Tested G4 MkIII '67 at Portugal GT layout, 10AI
Fuel usage, tyre wear and time scale all normal
Races with fewer than 3 laps AI don't pit. Races with 3,4,5 laps the AI pit with 1 lap to go. 10 lap race AI pit at end of lap 7/8.
Riding on board with AI, only on the 5 and 10 lap races the fuel warning appears when they pit in.
Also, setting fuel usage to off stops the AI pitting on all of the above.
Number of stops set to 0 in setup.
Would it be possible to get the AI to take this into account?
Maybe they could take a similar amount of total fuel that you set, with a small variance in the split between starting and pit fuel, thus dictating their pit windows being around yours.
If you fuel for the whole race they would too, if you don't stop they would go the distance on one set of tyres also, or if you do stop they could react to this and change tyres.
At random some of the cars ahead would dive into the pits because you requested to pit(unless it's for a drive through/stop and go or damage repair), as if the other teams are listening to team radio and copying your strategy(would be great for changing conditions going to wets from slicks or vice versa) or just pitting anyway, then you could always decide to stop a lap or two later to try and undercut them, or be undercut.
If the AI takes into account your options and actions regarding fuel and tyre usage I think it would add an extra layer of balance to races and simply be more fun to run.
Or does any of this already happen? I've not done any long races with AI yet, but I definitely would if I could set them to adopt a similar strategy to myself.
An option to set the consistency of AI lap times would be good(maybe even as simple as setting strength to vary between 2 percentages instead of only picking 1), also with the option to have opponents more or less proficient with tyre management to match your level.