Official General AI Comments & Discussion Topic

As I am into AMS 2 since the days of early access, I know how those artificial drivers act on track.

The only thing you can do when being new to the game, is to have training sessions with AI and study their way of driving on each and every track you wanna have a race on.
There are some track/car-combinations where they do not act as rude as in others. Especially when driving open wheelers, you gotta be extremely careful when the opponents are near, because they tend to hang up into your tyres when forcing their way through.

 

Anyone else feel like the collision boxes get "stuck" when racing against AI? I've noticed that when rubbing panels with an AI car I seem to lose control, not in the sense that I spin but I can't "free" myself from the other car. Another example is when I was nudging the AI in front it's as if he had a magnet on his rear end and we both overshot the corner by a long way, it's a bit weird.

 

That's inherited from the engine, I remember PC1 being particularly bad in the magnetic cars. Here it seems to vary between cars, the group C seem to be more believable while the open wheelers do get stuck a fair bit.

 

I think I'm noticing it a lot more now than previously as the AI are more racey than they ever have been, a trade off perhaps but still something to keep an eye on.

 

I have really dived into racing ai since 1.5 update but having issues.

I have to run 120 and max aggression otherwise with some setup tweaks come qually I'm always fastest.

My testing has solely been done on the formula classes and races have been 40 - 50 laps.

All cars I test the AI pace is quite erratic during a race. They tend to go really slow at points. I thought was solely to do with tyre wear but seems kind of scripted as well. Always around 12 laps they drop off for a lap or 2 before regaining pace.

I am much slower in the race with full fuel than qually. So I qually very high but then due to fuel in the race I am nowhere for first few laps as very heavy.

Can't race in changeable conditions as when really wet on 120 the AI have loads of grip.

The formula V10 gen 1 AI is quite slow on all tracks and at some tracks in the race they just spin. Good example cops and maggots Silverstone 2001..

AI is terrible at starting. I have to back off and just retain position otherwise.

AI gets stuck behind traffic easily and doesn't make bold moves to get past. This means races can easily be ruined as leaders just go at back marker pace and get stuck.

They back off in straight or in exit of corner. Ai should overtake me, but it's overly cautious on corner exits.

Due to pit slots I presume in my 91 championship as it only has 25 pits it removed Nigel, yes Nigel, from the race.

Mud in just off racing line. I do 90 min practice and quite long races and there is always a visible dirt trail around the track just off line

When the pace is right I am having good battles and enjoying it but at the moment is difficult to get a balanced experience.

Any help or advice on how to improve any of the points above would be appreciated

 

As you mentioned Nigel I assume you are using custom AI? If so see if the blue flag behavior of all cars is at 1.0, if not make sure it is so, it will help in getting the backmarkers out of the way. Still the AI will get stuck on some tracks, Silverstone being one of the worst offenders.

The mud is unfortunately inevitable, it's a very nice feature but because the AI like to go off road on some places when behind other cars, they create that dirt trail, it would be a good idea if Reiza could at least make it an on/off option while they fine tune the AI.

About removing drivers, as far as I know the number of participants is set while creating the championship, maybe that changed now that most tracks have a higher opponent count, but I haven't had that issue before. A track override can replace the driver but not remove him from the race.

The AI is always slower on the opening lap in almost every racing game I have played, nothing new there.

If you are on pole at every race at 120% I am afraid you are just too good for the game, so unless Reiza ups the speed of the AI, you are out of luck. Try to race with the default setup maybe?

The AI while very good in avoiding contact with the player, is overly cautious because of that, I have had some very good battles with them, but they do back off from some very advantageous positions.
AI vs AI, well it's the complete opposite depending on the track and class, sometimes it's very good other times not so good, they barge against each other and give up on clear overtakes, been like that for a while now. The devs are aware, very much still a work in progress.

Racing in changeable conditions has improved quite a bit, but as you wrote, it can be hit or miss depending on the track and class, what I do when the AI has too much grip is simply even the odds a bit and turn TC on in the assists, I can deal with the shame .

I love the game and the AI when good is among the best, but right now in races where there are pits stops to change tires, refuel, etc, it can be a very random experience one race to the next.

That's why I am taking my sweet time doing vintage seasons with the Juniors, F-Vintages and the Retros, much less variables and the racing has been top notch. Hopefully by the time I am done with the Retros, Reiza has managed to at least fix the issues with the AI tire wear and fuel loads, which IMHO are the most urgent features to fix to make the racing in the F-Classics and above more enjoyable in long races.

Fingers crossed

 

• Car / Track used: Silverstone Historic 2001
• AI Strength setting: 95%
• Corner (if issue is corner specific): Luffield -> Woodcote
• AI Aggression setting: Low
• Session Distance: 14 laps
• Weather when the issue was observed: Light cloud, clearing to full sun
• Player Tyre: Default set up
• AI Tyre (if known to be different from player): Default set up
• Type of session when the issue was observed (practice / quali / race): Race
• AI cars: Formula V10 Gen2 / Porsche 911 RSR 74 / MINI Cooper S 1965 (separate races!)
• My car: as above (separate races!)
• Version: Current public build

All 3 AI cars are quite slow (relative to rest of circuit) through Luffield and the Mini and Porsche seem to have one foot on the brake right through Woodcote.

 

AI in Automobilista 2 has trouble with sausage kerbs. They often take too much kerb and end up flipping over.
Race settings in this video: Caterham Academy, Nurburgring GP, 30 minutes, dry weather, 23 AI opponents (6 of them retired after taking too much kerb and flipping over), AI difficulty at 100, AI aggression at max.

 

I feel exactly the same, this effect seems a lot more pronounced in 1.5.

 

I have to ask, are you making a supposition or have you tested it?

I haven't driven open wheels a lot, but I did a GT1 race last weekend and despite using custom AI with the <blue_flag_conceding>1.00</blue_flag_conceding> tag in every one of them, the blue flag behavior was terrible. The leaders get stuck behind slower cars a lot more than they should.

For me, this could be one of the most urgent features to be fixed for longer races, as I think it ruins them more than full fuel/tyre wear aspects (though they are important too).

On the bright side, to be fair, there was a variety of strategies going on; some AI would double stint tyres, but not all of them, quite interesting.

 

No matter what you set in blue flag conceding, the AI does just not give way for faster cars coming from behind to lap them. In combination with AI's general problem with overtaking, the faster cars can be stuck behind backmarkers for a long time.

 

Tested with the F-Junior and F-Vintages, as I wrote, some tracks are worse than others. Cool about the AI using different strategies in the GT1 class, in the Formula classes they all tend to run the same strategies.

 

Did a test with the current AI, 20 minute Brazil Stock Car 21 race at modern Interlagos while observing their moves and in the end compared their finishing positions to where they started.

Passes between drivers happened mainly in the midfield, backmarkers making no passes between each other and the top 5 had barely any changes or only were having back and forth in the same corners against each other.

One of the biggest issues i saw was turn 1 of Interlagos, not a single driver tried to defend the inside of corner entry, and if there was a driver following closely he would ALWAYS attempt a pass and in about 90% of the time managed to get ahead, only rarely did the car on the outside stay ahead.

The left hand turn after the Senna S also had occasions of passing, but no other corner had the AI make a move, they always hesitated even when from a player perspective it felt like there was a big enough opening to take a reasonably safe chance and drive side-by-side.

This was 120 difficulty and Maximum aggression.
I will do some more test.

 

Race Craft Online rain race on Termas Rio Hondo with P2 class. 2x human drivers 9x AI drivers. The AI drove times and race line like on dry track.

 

@JavierZumaeta
↑
do you have a link to this video?? sounds amazing, haha!

edit looking back it was not from last,
10th to 1st so edited previous post! (memory fails me lol)
Need. More. Videos! C'mon guys!

 

Not sure if this problem has been posted before but i haven't seen it yet. Formula usa 2023 AI are all using the P2P every lap on every straight at start of the race. They were down to 0% before the end of lap 10 at Road America. The same at Laguna Seca but they use it a little less as the straights are not as long. Is there a way to disable the P2P as it is a bit pointless at the minute or is there a fix planned?

These cars are bloody brilliant by the way. Really enjoying the sim at the minute.

 

In this car class in your video (Retro Gen 3), there are turbos and non-turbos, the latter being MUCH slower and without any chance on fast tracks. The AI which goes from 10 to 1 has only one opponent with turbo engine in front at start, which crawls behind slow ones at the beginning .

On tracks with shorter straights, the AI with fast cars and high values within a custom AI file still have problems with overtaking in a proper way.

 

Thanks, good spot.
Maybe run the test again now 1 yr later at another track.

 

The AI adjustments for F-USA variants on ovals in 1.5.0.5 are looking decent in terms of car positioning, behaviour and spread after a couple of runs, but they're still much too slow. The draft doesn't seem to affect them, they're not running competitive top speeds and I'll still pull away handily from the pack at 120% at Fontana/Daytona. I believe the draft isn't being calculated as many of their best laps will be identical times.

Private qualifying hasn't been implemented either - I can still see the shadows of AI cars and even catch the draft off them in the session. Not sure if this happens online too. To be a viable option for oval racing, you will need to specify the number of laps available and not just session duration. Seems unlikely this was tested at all before release.

 

• Track: Ibarra
• Car: various (eg. P3s, Old Stock)
  
• Session Distance: various
• Version: 1.5.0.5
• Pertinent setting: Mandatory pit stop

Some AI cars slow down noticeably (using their brakes) as they cross the start finish line on some laps. It seems to happen only with mandatory pit stop set to On.