Please, Codemasters, give us an AI Catch-up toggle.

[Faldrath]

Otherwise things like these will keep on happening.

Take a look at dear old Arron Westley's best lap here. That's weird, isn't it? The thing is (and I'm annoyed I forgot to screenshot that): Westley actually spun out in the beginning of the race. He was dead last, and from what I could see in the mini-map, at least 5s behind everyone else. And yet he finished 2nd, with that ridiculous best lap time.

Here it is, in bold: this sort of thing kills single-player for me, and I bet for a bunch of other people as well. What it tells me is this: it really doesn't matter what actually happens in the race, Ravenwest will almost always manage to erase it.

Note that I said "for me". I'm fully aware that some people like this sort of AI, that it makes it more challenging for them, etc. And that's fine. But there are people like me don't like to race a "super-human" AI.

Can't you just offer us a toggle on the difficulty settings? One option for the current AI with catch-up, and another for a slightly modified AI file where this doesn't happen? Granted, I don't know how much actual work this would take, but it doesn't sound like an outlandish request, and it would pretty much fix the main problem with single-player in what is otherwise a pretty good game.

Give your users more options, not less, Codemasters. Please. Thank you for reading.

[forza-jordan]

This only happens in the touring car catagory. In every other catagory, you can run right away from them.

Or, at least, this was the case for me.

[RockBinkie]

Another example here: http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/574525103375836191/CC20BEDD4FCCA986F30A8DF25FFAA7AD5B198767/

Happens every damn race... no point in trying for the fastest lap.

[Pixelsmack]

Oh man this crap has been going on since their firsty F1 game.

[TamoDogo]

i loved the first game to bits, despised the second game, and decided to come on the forums to see if this is worth buying

this is an instant turn off. one of the most frustrating things any racing game can do is make the race biased and extremely unfair, completely ruins the fun and balance of the game.

think ill keep my £30 on my bank card than throw it away on another dissapointment by codemasters

[Faldrath]

Originally posted by forza-jordan:

This only happens in the touring car catagory. In every other catagory, you can run right away from them.

Or, at least, this was the case for me.

I think the issue is simply much worse for TCs - I agree that you can run away from them easily in, say, Open Wheel, but I'm yet to see a Ravenwest car finish lower than 6th on any race, even when they're involved in accidents. I think my initial point stands.

There are two related issues, but slightly minor: first, that race best laps are faster than qualifying ones for almost all the AI. This is bad, and should be fixed.

Second, that there's never any change in the balance of power as the career progresses. Ravenwest is always the strongest team, Oakley always the weakest, etc. I understand this is probably a conscious design decision, since career mode's main goal supposedly is to drive for Ravenwest. And that's ok. But I'd really like a toggle to randomize AI strength to make races less predictable.

Repeating my game design mantra: "give your users more options, not less, please". :)

[Cynical Cheese Cake]

Originally posted by Night Fury:

i loved the first game to bits, despised the second game, and decided to come on the forums to see if this is worth buying

this is an instant turn off. one of the most frustrating things any racing game can do is make the race biased and extremely unfair, completely ruins the fun and balance of the game.

think ill keep my £30 on my bank card than throw it away on another dissapointment by codemasters

To be hoenst, it isnt as bad as people made it to be but I still despise the whole Ravenwest catchup AI. If you are decent at driving on the right difficulty, Ravenwest isnt that bad but the catchup is fairly obvious unless you destroy their car.

I had one race where a Ravenwest car was stuck on the slope because of severe engine damage. That felt so good. Serves them well for being a bunch of cheaters.

[Faldrath]

Oh yeah, don't get me wrong, this is a much, much, much better game than Grid2, and probably even than Grid1. It's just sad to see that it could be even better with just a few tweaks (on single-player, at least. Multiplayer seems to be a more thorny issue).