I’ve read a lot about AI frustrations, and while I agree with some of the rants I’d also like to pull back for a moment and share my thoughts on what may help some folks out.
TL;DR The AI will happily race you, take a deep breath and race the AI. It’s actually kind of good isn’t it?
So, where to start? I guess I’ll start with my racing setup and importantly, my goals. The reason I start here is because my setup and my goals have led to my observations.
I race with no assists (hardcore leaderboard), full sim damage, against unbeatable AI. I am far, far, from the fastest so certainly not bragging, but I do try. I’d rather win a 7 lap race clean than a 3 lap crash derby .
My overall goal is to finish first in the race. Secondary goals can be a) learning the track with no braking line if I am not as familiar with it, b) ensure that I am at least running competitive lap times against the AI (back to this in a moment), and c) ensure that I can be competitive in a multiplayer lobby (run the track, don’t wreck people, etc.).
I will not (maybe cannot) win every race on unbeatable with my setup. There are a lot of races to run, and if I get to a point where I can consistently run AI lap times and maybe feel in 20 laps I’d get 'em, I’ll turn it down and move on, you know? This might be after learning the track for an hour, 2 hours, more. If I’m competitive, I’m happy. I’ll change the race from standard to long and give it a shot, but I’m not a sadist. Also, I remember one race where the unbeatable AI was running top 10 leaderboard times. I noped out of that.
Enough about me. Let’s talk about cars. I think a lot of folks may look at car and tune choices and get fascinated with the wrong numbers. Specifically, I believe people focus way too much on speed stats when picking their cars/tunes, and new tuners may do the same. Generally and for all intents and purposes I will posit that there are two reasons you should not focus on this stat, those being 1) the track type and more often than not 2) being exaggerated either by a limited tune or plain availability of runway.
Laguna Seca is a great example of a track where your top speed is mostly meaningless. You’re not going to hit it (not talking E class). Handling and acceleration are king here. This may be obvious to many/most, but needs to be noted. Grab a car that can take a turn.
Compare this to a track like Daytona Infield (I forget, but the one w/o the chicane). If your car is not topping out on the back straight, or if you are not generally keeping up with the AI, your car/tune is wrong. Even if the AI have more HP and are cheating, I don’t care. Your car/tune is wrong. I’ll digress here and point out that, from wikipedia, “typical takeoff air speeds for jetliners are in the 130–155 knot range (150–180 mph, 240–285 km/h).” Air resistance is a very real thing. Getting a car past 150 in real life and in the game is more impressive than I think people give credit for. A lot of tunes are never, ever, going to reach their advertised top speed because there isn’t enough track and they don’t have the power or proper gearing, aero, or whatever. This is so much wasted potential that could be put to other uses in the tune. Pick the right car/tune.
Now let’s talk about the AI, and perhaps racing in general. I know that on many races people are racing the AI to the first turn on a 3 lap race, because the AI “cheats”, “rubberbands”, “has more HP”, etc. I know, I get it. I’ve also been on a real race track in a hot car and been passed by a Porsche. He “cheated”. He “had more HP”. He “had better handling”.
Look, in a 7 lap race, I am going to have probably at least 1 bad lap, hopefully 5 average laps, and hopefully at least one great lap where I nailed the track and put up my time. Ideally I run 7 great laps. Doesn’t the AI deserve the same? I mean, do we want a race or do we want AI on rails that runs the same lap time? I think the AI is good here, then again I want to race, not win by a lap.
Philosophically, in a 24 person race, every slot must be filled. So that guy in front of you, in a real race, in a multiplayer race, even against the AI, totally deserves to be there, because the slot must be filled. You can’t just smash into them, same as you can’t shove the guy in front of you out of the way at McDonald’s. Take a deep breath and race. The first turn at Bathurst is not the biggest problem in front of you. Be happy you’re in 10th and not in the wall.
The AI will happily race you. The AI will also block you and do all sorts of shady stuff. The idea is that you need to take advantage of the AI just as in any opponent.
You know the AI is going to try to block you, you know the AI is going to try to keep the inside line. This can be frustrating, but there is another factor that we can use to our advantage. The AI will try to do everything in it’s power to stay on track. If we combine these three factors we can start to properly race the AI and take advantage of the weaknesses instead of focusing on their strengths, because sometimes the AI can’t do all three. He can’t necessarily block you (coming in or coming out or both), take the inside line, and stay on track at the same time. Because the AI wants to be competitive, wants an ideal line, wants to block, and wants to stay on track, it turns out they will happily take the outside line without crashing into you. Sometimes they’ll happily let you take the outside, even let you pass with no grief if they feel they have a good line. Almost like proper racing.
So give the AI a juke or two. Get off the line going into your corners but get back on before ruining it for yourself. Know where the AI will be as much as you know where you are going to be. The AI may “cheat”, but I think most people who are struggling will find that if you stop smashing into them and instead focus on getting them off their line this will be the number one success factor, after choosing the proper car/tune. Let the AI play stupid games, give them stupid prizes.
As an aside, when using sim damage it is important to note that the AI takes damage as well, including tire wear and fuel consumption. Additionally, I’ll be honest with you, if you can’t get through the race without slamming into a wall, you weren’t “really” going to win the race, were you?