So I have suspected that Forza Horizon 2 on the Xbox One has catch up for the AI, but I only recently proved it. I was using an Alfa Romeo 4C with a top speed, according to the dyno, of 156 mph Mt accelaration stat is 8.6. In several of the long straightaways in the Forza Horizon 2 finale I was noticing that my car was struggling to reach top speed, which it shouldn’t. Then I began to noticed my speed would go down in the straights, sometimes ducking from 151 to 141 mph. The AI would proceed to fly by me at blinding speeds, I have to either try to catch up (which at the end of this race I’d prefer not to rush) or rewind at cut them off to prevent this.
Thing is, I see people on this forum claim there is no rubberbanding from the AI, but this is bogus. There totally is. So I now feel there must be a way to turn it off is some people are not experiencing this. If not, then I can only say I feel Forza Horizon 2 is lower of a game than I though for using Rubberbanding on its AI. Also, i’m on the hardest difficulty, AI only keeps up with me because of the catch up in the straights.
EDIT: I also tested my cars top speed, it did not have a problem reaching its top speed of 156 mph on the same straight highway road from the finale, so I am now convinced the AI has catch up. Very disappointed, players should be rewarded for being fast, not penalized.
I can confirm there’s rubberbanding in 360 version, but it’s generally much more bearable than in Mario Kart or Need For Speed. The only time it really pissed me off is in Hypercars divisions when I was racing in a Laferrari. I was trying a race in normal, and the AI would still fly by while slaloming as if it was drunk. The worse is once it’s ahead of you, you’re pretty much done for the race. In lower classes, it’s a piece of cake even in the highest difficulty.
I think it’s a terminology thing and people jumping to conclusions.
What is rubberbanding/catchup – in my view it is a system whereby the AI are programmed to scale their performance (in real time) to ensure they are always on your rear bumper or always aiming to get back to that position.
This does occur in my opinion in the Showcase events and it is shown in its purest form in race based faction missions in The Crew where there are always 2 AI that finish a race within a second or two of you.
It is my view that rubberbanding / catchup is not present in normal races in FH2. The AI do not scale their performance in real time to ensure they are hassling you for the lead.
What I do think is happening is something I will call scaled performance that is based on the difficulty level you choose and not your performance in the race and it ignores the cars correct stats.
It is possible to put in a bad race in FH2 and lose by a long way. It is also possible to put in a blinder and absolutely destroy unbeatable AI – therefore there is not a solid catchup engine unless it has an outer limit eg maybe if you get 10 seconds in front it stops trying.
All I know is it is possible to win normal races by 20+ seconds on unbeatable AI.
So if it is there, how is it possible to turn it off? Get faster.
Overall it is my belief that there is not rubberbanding as I call it, just that the AI cars defy their stats in an attempt to put in a lap time that may challenge you but is not based on your performance.
I tend to agree with your catch up theory. I have seen in from the other side as well.
If I am behind AI vehicles, but stay close enough, the AI cars will often make dumb mistakes going around curves, etc, and I am able to catch up and pass them. This happens up to about the 90% mark.
However, if I manage to get too far behind (and I tend to agree with your 10 second hypothesis), then no matter what I do, I cannot catch the leaders and I will be defeated by a good margin.
I have seen this occur in a good number of races. It can occur in any of the AI difficulty settings from Average to Unbeatable.
Not sure I agree with any form of lap-matching honestly, etc… If you’re faster than the AI you should simply be rewarded by winning the race, rather than having the AI fly by at unreasonably faster speeds just because the game wants you to lose more. I often pull away big time in more twisty sections of the track so the fact that the game penalizes me just for being quick I think is unreasonable. The “get faster” logic is something that I also find rather unreasonable. I have the AI set to unbeatable and all assists turned off. I have it this way to maximize the XP and Credits I earn and, as stated before, consistently destroy the AI in corners. If the answer is to lower my rewards so I can enjoy the racing without this annoying feature I simply cannot accept it. This again goes back to my previous statement: Players should not be penalized for being fast. It seems like backwards logic to penalize someone for doing good.
I think you misunderstand what I suggest is happening.
You are being penalized for your difficulty selection not for being fast in the current race.
It is not catching up to your current pace, it is simply running at its pace for unbeatable and is therefore going faster on the straights than those cars usually go.
But difficulty setting is not just there to give you credits, it is there to make the races harder to win. You are being challenged due to asking for the challenge.
EDIT: also the traditional catchup (which in my opinion this is not) is there to provide a challenging rather than boring game. It has its purpose. FH2 does not have cars catchiung up to your pace though, they are runnig their pace for the difficulty you choose and simply defy the car’s stats in order to do that.
EDIT 2: unbeatable should be that hard that sometimes you lose. It is not fast enough in my opinion.
I think there is some sort of manipulation going on, I’ve seen cars on long straights have sudden bursts of speed and also sudded drop offs and not at the kind of speeds where a car may top out. I don’t think it’s like the GT series rubber banding effect but deffo some manipulation no matter what difficulty lever you choose to race at.
Do you believe it is dependent on how you are going in that particular race?
I believe it isn’t.
I am not denying that a car in the AI hands can defy the car’s stats but given the varying margins of victory and defeat I have had I do not believe the AI is being guided by your performance in the race. If it is, it is possible to break the rubber band by being really bad or really good.
No I don’t think it’s dependant on how a person is doing in a race, last time I noticed this I was under full acceleration when I noticed this odd behaviour of the AI with their sudden increase or drop off in their speed. The rubber banding from GT was more about the AI being helped in relation to how far they was behind you, where as it looks to me like its very random this drop of or increase in a drivatars driving.
it’s a shame we cannot have our own drivatars in the same race this would really show up any manipulation by the game.
Next time I run a race and one of the drivatars is also one of my faster friends I might follow them to see if the drivatar races the way I know they can race.
If you have trouble just turn the difficulty down. I doubt there’s rubber banding as they would then slow then and allow you to catch up; which they dont.
There are some weird stuff going with the AI. In high S2/X class, the AI suddently outrun you, even on easy mode. It was like that in the FH too. I wouldn’t call it rubberbanding because the AI doesn’t slow down when it’s ahead of you. It just continues to race with intensity. Rubberbanding truely happens in showdown races. Those events are scripted so you win by a slight margin. Moreover, the slower your car is, the easier it is to build a big lead throughout the race.
Like Eduardo has said the AI cars do not perform the way their stats say they should - and the big difference is their straight line speed is much higher than the stats allow (has been in the Forza series for some time and appears to be a way to counteract the fact we as humans can corner and run lines the AI just cannot).
I doubt the biggest factor is their straight line speed. I saw the AI catching me up while slalom skiing in events with a lot of turns. They just have almost everything more than what the stats would allow them. More grip, more acceleration, but terrible braking. With that said, rubberbanding scripts are no more different. The only difference is it tries to keep up without going for insane leads.
With pure rubberbanding you could not win the event by more than a second.
As it is now it is possible to beat the AI by large margins.
Technically rubberbanding ie AI performance based on your performance in the race can not exist along with difficulty options as the difficulty options would have no bearing.
You took out this phrase out of context. I said the AI in X class isn’t different as an activated rubberbanding script as in the AI gets better stats than it should.
I see it differently - I have asked for unbeatable drivatars. I could not care less where they are quick as long as they put up a challenge. I don’t care if they are driving an Alfa 4C that is running like a Venom. It gets the job done of providing the challenge.
I would also find it boring if it was always the Venom beating me on the straights and always the Alfa beating me in the corners.
To me the AI are getting an artificial boost so they can run the pace needed to match the difficulty I ask for. There is only a handful of drivers who can set really quick times in this game WITHOUT TUNING. Unless the AI is to be as skileld as those drivers then when they are runnign without tunes the cars with normal stats can not run unbeatable lap times. They have to “cheat” somewhere.
If people pick unbeatable expect a tough challenge. If they are quick on the straights the beat them in the turns.
At the end of the day if you can not beat unbeatable drivatars then either get quicker or lower the difficulty. That is what the difficulty is there for. It is not there to hand out credits. it is there to set the difficulty of the race.
Mind you, I only played the 360 version, so I never played with tuning. Still, I never tuned cars in any Forza game, yet almost never had issues beating the AI in the hardest difficulties. However, forcing the AI to take advantage of artificial boosting, being damage free, and being able to skip checkpoints just to challenge me is not enjoyable because of obvious cheats.
I’m all for challenges as long as it is fair. Unfortunately, it rarely happens in videogames.
I’ve noticed a bit of rubberbanding, particularly in the finale events, but it isn’t nearly as bad as other games like NFS or the dreaded Mario Kart.
SatNite has it right, though, I think: unlike those other games, there seems to be an “upper limit” to the shennanigans the drivatars can pull in FH2. If you go fast enough, it won’t matter.
Also, don’t be afraid to cut ‘em off. If you see the 2nd place drivatar pulling the ol’ “got me an extra 100 bhp” stunt on a straight, get in front of him as he goes to pass. If you time it right he WILL brake.
I’ve only just started playing this one (four races into it now), and I do think there is at least some rubberbanding, because I can never seem to get really really far ahead (more than like 5 seconds) in front of my opponents no matter how well I drive. So far, it hasn’t been a problem. Hopefully it won’t get worse as I take on more difficult races. I haven’t messed with the difficulty settings - it’s still on normal difficulty. But I may have to try and dumb down the A.I. or something later, see if that works.