On the Subject of AI - 0.10.0 (A comparison of the AI, before, and now)

Let me just get something out of the way. This game is amazing. Absolutely amazing, there is something about the physics which just feel so much more "alive" than games like rFactor and GTR. Now, onto the AI. I will seperate this into three sections; the Race, the Criticisms, and the Praise.

1 - The Race:

For comparing the AI, I chose my favourite and most used car/track combo. The Abarth 500 (Step1) on Magione.

I started on 13th position (as always) in a field of 18 cars, at 98% difficulty. I have never had an FPS drop with this, it's always been 50+. Each time (6-7 times) I did it in the previous version, I came first, and usually at least one of the AI retired before the end of hte 10 lap race.

I replicated this for the new version. Here are my findings:

2 - The Criticisms:

Well, first and foremost, I don't think the AI do well enough at defending their positions, I had them actually seem to move out of the way for me a couple of times. That said, I only came 5th this time, so they are definitely better. I also think that they should try to overtake each other a bit more.

I had to restart only once, because the AI spun me at the first corner.

3 - The Praise:

Nobody retired!

The AI have a tendency to stick to a good line, without being in a conga. The racing does seem a bit more interesting now.

They are definatily a little harder, as I said, I usually came first, this time I came fifth.

They seem much more aware. Apart from that first incident (which may or may not have been partly my fault) they didn't crash into me at all, apart from a few rear-endings from them braking a little too early, but that's easily avoided by paying more attention.

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Overall, bloody good work, keep the updates coming, we'll have great AI in no time!

Do note, however, I have only played 2 races, each the same, I might try some GT3's later on, and see if anything happens there. I will update this post.