AI Difficulty

[nascarnik]

Just bought the game and wanted to know if 19 has the swings in AI difficulty from track to track like 18 did or if they are less pronounced. Also if the AI is harder and easier compared to 18 as well. by that i mean does a 2019 level 75 AI race better on Australia than a 2018 level 75 AI on Australia. Hope that makes sense.

[N I C K]

im on 102 % difficulty and its definitely better ,they will try to squeeze you and block you if you want to overtake

[Big Poppa Shmee]

I'd say compared to 2018 its a bit harder. I modified the game the same way both times for my williams play through. Gave them a ridiculous engine that ate a lot of fuel, so it was balanced as it could only use full power for maybe 15% of the race. In Australia the 2018 car managed 2nd, but the same engine in the 2019 car could only manage 5th, I was quite far off the leaders.

I usually player at 94-100 difficulty. I started at 100, began in F2, and the first 2 decisions were not my initial choices. The difficulty was so high and the Ai so fast, I literally could do nothing except let my teammate pass, he was too fast to defend from, and the penalty I would consider insurmountable at that difficulty except for the best of the best drivers. The race itself, I actually had to tone down the difficulty from 100 to 94, as any small mistake was punished so severely I couldn't keep up with the cars in front.

I still remember the ridiculous Ai in Catalunya Spain from F1 2012. It was absurd. I played every race in F1 2018 and didn't notice any huge spikes in difficulty. I'm only on my 3rd race for 2019, will be awhile since I play full length races. I'd say do some round 1 qualifying. Start higher than you normally would. If you aren't satisfied, go to the main menu and reload and whilst its loading adjust the ai down incrementally to where its still providing a nice challenge for you but where you aren't totally out of your league either.

[Waggy]

Their speed seems only a little bit harder but not much (10 difficulty points difference for me so far). The general behavior, though, is MUCH BETTER. They defend the inside, they attack you aggressively, but they can also become pressured and make a braking mistake locking up, so the races are much more exciting.

I never had to fight so much for a position against the AI as I'm doing now, it's much more fun.

I don't think people advanced in the career enough yet to give you an answer about consistency. I'm playing on 25% race length and the damn practice program resource points take as long as the race so it will take a while.

[nascarnik]

Originally posted by SecretlyaFish:

I usually player at 94-100 difficulty. I started at 100, began in F2, and the first 2 decisions were not my initial choices. The difficulty was so high and the Ai so fast, I literally could do nothing except let my teammate pass, he was too fast to defend from, and the penalty I would consider insurmountable at that difficulty except for the best of the best drivers. The race itself, I actually had to tone down the difficulty from 100 to 94, as any small mistake was punished so severely I couldn't keep up with the cars in front.

I still remember the ridiculous Ai in Catalunya Spain from F1 2012. It was absurd. I played every race in F1 2018 and didn't notice any huge spikes in difficulty. I'm only on my 3rd race for 2019, will be awhile since I play full length races. I'd say do some round 1 qualifying. Start higher than you normally would. If you aren't satisfied, go to the main menu and reload and whilst its loading adjust the ai down incrementally to where its still providing a nice challenge for you but where you aren't totally out of your league either.

I played 18 at around 75 (i use a controller but one of these days im getting a wheel) for the most part. i would change it after the practices to get it calibrated to my teammate. some i had to put a little higher but Baku and Monaco were a little bit rougher. had to drop the AI down around 10 points just to keep up with them. from what ive read about the topic on the street courses the AI seemed to be more difficult than an equivalent leveled AI on most the other courses in the game.

Im kinda surprised that any game hasnt come up with a setting in the game to have the AI calibrated to your skill level based on your lap times. like for example have a practice program (maybe even incorporate it into the track acclimatization program) where you run 5 laps and at the end of it the game takes your average lap time and finds the AI setting that puts your teamate within a certain timeframe of you. I say do it as a practice program because the AI performs better or worse depending on the track even if it is only slightly so that it gets calibrated on a track by track basis. And you can make the whole thing a toggleable setting so that if someone just wants to run it at a set level they can.

I did find it a real pain when i wouldnt get the AI right in 18. I raced with the Williams cause i wanted to see if i could take them back to the top. Australia was decent finished around 17th or so. Got to Bahrain and was so quick compared to the AI that i ended up finishing in 6th. I dont think of that as too realistic considering i was running in the Williams. China was fine Baku sucked getting that right. didnt matter anyway cause Baku and Monaco are a pain with a controller. so much so that i just simulated both those races. Spain was alright but then i got to canada and got the AI drastically wrong. my teammate beat me by 50 seconds. I just sucks trying to get the AI right. I just want to be able to leave it at a set level and not have to worry about running to the front of the field in a car that should be a backmarker and then in the next race getting so outpaced by my teammate that i might as well not even both running the race.

[Josh]

Don't have 2019 yet but I'm guessing the AI track to track difficulty is roughly the same as in 2016. 2016 it took me almost 200 hours of practice to understand the proper way to drive these cars and also the tracks. I find the AI difficulty from track to track is almost the same. You mentioned that Australia your race pace was fine with the car you were driving but in Bahrain you were too fast?. Have you ever thought your setups/familiarity with Australia wasn't that great?..did you fully find your car's limit and also your skill limit in Australia?. In 2016 after testing Australia it took me over 300 laps to find the limits of my car, where I couldn't go any faster no matter how much I tweaked my setups....Spain prolly even more laps. 2016 doesn't have % AI so I managed to find Expert AI to be perfect for all tracks with no assist in cockpit with a wheel. So my guess is the tracks you arent up to speeds with the AI you aren't taking the proper lines or carrying the correct speeds through corners. Watch replays of the AI in practice sessions...learn their lines and breaking points and gear changes. Early in learning 2016 I made the mistake of using random people's setups without fully understanding what they mean so i did my own. For example changing my aero from 7-6 to 8-7 I was able to go a second faster and subtle changes to my Camber and break pressure knocked another second off. So yeah that's my advice 😁

[bedegeln]

The AI seems to be more aggressive this time, although I've only finished 1 race in career mode 100% distance so I can't really tell.

In terms of overall difficulty, I played on 90 difficulty in 2018 and it was my sweet spot, and now in 2019 I'm currently at 80 but I'm overachieving (5th place in a Toro Rosso) so I guess it's similar.

[Big Poppa Shmee]

Originally posted by nascarnik:

snip

You need to realize though that both Baku and Monoco, and I guess Singapore as well are very difficult tracks to get right. Monoco is very tight so you can crash pretty easily driving at speed. Baku its a bit easier not to crash but because its got so many long straights any mistakes made on corner exit compound over the entire lap. Biggest thing with Baku is never touch a curb you can avoid. There are a few curbs you're required to hit, but besides them, never touch the other ones, brake deep, and accelerate at the apex or coast and accelerate just past it. You need to take a few corners a little wider than usual too, to avoid the curbs which will ruin the corner exit. I've been racing the Monoco track since gran turismo 3, so for me, Baku is a lot more difficult to actually get a fast lap on. Monoco is simply easier to crash, but getting a fast lap is easier there for me.

I don't think it really has anything to do with the Ai being faster there, simply, they are tracks that are very difficult to master, they are far less forgiving than other tracks are with less room for error and less places to make up lost time. It more has to do with driver ability. Really give the tracks some practice. Baku is probably my favorite track to drive now after putting so much practice into it. Singapore overall is probably the most difficult track for me to drive fast. I don't like the track even though its beautiful and there's just so many ways to ♥♥♥♥ up your lap there.

Just take the L's on the tracks you aren't good on and practice and get better. At 75 Ai level you should be able to pull wins quite nicely with near equal cars. As for the difficulty thing, Ai is one of the most complex things someone can design, with so many things able to go wrong. Having that slider there where you can choose the Ai level is already pretty good, but having a huge comprehensive change with settings etc, would be a big nightmare for developers and could also lead to unintended consequences depending on what values get changed and if that affects or compounds another value, etc. Then people would be complaining that their ai is stupid or it doesn't work right and blah blah. Its best for now to just keep it simple.

[Sterling Archer]

^ honestly, a great post

[Migz]

AI is much faster and better at racing in general (attacking, defending, divebomb, wheel to wheel etc..) Was playing 105-107 in 2018, now playing 101.

[jedsuspect]

Originally posted by nascarnik:

Just bought the game and wanted to know if 19 has the swings in AI difficulty from track to track like 18 did or if they are less pronounced. Also if the AI is harder and easier compared to 18 as well. by that i mean does a 2019 level 75 AI race better on Australia than a 2018 level 75 AI on Australia. Hope that makes sense.

I've been debating on whether to get the game but after watching someone play on the ps4 for days now and the AI seems very brainless on 50 difficulty. It will just veer into you when it follows the line and in close quarters show no regard to your car and every time they hit you the player gets a warning and possible penalized. Factor in that this is on 50 diff. and the AI cars seldom have an accident or break down in career mode. I would think the AI would be ver important to the success of the simulation.

And it's not an inexpensive game. I love F1 but spening 60 dollars at the ps store just doesn't seem worth it.

[N I C K]

Originally posted by SecretlyaFish:

Originally posted by nascarnik:

snip

You need to realize though that both Baku and Monoco, and I guess Singapore as well are very difficult tracks to get right. Monoco is very tight so you can crash pretty easily driving at speed. Baku its a bit easier not to crash but because its got so many long straights any mistakes made on corner exit compound over the entire lap. Biggest thing with Baku is never touch a curb you can avoid. There are a few curbs you're required to hit, but besides them, never touch the other ones, brake deep, and accelerate at the apex or coast and accelerate just past it. You need to take a few corners a little wider than usual too, to avoid the curbs which will ruin the corner exit. I've been racing the Monoco track since gran turismo 3, so for me, Baku is a lot more difficult to actually get a fast lap on. Monoco is simply easier to crash, but getting a fast lap is easier there for me.

I don't think it really has anything to do with the Ai being faster there, simply, they are tracks that are very difficult to master, they are far less forgiving than other tracks are with less room for error and less places to make up lost time. It more has to do with driver ability. Really give the tracks some practice. Baku is probably my favorite track to drive now after putting so much practice into it. Singapore overall is probably the most difficult track for me to drive fast. I don't like the track even though its beautiful and there's just so many ways to ♥♥♥♥ up your lap there.

Just take the L's on the tracks you aren't good on and practice and get better. At 75 Ai level you should be able to pull wins quite nicely with near equal cars. As for the difficulty thing, Ai is one of the most complex things someone can design, with so many things able to go wrong. Having that slider there where you can choose the Ai level is already pretty good, but having a huge comprehensive change with settings etc, would be a big nightmare for developers and could also lead to unintended consequences depending on what values get changed and if that affects or compounds another value, etc. Then people would be complaining that their ai is stupid or it doesn't work right and blah blah. Its best for now to just keep it simple.

Still struggling in baku,still try to find where i lose my pace theres certain corners that slow me down ,as a renault i only can get 15th place in qualy with 1.39.890 im on 103 % diff btw