I can’t work out how to use this topic selection thing but hope someone can help !
I been playing FM (8) since early release. All great until a few days ago. I suddenly found that A I cars in career mode were disappearing into the distance. Only the lead car or sometimes 2nd too. So, I kept a check & the winning car was over 5 seconds ahead on lap 1, won race by 35 seconds. It’s not like I’m going slow, I came 2nd place & was 6 seconds ahead of 3rd place car. This is happening on more & more tracks now. I even tried putting difficulty right down low but same thing happened ; it seems like this isn’t how things should be working? Any helpful comments, suggestions etc very much appreciated. Thanks 
- You don’t need to win every race.
- Having a car at top of a class helps as, most of the time ai will not put PI past your class.
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you have to set the AI really low, even at 4 this happens, at 3 it happens too but only for half a lap then they calm back down. Horizon 5 AI at its best.
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Also if you finding 8 on collions on is too easy, try collions off as 8 on is about as hard as 5-6 with collions off.
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Thanks for the comments and suggestions. I know I don’t need to win every race & it’s highly unlikely with my skill level lol. I have tried putting the difficulty down to 1 & had easiest track Rules but still one or two cars are 20 - 35 seconds ahead after 5 Laps, usually they are 5 plus seconds ahead on first lap! I’ve never had this in any other Forza game - and the fact that I’m finishing 5 seconds ahead of the nearest car means the winner is like 40-45 seconds ahead over 5 laps, which just seems wrong? I’ll keep trying though, thanks again
When you run practice laps are your times competitive to the top 3. If theyre not and youre at a similiar pi rating youre just not fast enough. Theres also the factor of where youre starting, if you start in p12 and match the 1st place guys time, youre not going to catch him because he has a head start. So to come in first you either need to start closer or be faster its as simple as that.
Sometimes the car youre using can also be at a disadvantage, this is why the carxp thing is bad because by the time you find out youve already wasted time.
I have yet to see actual runaway drivatars, like in motorsprt 7 for me sometimes the lead ai was posting times faster than the top players on the leaderboard, literally unbeatable.
All i can say is that the data is available to you ie lap times to know for the most part where youll stack up. You then can raise or lower difficulty as well as choose your place on the grid. You can also tune your car when you have the available parts to do so. The odds are a lot more in your favor than the ai’s.
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At Difficulty Levels 7 or 8, they are most definitely there. It’s one of the reasons I ended up kicking things back down to 6 - I got tired of dealing with the other AI’s crap and watching the lead cars pretty much time-warp their way down the track.
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I dunno ive yet to see any crazy lap times. Like i said though if in practice you are equal too or even slightly quicker than the lead ai, youre going to have to start closer. If you lose any time getting through the field the guy in front is going to pull away and you cant catch them in a 3 lap race. They don’t deviate from their practice times if anything they’re slower.
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Since you can rerun a race after it completes I believe try to run a race at all the difficulties one through eight with yourself in the front most starting position and see how the game behaves. You might find some interesting information about it and that will help you pick better starting spots and difficulty levels.
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I’m sorry, but to be honest, if you’re having trouble hanging with lap times at level 1 or 2 difficulty, it’s your driver skill that needs to improve.
I know that’s harsh… but it’s the truth.
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Thank you for this. Yes, in practice I’m almost always compatible with too 3; In free play I’m fine and have ventured into multiplayers and coming 2nd - 6th with reasonable time gaps. In career I continue to have this almost ‘fast forward’ thing with AI cars for the lead car, often 2nd car & sometimes 3rd car. I always finish 3rd or 4th, sometimes 2nd but only a couple 1st places even on easiest levels. I’ve tried starting as far up grid as can but the lead car just goes into warp drive & effs off in the first half lap! It just do frustrating lol. Oddly, when I put it to hardest level the results are the same? I just don’t get it, although I understand the issue of maybe not having the right car for certain tracks; which is why I don’t get why they lick us into one car for the particular series. Cheers
I get why you might say that but I can assure you it’s not. I am fine in free play and do pretty well in multiplayer. Been playing racing games for decades (I’m 64) & quite willing to admit my failings. I get same results on low levels as on top levels; so on 7 & 8 I get 3rd or 4th and on 2 or 3 I get same results? That just doesn’t make sense to me and would suggest it’s not just my crap driving lol
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That would be legit confusing
Like i said i havent seen any runaway drivatar situations, not calling anyone a liar but havent witnessed this like i have in the past. As far as being comparable to the top 3, are you faster slower the same. If youre slower than p1, than thats that, if youre the same then the first few turns depending on the track can lead to a 2-3 second gap even without having much issues getting past 2 or 3, they have a head start and just maintain it. If thats the case you need to be a second a lap faster, when you do practice laps make sure you can consistently hit that mark, if you cant you might have a hard time winning.
As far as changing difficulties, are they posting the same times on different difficulties or just a similiar result occurs. If thats the case maybe youre driving is inconsistent, or a little on the timid side. My suggestion is to be as aggressive as possible at the start, im not saying to wreck them, but take aggressive lines, they will concede 90% of the time. Ive basically just used grip tunes against the ai for this exact reason so i can take any line i need to to pass them.
Obviously different tracks favor certain builds, some cars no matter what the build just aren’t competitive, sometimes they may only be competitive in a certain class. Theres many variables, but all i can say is stick with it, learn the quirks, the metas as these kids call it and youll consistently beat the ai.
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I just wish the AI would stop trying to brake check me randomly during the race.
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I haven’t seen anything I’d call egregious either. The podium cars in the real world are almost always several seconds ahead of the main field too. When cars are fighting each other for positions it makes them slower, when you get a good start off the bat and don’t have to deal with any of that you can run fast laps and run away from the field. That’s just how racing is.
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Thanks to everyone for comments and suggestions. I’ve tried everything and noted that in practice I’m around 2-3 seconds faster than any AI in most races, but still coming 2nd or 3rd, 25 - 30+ seconds behind 1st place but often up to 25 seconds ahead of nxt car. It seems unreasonable and unrealistic but I guess that’s it. A friend asked about automatic or manual & that might make some difference? I use automatic as my hands are knackered lol with arthritis and too much rock climbing and I just can’t use the up down gear buttons effectively, but I doubt it would make that much difference. Again, it’s interesting that results are same on easiest & hardest levels regardless of the track rules. I won’t bore you guys with this any longer and hope you all enjoy the game. Now I’m wondering what happens when you finish career and if you can restart it to use the other cars? Take care all, cheers
What place are you starting because to be 2-3 seconds faster consistently you should be catching the lead car pretty quickly even if starting last.
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Agreed!
The one thing I can think of is that if you’re not within top 4-5 by lap 3, you might have trouble catching 1st place if the race is only 5 or 6 laps.
If you’re unable to stay out of the way of the other AI and are striving to be clean, you might be sacrificing too much time per lap.
A couple hints that I’ve found to be useful:
- Whenever I’m picking my starting position, I try to ensure that I’m on the inside of turn one, unless it is a long sweeper kind of turn 1 (grand oak is a good example). The AI pretty much never uses 100% throttle, this means that 90% of the time, if you get a good launch, you’re going to be able to gain a lot of positions at the very start. Like if you start in 24th… on the right track, you could easily be near 14th-12th as you enter turn 1.
2: The AI never use 100% braking either, so 90% of the time, you’ll be able to put brake them into any turn. So, if you’re behind them, you can anticipate their braking. Move to either the outside or inside of them and the moment they begin braking, start braking yourself. By the simple fact of reaction time, unless it’s someplace like the mulsanne straight, you’ll easily have time for a late turn in and you’ll be able to gain positions.
3: Be ready to utilize an alternate driving line! THIS is huge! The AI hold to the “suggested racing line” like a fat kid holds their Halloween candy! So, if you’re in heavy traffic, you can anticipate a traffic jam at the apex. One of a couple things will happen, they’ll probably be two wide and they’ll absolutely try to park it on the apex (ie, brake heavily almost where they should be getting back in the gas). So, if you go on and swing wide, anticipating a chain reaction of brake lights, you’ll be able to sail past many of them as they make a conga line.
4: The AI treats the tracks limits like a cliff and will never hang a wheel over the edge. As far as your concerned, so long as you have a pixel of tire within the track limits you’ll not risk being off track. This is especially helpful on tracks with a lot of pavement outside the track limit… I’m thinking silverstone in some places, mugello, maple valley, grand oak, Nurgberging, etc. Especially on starts, abuse the track limits like you wear a wife beater t-shirt!
5: DRAFT… but don’t bump draft… the second the AI feels a bump, they’ll likely brake.
6: The AI have bi-polar reaction times… it seems to take a second before they realize your beside them, but once they do, they way over adjust to try to avoid you. So, moving beside them as you enter a corner can very often disrupt their turn-in point… they’ll either turn-in despite you being there, or they’ll sail off track because they wouldn’t anticipate the need for earlier braking because you’re there.
7: ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS, adjust your fuel!!! During practice I always set my fuel to show one lap more than the race length is. Very often, there’s like 2-3 ticks of percentage points that will show the same number of laps. I’ve toyed with being on the last tick of the same number of laps as the length of the race. When I’ve done this, I’ll often pace P1 for a couple laps watching their braking points, turn-in points and how they run out of corners. Staying in their draft allows you to save fuel. It also allows you to plan your overtake for the perfect finish.
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