When you change drivatar difficulty in the pre-race menu it doesn’t load new drivatars like it in previous versions. It simply updates on the screen and it’s done. Makes me wonder if it’s actually going out and getting any drivatar data at this point or not or just using pre-baked code. This might be related to the fact that the game is new in there is not any data to go with. Or it may be pre-loading a bunch of drivatar data and caching that.
Since there is now a series of races with the same drivers because of the point system. Changing the drivatar difficulty does not allow them to change actual drivatars like it used to. So I have the same group of people in all six races for a race series. I’m wondering as I change drivatar difficulty how it’s adjusting their driving behavior. Previously it would actually go get you drivatars of different performance levels. But now you stay with the same group for an entire race series and it somehow it just their driving.
These things then lead the thought that they must have done a major rework on the drivatar AI. How it behaves must use some combination of driving data that they’re accumulating and then some code system to allow an adjustment to that performance. They could be doing something as simple as reducing horsepower as you reduce drivatar level. From what I’ve noticed, as I reduce drivatar difficulty level, they immediately become slower on the straights. I don’t actually noticed that they drive much differently and I don’t notice that they corner any slower.