I only aim for the AI. You smoke them and your team has a beter chance to win 
Hm thats not how racing works normally ;D
Hmm… maybe it’s just me but I feel like AI aggression ramps up to match that of the drivers. Races where everyone drives clean the AI seems to race clean. Races where everyone is bombing the AI the AI is bombing everyone. I don’t know IF that is what is happening or if it’s just an impression. Maybe it’s just that the races where the AI aren’t super aggro to begin with allow the team to race clean and still do well.
Either way, race clean if at all possible. The “AI” you’re aiming for might be a team mate, or the one you smoke might take out a team mate, or you might just miss entirely.
The best tactic is to ram the Ai, they can’t ram you back if they are way behind you. To make sure you don’t ram a team mate look at your position to see if a red car is behind you, or not. Block a red car, but avoid a blue car.
When I’m driving really fast into a corner I would appreciate if other cars could get out of my way.
Hitting AI also slows you down. I try to race as clean as possible so I can drive as fast as possible.
You have to slow down on bends anyway, so hit them on a bend, and you don’t have to slow down.
Just attempted a Trial. 3 team members dropped out. We’re in 3-5 with me in the middle. Teammate decides he wants to move up one and unnecessarily knocks me outside a checkpoint. Result - we lose. I quit before race 2 because I don’t want to be part of that kind of team. Why can’t people drive as a team?
“I love my teammates, I love my teammates” 
On my next attempt, I saw the worst result of someone taking a corner too fast ever in a Trial. Thankfully I was aware of what was coming up and stayed clear of the carnage. Near the first hard left on Festival Gatecrash with 6 cars on the team. Everyone is somehow still bunched up (even after the first hard right). A car takes the turn before the bridge too fast and all five of my teammates and just one AI go crashing into the river. They had no chance of recovering. I tried to slow down the AI for a while but they were all still at 100 points with too much empty space between them and the next AI when looking back on the mini map.
Thankfully two drivers quit before the second race and the team goes on to win the Trial despite losing Festival Gatecrash.
After another 4 weeks of Trials here is my wish list of things we could easily relay to people before they attempt the Trial.
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Do other Co-op racing first. If you cannot function well as a team member in Horizon Tour, you have will not be a good team member in the Trial.
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Do some regular race events on the map on Highly Skilled - Unbeatable difficulty. If you cannot perform moderately well on your own in these difficulty ratings, you will not do well in the Trial.
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Do you research before doing a given season’s Trial. What tracks are there? What is the weather and daylight conditions? What cars are eligible and what are some good tunes? YouTube videos start appearing within a few hours of the start of the season.
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If you are not a seasoned driver, practice in your car and tune on the courses that are included in the Trial. Don’t just assume that you can follow the blue line and do well in a car and tune that you haven’t used before.
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It is a team event, not an individual race. Your goal is to help the team score points. That might mean:
5.a. Be willing to let teammates pass you. Blocking them may prevent them from catching up to and passing AI. If they cannot pass AI, your team gets less points.
5.b. If your team has already lost a race and is losing the current one and you are near the back of the pack, you can help your team win by quitting the race. It is true that you will not get credit for the win if the team goes on to win, but you wouldn’t get credit for a win if your lack of points causes the team to lose.
5.c. If you are a skilled driver, there is a temptation to just finish first. But remember, this is a team sport. Look at the point spread. If the team is doing well, feel free to go for a best time. If your team is losing and it looks like some team members are close to AI, you can help your team by slowing down and blocking the AI. This can allow team members to catch up to and pass AI giving your team more points. It is better to slow down and end up in 3rd with the team winning than to barrel ahead and finish 1st with the team losing.
5.d. Limit revenge crashing. It can be very tempting to repay someone for what appears to be intentional crashing into you. Doing so, although perhaps cathectic, will likely hurt the greater team. If you record your Trial attempts and see blatant wrecking by a teammate, you can report them for violating the rules. -
Practice good driving technique:
6.a. There is potential for a lot of bumping and crashing at the start of the race. Try to race as cleanly as possible, letting teammates pass if they appear to be better than you.
6.b. Be aware of approaching sharp turns and your speed. Brake ahead of time so you can make the turn cleanly without hurting your race or your teammates’ race. Do not just go full speed into a corner and hope that the wall or other cars will slow you down.
6.c. Know that hitting the AI can cause the AI to wreck into your teammates. While the AI may be forced out of your way, it may result in your teammate hitting a tree, barrier, or missing a checkpoint which can end up hurting you and the team.
6.d. If there are water crossings on the route, you will be slowed down less if you cross at the narrowest point.
6.e. Limit your drift turns if a teammate is nearby. Drift turns look cool but they take up a lot of the turn and slow down your teammates. You can turn just as efficiently with proper braking, throttle control, and driving lines.
6.f. When approaching a curve or turn and a teammate is on the inside beside you, do not try to cut the turn close to the inside. Doing so can result in your teammate missing a checkpoint or failing to make the turn.
6.g. Be alert. The AI can do the wildest things imaginable that might cause you to crash. It is not uncommon for AI to suddenly turn hard into human players causing them to go flying off course.
You should hit the Ai as often as possible, it’s the best winning strategy. I mean if you are still giving advice after 4 weeks ago you are doing something wrong yourself, because the trials the last 4 weeks have been OK.
The Trials may have been alright and I’ve done Ready, Set, Focus a lot (dozens of times this weekend). But just because a Trial is easier to do, doesn’t mean that teammates are better. Hitting the AI can be helpful in some circumstances but I still have teammates who hit AI into me or into other teammates. For example, on the first race. Shortly after the first hard right turn, going past the all the buildings me on the right, teammate on the far left and AI between us. The teammate does a hard hit into the AI which causes the AI to hit me which pushes me against the buildings where I hit some protruding steps and come to a complete halt. Everyone passes me by and by the end of the race I could only climb back up to 5th and the team loses by 400 pts. I could have gotten us another 600 if the teammate hadn’t ruined my race by hitting the AI right then.
It has also been speculated that the AI imitate real player actions with the thought that the more we hit AI in these races, the more that the AI will engage in aggressive hitting.
I personally race as clean as possible. Assuming I have a good team and no runaway AI, I can pretty regularly get 1st on the first two races in this week’s Trial 75% of the time. There is no need to hit the AI if you can drive well and it often doesn’t really impact their race. Cause them to get turned around in a corner, they immediately go the right way and are back to speed in no time. Knock them outside a checkpoint and they just drive back onto the course with no need to go back and get the checkpoint.
So even if you can argue that there are times when it is beneficial to hitting an AI, you cannot make a good reason why my point in the things to know is wrong. I did not say “do not hit AI”. I said to be aware that hitting AI can result in a teammate being impacted which can negatively impact the team. That is a fact that Trial players need to be aware of. In other words, if you are someone who feels the need to hit AI, don’t do it the circumstances might result in a teammate being hit,
If this were a race with 6 humans racing as individuals against 6 AI and the other humans, the consequences to others wouldn’t be as much of a concern to you as a driver because it actually helps you. But the Trial is a team event.
Sorry to say, but too often “Trial” means racing against AI and also against so called teammates.
Because I helped a friend with the trial this weekend I had lots of tries to win at least.
Very annoying: Almost every race had one or two teamplayers with stock 660 PI Focus in the grid. No wonder, these were the players ending P11 and P12.
Instead of bailing out and returning with a proper 700 PI Focus they stayed in race, which resulted in guaranteed loss of the race.
I even quit one of these races being on P1, because it was wasting time. Finally, after six or so failures, I was in a team of five (all 700 PI cars) with a comfortable win first race.
But during second race there was a mass collision and we all screwed up with a devastating 700 points only race loss.
Third race was an easy win with the usual runaway drivatar, but a compact and focussed (sorry for that) team on P2 - P6.
So the two simple rules are:
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Be prepared and start the Trial with a properly tuned car.
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If you messed up the race and are last: you can help your team by quitting Trial before the race is over. The team might do better without you.
Thanks
Or do what I’ve done twice over the weekend, race normally so you’re in the 500 point bracket, get up to near the finishing line and slow down or stop. Giving a huge last minute points swing to the AI so your so called team mates who bash you in to every corner have to go through the whole thing again.
I even got the added bonus of abusive language in a message yesterday which was reported and the person will cop a ban.
You bash me in to corners, I’ll exact my revenge much harder and do my best to waste another 15 minutes of your time.
My pleasure.
I’ve done that too with totally ungrateful team mates too, got right close to the finishing line and just stopped, letting all the Ai past. lol
Honestly, i have never had problems on Trials. I just outpace any of my “teammates” in the start and i even block AI if i notice my team is too slow. When you consistently beat “Unbeatable” AI in regular races, the trial really doesn’t give much of a challenge.