AI controlled drivers - artificial intelligence

[PatientLandBeaver]

I'm really interested in buying AC but I'm a little apprehensive after reading about the terrible AI. Has the developer mentioned they are working on improving it? Is it a top priority for them? Any chance we can expect AI to eventually be close to the levels in GSCE or R3E ?

[cyclicbug]

For AI this was a first time for Kunos in developing AI, and it went through a lot of tweaking during early access and came on a long way.

As it stands at the moment, it seems to suit a certain band of player skill, for example I can have some pretty close racing ai at 92% as I am pressuring the AI and making some overtakes ( even they don't seem to try themselves ) and they react well to me making my way through the pack.

But I showed a friend Assetto the other evening and he was really getting into hot lapping so to show him what a race would feel like we added a full field of AI, set at the lowest 80% setting in GT3 class cars and started him mid field, but as he was not on pace the cars behind pretty much stayed there, they looked like they were lining up for overtakes but they never tried to make the pass, except on one bend where he went very wide and lost all his speed, and then only one came through, so for the 3 laps they just bunched up behind him, it didn't make for a very exciting or lively race for him.

So I think your experience of the AI with AC at the moment will vary according to your skill level, but from past experience of Kunos I fully expect a fully fun AI to be coming sometime soon...

[Fluttering]

Escrito originalmente por PatientLandBeaver:

I'm really interested in buying AC but I'm a little apprehensive after reading about the terrible AI. Has the developer mentioned they are working on improving it? Is it a top priority for them? Any chance we can expect AI to eventually be close to the levels in GSCE or R3E ?

The AI isn't as bad as people make it out to be.

The AI has excellent pace, but it will more often than not stick to that driving line.
That means you must be skilled to reach the top spots, but the AI behind you won't attack much, if at all, provided you stay in a correct driving line.

[PatientLandBeaver]

Thanks everyone for all of the feedback regarding the AI, very helpful! I went ahead and purchased AC, played for a few hours last night, Race, practice mode, AI set to 90%, Imola, with the awesome Ferrari 599XX.

I love the feel of the cars and physics and the replays, just amazing. The suspension movement and the way the cars react is incredible.

Regarding the AI, I agree it needs work but it's great to hear they are actively working on it! I found I could keep pace with them but there are one or two turns where they brake too early allowing for an easy pass (I also set ABS to factory just to make sure I wasn't getting any advantage).

On straights they will pull away even with slipstream set to...5x! (actually it seems like the slipstream modifier doesn't have much affect at all). So it seems they are not using the same settings as the human drivers. I used the 599XX since there are no tuning settings that would affect top end speed (gears, downforce adjustments etc) so ALL cars should be even. The other issue is that they are afraid to pass or pull around slower cars, so you get the train effect going around the track, especially if you start adding slower cars to the AI field!

I also just purchased Project Cars so I'm sure I'll be busy playing each of these games for quite some time!

[PatientLandBeaver]

Escrito originalmente por Slowpoke McGee:

The head programmer is actively working on the AI. His twitter indicates he fixed a problem with the AI's using the wrong tires during qualifying of races, and mentioned other improvements as well.

This sounds like a twitter feed I should follow! What is his twitter account name?

[Shred]

They are working on it, and it's been patched already. AI still is a weak point. AI can drive fast laps, but it's not very good *racer*. It doesn't defend a position nor fight for a position. When you overtake, AI tends to become passive and just stay behind you (unless you really screw up). Until that point its hard, cos they are really fast on highest difficulty. They also may ram you like maniacs, if you are too slow and get into their racing line. But it's better than it was, they actually may brake sometimes, if they are about to hit you.

[Michael]

Escrito originalmente por Shred:

AI can drive fast laps

I don't want to be contrary, but the AI are not currently fast. e.g The RSR laps are usually well ahead and, as others note, on any particularly track there's usually a corner or 2 where they are trivially beaten.

They'll be faster than many (perhaps most) players - and, if you set up a race where you're at the back of the grid and chasing them down then you don't really want them to be fast anyway but they aren't particularly fast now.

Looks like they are actively working on that though from Stefano's latest tweets.

On paper the AI should work out better than other games once Kunos get them driving well simply because it uses the same physics. Rather than fudging things and giving you sliders where the AI goes to "120%"

Whether the average gamer looking to race for fun will care about the difference is questionable perhaps, but I think having AI that actually drive the same car as you, using the same controls is as significant as the handling being realistic rather than simcade.

That said, when I see the developer, in response to a question about whether the AI will ever overtake a slower class car saying "no and probably never will, ppl should work with the software not against it." ?!? It doesn't bode well. Maybe that's just emotion / frustration speaking.

Neither does the later response "I'll definitely look into it.but multiclass pass is different because it assumes knowledge about the opponent car" which makes it sound like the AI design is flawed to begin with.

I think the ultimate problem is : AI is a difficult problem. I'm pretty sure Stefano said it's much harder than he expected it to be. The game needs lots of other updates and fixes too competing for the same programmer's time.

So it perhaps should have a dedicated programmer - someone who is an expert in doing AI rather than someone who is obviously excellent at car physics and handling, but who didn't even grok how difficult the problem would be when he started coding AI and now has to divide his time between fixing it and doing all the other additions, changes and improvements.

That other guy would leave Stefano to do other stuff. Now he will do some stuff to improve it, but he'll run out of time and perhaps the AI choose different tyres for qualifying, but they'll still suck at what actually matters to players.

Or, worse, he'll act like he is now telling people that they should workaround bugs and that wanting the AI overtake slower class cars in a racing game is asking too much of the software! (sheesh)

https://twitter.com/KunosStefano/status/600859968795901952

[MezzerliptikJay]

Thought id just put in some input as a fan of Racing sims and as someone who finally took the plunge to get the game, The A.I do need some work with the overtaking side of things, ive also noticed that if i set the A.I to a higher difficulty much higher than my skill level they have abit of trouble overtaking me if i slow down to let them past, its almost like there too courteous towards the player and need to have more "fight" programmed into them imo