I’ve just tried the demo for Forza 7 on PC and its fun. However, I would like to know how to adjust the AI difficulty in single player, such as for the Forza Cup or in Rivals mode. In free play I found that I can adjust the Drivatar difficulty, but will this change apply to Forza Cup and Rivals mode? Or is the difficulty for these AI preset? As I understand, Drivatars are simply the Forza 7 AI which have unique behavior based on what real players do in-game. Is every AI opponent in Forza 7 a unique Drivatar from the “cloud”?
AI opponents in Career are drivatars. (You can see this by pausing the game, where game will show real player names, and your friends’ names will likely appear there too)
As for the difficulty in career, you can set it per-race. Before starting the race, go to “SETUP” tab, then “DRIVATAR DIFFICULTY”, and change difficulty there.
Drivatars have absolutely nothing to do with the gamertags they’re “borrowing”. All the Drivatars are is the normal Forza Motorsport AI (the same one they’ve used since FM2, I’m pretty sure) with real players’ names attached to them. They don’t mimic the actual person’s driving, they don’t learn or improve, none of that garbage. If you disconnect from the internet, the AI will all show up as the “character names” from previous FM games (M. Rossi, R. Takahashi, I. Cantdrive, etc.). Reconnect and they’ll suddenly switch over to gamertags.
I’m not happy about T10 applying my name to their dumpster fire AI, but it is what it is.
As for changing difficulty, alb3530 covered it. Setup tab > DRIVATAR DIFFICULTY. Be aware that the AI blatantly cheats at higher difficulties. They get a flat multiplier to tire grip and power, and can end up with both well beyond what you yourself are allowed for a given race. Not that you can’t still win, but it’s a terrible system that introduces all kinds of not-fun gameplay idiosyncrasies to the game.