I know I remember hearing about (before studio 397) that rFactor2 would be getting upgraded AI for stockcars. I really wish this were the case still. I love rFactor2, I have 500 hours on steam playing the game, but I can NEVER get around how bad the AI are for stockcars. It made me join leagues because I craved being able to run stockcars on the game. I was really hoping that Studio-397 was still working on this project... It's kind of a deal breaker for me at this point. The physics? Pretty damn good. The tracks? Pretty great, some are hit or miss, but that's community related issues (sometimes). But the AI is where this game TRULY lacks for stockcar racing. It's extremely frustrating to have to work around the AI, whether they be slow, or whether they're just the right pace but they slam the brakes and run down the track and slam into you, breaking your immersion. Please, anyone, someone, fix this stockcar AI.
Also, to rebump adding in a few cents of knowledge... NASCAR Racing 2003 Season is a great game to try to model after, in terms of AI and how to make them behave. It was a "recording lap" feature. Basically, you would run a lap in a certain "mode" for the game that would record where you went on the track. It would create an LP file (lap-profile) when you were done with the lap. It would allow you to have a main racing line, alternate racing line, etc. This is a good model to use. It would take away a lot of glitching issues with the cars almost flipping over if they hit a bump in the track the wrong way.
That 'recording lap' feature is what track makers do when making AI lines for their tracks. But instead of replaying that, the game uses the car's physics and some AI logic to drive the car (using some physics approximating the behaviour of the player car - quality depends on mod) so that instead of gliding over bumps slightly off the recorded line, they have to deal with them the same way you do. If AI cars are almost flipping over it would suggest something hasn't been set up right. But that's not really for you, the end-user, to deal with. Of course there is much progress to be made, and hopefully it does happen. So don't take this as saying that everything is fine - I'm just saying that old model has been superseded, but making it more complex allows for more to go wrong as well as for it to work better if done right.
The AI can be good or bad depending on different things. One of them is the AIW. Take a look to this thread https://forum.studio-397.com/index.php?threads/track-aiws.64102/
" Please work on AI for stock cars..." I will not allow myself to criticize the wishes of other users, especially in this part of the forum. But frankly, this wish is far too specific and so I do not think it is a priority. There is a big part of the simracers which are above all offline simracers. All simracers must be taken into account, whether offline or online. Nevertheless, the only urgent request, really urgent that one can make on this subject, without going into too specific requests, is simply to improve as much as possible the offline (and online) experience, ie in Much of it greatly enhances AI and other elements that contribute to a good offline experience. And of course, although I personally do not care, it should improve the online experience ....... but S397 efforts on this subject have been huge and continue to be. So my wish would be less reductive : Just significantly improve the AI in the majority of situations so that all users of rF2 are satisfied (online + offline). This would have the effect of greatly improving the experience for stockcar racing too, and everyone would be happy.
no AI issues are being worked on at this time. At best they are compiling a list of issues, but NO work is addressing AI/Offline/single player racing until after the UI and comp systems are reworked. Since the UI itself is at least two years overdue, you can make your own assumptions as to a timeline.
With respect, I wouldn't expect any update for quite some time (possibly two or three years). The last 'excuse' we had was that the AI programmer was tied up with the grand tour game. Obviously that released some time ago now and yet, nothing..
They should to hire some good coder to fix what already is built in game regarding AI. That shouldn't be that difficult since AI was much better one day, without all these glitches in FCY, the erratic brake-throttle-brake-throttle to adjust their corner speed amongst a long list of bad coding.
They could probably do that, but then, at some point, some rather intensive testing would be necessary. Do you pull the testers off of the UI or Competition projects? Do you add another unknown number of testers and increase the cost of each improvement by 10 fold? Will be willing to purchase the next car pack with a price at least double the released prices of current carsets? Would you pay thirty or forty dollars for one track? Would you see the UI delayed again and again while those 'simple' AI fixes bog down any progress?
Hire a good coder to make easy code? Why to waste money? Ironic mode off Are you telling that S397 developers are bad?
If you don't have nothing to add to the very AI subject, please go to some thread that may interest you. Or keep taking sand to the beach saying the AI is AIW dependant. Good wishes!
https://forum.studio-397.com/index.php?threads/please-work-on-ai-for-stock-cars.64324/#post-1003808 Then, you could begin adding something to the very AI subject.