So - I have run several races vs. the AI with both stock ISI content as well as third party content. What I have noticed is that the AI exhibits some behavior that makes it difficult to race against them. I have futzed with the difficulty and aggression sliders to no avail. 1) Racing in an extremely tight pack - The AI seem to all be of exactly the same ability even though the talent file is supposed to make them of varying ability. They race around the track in a tightly clumped pack. If you are in this pack, (say you qualified 5th, for example) you won't be there for long. The AI seems nearly oblivious to your presence and usually punt you off the track by the first corner. They race impossibly close to each other ... one or two feet off the rear bumper of the AI in front of them. They all brake at the same time. No human could perform these maneuvers over and over lap after lap without crashing in to each other (unless choreographed). It looks like one big car running around the track The only viable place for the user is either first or last. In any case, this doesn't make for attractive road racing. Usually by lap 2 or 3 of a road race the field is somewhat spread out. Oval racers should like this behavior, however. 2) Slider inconsistency between mods (ISI content only - I don't expect third-party to be consistent whatsoever) - 25% aggression in formula two does not mean the same thing as 25% aggression in Formula renault 3.5, or ISI Formula Masters for that matter. Clio Cup - 25% aggression - the AI won't even try to pass you - FR3.5 - 25% aggression - AI will crash into you and make stupid passing moves such as attempting to overtake mid-corner (dive bomb) and the like. So ... question - anyone have any pointers as to wether we can fix any of this behavior with ini file tweaks or something, or perhaps some suggestion on where to put the sliders for the best fun?
In rFactor there were many hidden settings in various files that could be tweaked to make the AI better, I took this about as far as it could possibly go in my rFactor days, I made it a lot better but not anywhere near perfect. I have been told that the same settings are available in rFactor 2. A lot of them are in the main ini file, some of them were in the vehicle files as well.
1) Totally agree. 2) I think this will get better as modders understand rF2 better. Have you tried racing at Croft? Holy hell.
see here for all/most of the settings and some explanations: http://isiforums.net/f/showthread.php/12831-The-definitive-AI-Settings-Thread?highlight= as with most things rfactor2, too get the best from the AI you need to tweak. although for me the default with the right mod and track combo is pretty good. currently I'm running my own Megane talent at Essington and having a blast!
Yay! I am going to study that thread because I love AI so much sometimes I just like to spectate their races and pretend I'm watching a real race.
I agree very much with BlaringFiddle5, it' really tough in the middle of a field with AI cars. I did a few races with AI last weekend at Mills (outer loop c), with F-ISI cars. Grip of AI-cars seems to be not affected by realroad so far, so on a green track they are much more competitive. There is also no aero-push for AI, which is one reason for this unrealistic dense crowding in F1 races.
sounds like this setting: AI Limiter="0.25000" // Range: 0.0 (no limiting) - 1.0 (limiting used to make racing closer but also make more driver differences on flat-out tracks) Does as it says, makes racing closer between the entire field of cars or more spread out. To try it out set it to 0.0 and watch an AI race - time accelerate is handy, do NOT just 'Finish Session' as this could have variable results - then note/screenshot the finishing times, exit game and change it to 1.0 and repeat then compare finishing times. Longer tracks/more laps have a greater spread obviously! will possibly help with the big giant pack running around the track together?
My favorite tweak in rF1 was the AITorqueStab value in the HDV file. It makes the AI cars seem less glued to their groove and drive a bit more randomly every lap. But if you reduce it too much, its like they're driving on ice and they will get loose ridiculously easy. You can make some really funny races happen that way.
anyone know how to edit the HDV file? I would be interested in unsticking the AI some as they seem to be unrealistically planted, which breaks the immersion for me.
In rF2 you must use the Mas2.exe utility located Support/Tools and then find the HDV file in one of the car's mas files (located in Installed/Vehicles/<modname>/), extract it, edit in a text editor and then put the edited version back in the mas file. If you have a mod with a lot of different cars (like the GP79 mod for example) then you would need to edit the same file for each individual car as well.
My biggest problem with the AI right now is the fact that is you get close to them they slow down immediately. It is not a challenge to pass at all. This has been an issue on previous GM2 sims but in all honesty I find it much worse in RF2. Also the constant switching of racing lines needs some work. When making a pass the AI seem to randomly try to block you. Good idea in theory but implementation needs improvement. I have some experience tweaking and tuning the AI in GTR2 and rFactor (some of you may know me as vondutch51 over @NoGrip) so I know my way around the various files. I've played around today with a few things but nothing seems to cure that issue. ISI please make this a priority as it makes SP player races kinda pointless. Please improve the code. Then we tinkerers can fine tune things how we want them.
Christian I found a setting called "slowwhenpushed" in the AIW file that seems to improve the AI slowing down around you, at least on ovals. I have to test it more on other kinds of tracks, but at the moment I can't figure out how to get rF2 to stop rejecting my changes files...
I wish there was an aggression multiplier so they get more aggressive as the race goes on. As of now they fight as hard on the first lap as they do the last lap.
