Official General AI Comments & Discussion Topic

Since videos are worth more than words @TomLehockySVK

(videos are unlisted BTW, it can be shared in the wild but aren´t really meant to be promotional material so keep that in mind).

 

Just so you can have some glimmer of hope from this exchange Pesto there has been one idea that has popped over the last couple of days and which we could (and probably will) do for V1.7.X...

Typically I am resistant to offering too many in-game AI configurations options, as just like with FFB options they almost invite users to mess with things before they thoroughly understand what they do, and as a result they often end up at a worse place than they would be if they had just left things at reasonably crafted defaults; I know reading this may make power users (who might very well know what they are doing) tear their hair in desperation, but even they are probably aware the majority of users are not like them; we often get a significant percentage of users busting up support channels purely from failing to digest important release notes and in-game help texts... Besides I feel that is often delegating a job that should primarily be done by the developer; you shouldn´t be required to mess with a wall of levers, sliders and buttons in order to get a decent race.

With that said and aknowledging the wide range of skillsets, approaches and expectations our users have, we ought to try balance that design ethos with a suitable amount of customization options so everyone has enough in hand to adjust the game to their needs in order get a good experience from it, without going so far it becomes overwhelming to use it; some of you will already be aware we plan to offer AI Traction and AI Brake Skill scalars, similar to the AI Wet Skill scalars so that they can adjust the AI performance specifically for corner entry and exit; that should be done in time for V1.7. The other new option we could add to that is splitting the AI Aggression settting, so that AI vs AI is decoupled from AI vs Player with separate options for each - the latter perhaps with a wider range of incremental step to allow users to better fine tune the racing experience and ensure the AI is giving them enough of a margin, and not have that make the AI vs AI racing become too tame (which is what might happen now if you set the overall AI Aggresion to Low).

This would most likely present you with a setting that could save you from the hits in videos 1 & 2 without necessarily compromising the racing experience around you; do keep in mind it could also make the AI a bit more tentative to race you and occasionally back out even in cases you think it shouldn´t; those choices and compromises will always have to be made so long as run races in which a major speed discrepancy between you and the AI can occur.

This is why we are always working on that end of things as well as we are aware some AI performance envelope discrepancies still exist in certain classes / tracks / corners / conditions, and those are exacerbated at more extreme AI Skill settings (the bottom 10% or top 5% of the range); the human in the loop likewise isn´t always Mr. Consistency themselves though as much as we all like to think we are if for some reason that human driver goes much slower into a corner than the AI expects us to, or opens up a gap that is then suddenly closed that can always be a trigger for trouble the AI can´t quite avoid.

 

If the AI is close enough for an overtaking routine to start , it will stay on the inside even if the car ahead moves back, both to keep its nose in clean air and to keep the car ahead worried, much like an actual driver would IRL (it wouldn´t tuck back behind the car ahead just as both are going into a hard braking zone); If the AI car behind is not close enough for an overtaking routine to start then it will indeed move back to the racing line.

It can be gamed too (as one could IRL if no-one in Race Control is giving out penalties for all the zig-zagging) but you´d be surprised how easy it is to get outsmarted by the AI in that scenario if you are looking at your mirrors too much

This of course is a 1-on-1 scenario; the dynamics will be different when there are more cars in the mix as then the AI will also be reacting to the car(s) behind and not just to the one(s) ahead.