Limited Aggression on or off, lowest difficulty or highest, this is the most garbage AI I have ever seen in a racing game. The main campaign is practically unplayable when I keep getting pitted by a car on rails because it feels like occupying the same space as me for no appreciable reason. I watch them crash into each other at the beginning of races, drive into walls for no reason, cut into the back of cars on the proper line because they don’t know how to be off that line for more than two femtoseconds.
Seriously, between this and the fact that FH4 is literally unplayable because it crashes every ten minutes, it’s a wonder anyone still pays money for these games.
[Mod Edit - Abbreviated profanity, profanity and profanity that is disguised but still alludes to the words are not permitted - D]
Since the release of the game (I bought the ultimate edition), I had no problems with the AI at all. I usually played on Professional/Unbeatable with long races duration and I managed to get clean and good racing against the drivatars. Just some caution to not be in their lines. I nearly completed the Forza Cup (first round, didn’t unlocked the second round yet).
BUT, last week I tried to advance a bit more on the completion since a break of two or three months and I found that they were ramming me with no reason, in braking zones, etc. They didn’t do that before.
Maybe they tried to fix something in a recent update and mess the things up?
It’s possible, but I’ve been pretty aware of it since the beginning. I, too, have the ultimate edition, and have been playing off and on from the start. I just had two races back to back together though that illustrate my point.
First race, track I’d never driven on before, I’m around the pack in about 30 seconds, with a couple little nudges, then I’m history. End up lapping half the field in a 15 lap race.
The next race, in the exact same car, with the exact same difficulty settings, on a track I am familiar with, the AI is bouncing all over the place, punting each other, punting me, and has now magically become incredibly fast. I chased the first place car for two laps before finally being able to make a move.
Next race, back in front almost immediately, for my 15 minute pleasure cruise with no drama at all. It doesn’t make sense.
The worst part, though, is if you get caught up with one of them and they push you off the track, they’ll just keep pushing and pushing and make it impossible to recover. That’s the most frustrating thing. I’ve been pushed sideways into walls so many times.
I have been playing exclusively on unbeatable difficulty, but AI has nothing to do with the name Drivatars (and it’s concept), except the names of AI. Since we are restricted by homologation, it’s bizzare that AI can brake those rules, as they get more power then what the regulation states (as they are much faster on straits in the came car). this is most apparent in SEBRING 300 showcase (at least they should allow us to tune Ford GT40).
When using Unbeatable, if you are consistent, you will catch them by the last 2 laps (on long races), which means that AI is slowing down each lap.
It isn’t that the AI is too fast or impossible to beat, it’s that it has absolutely no awareness of the cars around it. It will happily cut across the track and ram you into a wall, or spin you out, or otherwise damage your car, even though you should be clearly visible to it. It is the most frustrating experience.
And to the guy that said this is the best AI in racing games? That’s the best joke I’ve heard in a while.
Exactly this. I’ve been playing racing games since Pitstop II on the C64 (and “driving” ones since Night Driver on the VIC-20). I don’t recall many other games, or any in the last 15 years, with AI that will so blindly try to drive through another car. There are also wonderful details, present since FM4 at least, like the AI’s response to another car being right on its tail through a corner is to brake; you can see from replays that AI cars that aren’t being tailed brake less mid-corner. It’s almost as though the AI dev team are deliberately trolling us at times.
I’m optimistic that the planned AI revamp will improve things; it’s the first time I can recall that there’s been any admission that there’s an AI problem. Some things would seem relatively easy logic problems (eg hold position on track when contact at the side is detected instead of pushing for preferred line) but the real test is going to be whether they can get drivatars to take corners without needing to stop for directions part way around.
One of the T10 guys (and no, I can’t remember who it was or where it was said) has stated that they consider deliberate contact to be part of “close racing”, so I expect we’re pretty much stuck with Chick Hicks forever.
That’s my hope, as well. If they can get the AI to actually turn in a fast lap (without resorting to grip and power multiplier shenanigans), it’d go a long way towards mitigating the “close racing” that happens in every braking zone.
I really hope you’ve misunderstood or misremembered that. If T10 genuinely have the idea that “close racing” is behaviour that would get you black flagged at every event I’ve ever been to then I’d need to rethink my idea that they’re serious car guys with good intentions.
Christ alive.
Every race is like a 90s BTCC crash compilation. Each race.
Like, yeah, you get rubbing - in touring cars. The occasional bump and scrape, right? But the AI just drive like you’re not even there. I’ve had them spin me round several times and it is so obnoxious. This is also in open wheelers where it is even more silly.
I know the purpose is to try and recreate the experience of playing with real people, but maybe recreating Forza online is a bad idea.
Maybe I’m a rare one but the AI is nearly perfect for me. In fact at times I’ve had to drop the difficulty from unbeatable to pro just to come in the top 5. It also depends on the division, slower cars I’m better at coming in the top 3 or 5 but race type cars I’m usually in the middle of the pack fighting my way up. Now occasionally they do some silly things like drive off the track or stop and pile up near a turn but driving wise I rarely have issues with them.
I ran a 10 lap race last night around the full Silverstone with full damage on in the Forza GT class with the AI set to unbeatable. I had Limit Aggression set to off and no rewinds. No assists except for braking line so I didn’t bottle it and end up in the shadow realm. I drove the McLaren #60. I started in 14th out of 24 and finished 4th. I had no problems with the AI being aware of where I was. At most there was a little disagreement with the 4th place Viper where we had a little light contact on lap 8 but that was due more to my fault and diminishing tire grip than the AI. I backed off like I would in an online race, but the Viper was also having grip issues and eventually lost it on the next turn giving me 4th. 1st through 3rd were long gone. At least the AI doesn’t brake check in the middle of a straight like they did in F2 - F5. Bump drafting in Forza is simply asking for trouble… even in MP.
Good for you. You had a lucky race. I’ve been punted more times than I can count, regardless of difficulty, regardless of the aggression settings. The AI is broken.
Last night I did another race at Sebring. 12 laps Forza GT class. While I didn’t get punted once, I will agree that the AI is quite broken. What I find most irritating is the rubberbanding, especially on the Unbeatable setting. I don’t expect to win, but I would like the AI to behave sort of realistically. I had a 1300 ft lead for 7th because the AI car behind me got into a disagreement with another AI car and smacked the wall. Okay, fine. I thought I could finally start making some time by taking some decent lines… This was at the start of the long straight. By the end of that straight that car was 150 ft behind. By the end of the start/finish straight it was 20 ft behind again. What happened? Did they suddenly get a 1000 hp engine dropped in? Back to fighting for position and driving defensively while the leaders pulled away. Did I mention I had full damage turned on and that particular Ferrari suffered no damage? I watch the names in the box so I know. The AI cheats. A few went into the pits for repairs but 22nd - 24th place on lap 1 as if that mattered.
In the november edition of the Forza Monthly show, Chris Esaki stated that work is being done on the A.I. Will take time but the goal is to make the “Unbeatable A.I” basically as quick as top level Forza RC players, which would be great. Of course that doesn’t adress their overall awareness and behaviour but that should fix their odd tendencies to brake in the middle of corners…
The AI is quite shockingly bad in this series and the fact that it hasn’t changed is a testament to how lazy Forza games are. The lack of qualifying also means you get to fight a whole field of them before you’re fighting someone your own speed (yay!).
I think the AI has definitely improved from FM6 but it still has quite a way to go.
AI is extremely difficult to implement, and especially in a racing game where the decisions are extremely quick and a majority of the decisions are based on experience and awareness (2 things that even the most advanced AI seriously lack in comparison to humans). In most games, the AI making a bad decision only affects how well they perform, meaning it’s just an easier AI to beat. But in racing games, a bad AI makes the game more difficult for everyone, because their bad decisions can cause a domino effect of trouble.
Turn 1 is still a crash fest. I don’t know if it’s the number of cars on the track or the lack of awareness (probably both), but so many punts and sideswipes in the first turn is ridiculous.
There are times when the AI makes a poor decision and rams me, but it doesn’t happen every single time. It’s almost like the AI is trying to play chicken and in a desperate attempt to win, it will purposefully ram me. I remember one time I was wheel to wheel with the AI and as we were coming up on the turn, I look over and see the AI turning in. I knew it wasn’t going to give me space and I braced for impact. Sure enough, it swerved right into me rather than staying in the lane. I find this type of behavior the most annoying because in any racing series, this would be a pretty clear flag. But in Forza, it isn’t addressed at all.
As for the brake checking, I just learn to give the AI some space. Whenever a braking zone or a sharp apex is coming up, I back off a bit because there is a 50% they’re going to tap the brakes and catch me off guard. Realistic for professional drivers? No. Realistic for online play? Very.
They provide good racing when you act sensible, but they also lack skill and require artificial boosts to clock good lap times. They also tend to exact revenge on you if you hit them.
I think Drivatars are at their worst in Free Play, where you only get low-tier randies who obviously lack skill and do everything we frown upon in online racing. Limit Aggression tones their behavior down a bit but can’t make up for their lack of etiquette and racecraft.
