more realistically) by the selected numeric level?

2. What do steering and braking assists options exactly do? There has been much controversy about them since the other games that used this engine about how much they can help even pro drivers to gain an advantage by using them (I know some of them do use it) in multiplayer. In any case I would very much like to have an option to make also those disableable in multiplayer.

3. Is draft modeled correctly in the sense that only when you are exaclty behind another car you gain the maximum advantage? Many times I've felt that even if my car is on the other far side of the track than the car ahead (but still very close in terms of time gap), I still get plenty of draft, maybe even the same as if I was right behind (at least in multiplayer). But it might only be my impression of course!

Edit: Ha, apparently I just made it before the temp lock

 

Hello,
here are some of my observations.

-------------------

First video, Indianapolis

00:40 - downloading setup from time trial
01:20 - setup of race, AI skill 105, high aggression
02:10 - loading of setup, start of quali
04:45 - start of quali lap
05:26 - end of quali lap (results not important, just not running from the back - hence no importance to rest of quali times, so skip)
05:47 - loading of race setup, then lowering front downforce to minimum, ducts fully closed (both to be fast on the straights), but boost pressure set to (only) 47% in order to finish a full race without engine failure. this is important as it connects to the problems on the straights later in the video.
07:09 - start of race. lights go off at the same speed it always was. those who have the "old" sound of "beep, beep, beep => GO!" in their ears know exactly when to push the throttle.
09:20 - getting faster out of curve 4, still the car in front drives away on the straight
10:19 - getting faster out of curve 2, still the car in front drives away on the straight
10:40 - getting faster out of curve 4, still the first car of the pack in front drives away on the straight
11:00 - getting faster out of curve 2, still the first car of the pack in front drives away on the straight (despite wind shadow for me)
11:13 - distance Gordon to leader: 13.147 sec, my own distance to leader: 12.593 sec. this results in a difference of 0.554 sec, but direct distance table shows 0.1 sec
12:10 - car in front slower in corners, no chance to overtake here
12:25 - same car in front drives away on the straight
12:55 - double pack in front slow in curve 1
13:23 - car in front clearly slower in curve 4, then runs away on the straight

Notes (most important: b):
a) Random times until lights go green would be nice (07:09)
b) No chance to overtake AI on the long run (several timestamps)
c) Miscalculation / inconsistencies of time distances (11:13)

See also more verbose description here:
Official General AI Comments & Discussion Topic

-------------------

Second video, Monza 10k

01:05 - downloading setup from time trial
01:56 - setup of race, AI skill 120, high aggression
03:01 - skipping training, ugly engine sound remains while skipping in progress
03:20 - loading of setup, start of quali
04:20 and 08:23 - passing on top of bridge, sound is like drving under the bridge (same applies at suzuka as well)
07:00 - start of quali lap
09:04 - finish of quali lap, waiting for quali to end
18:20 - end of quali, AI way too slow

Notes (most important: c):
a) Sound does not reflect 3D situations like bridges. Sound is simply like on a 2D model of the track - every X/Y position on a map can only have one sound, Z-position is ignored (04:20 and 08:23)
b) Uncontrolled noise between sessions (03:01)
c) AI is not competitive (18:20)

See also more verbose description here:
Official General AI Comments & Discussion Topic

-------------------

Third video, Daytona Oval

00:58 - downloading setup from time trial
01:37 - setup of race, AI skill 70, high aggression
02:50 - loading of setup, start of quali
04:48 - start of quali lap
05:25 - end of quali lap, time: 36.1
17:50 - end of quali, pole time: 35.8, own starting position: 12
18:20 - setup of race, AI skill 120, high aggression
19:42 - loading of setup, start of quali
21:46 - start of quali lap
22:22 - end of quali lap, time: 36.1
34:35 - end of quali, pole time: 35.9, own starting position: 13

Note:
a) Quali times of AI barely differ while skill ranges from min to max (17:50 and 34:35) with player times almost exactly equal

See also more verbose description here:
Official General AI Comments & Discussion Topic

-------------------

Smaller issues not on video like clicking setup values twice before value changes or pit settings returning to "default" exactly in that moment when you cross the pit entry line or others come in addition. It took four hours to sum up these videos, so I'll stop here.

I know, these are modded liveries and drivers, but I get the same results with a blank installation - check my forum postings in the AI thread. I just did not want to wipe my whole installation again, which I did some weeks ago to verify my observations. Sorry for that!

Thanks for the opportunity to get in direct touch with the devs.

Hoping for the best and still loving this game,
herakles