I like this idea, some people tends to leave races when things don’t go their way, and if too much people leaves long races for example, it could feel empty and pointless to keep racing sometimes, keeping their cars as drivatars, could maintain the lobbie competitive with this new AI thing.
Hopefully this could be implemented in the future.
Awesome idea! Drivatar takes over, rejoins the track if need be (or drives them back to pits for repairs, then back out), and keeps the field full. Give them an icon showing it’s been taken over by a bot or something, so people know to treat it differently.
…and maybe make people wait till the end of the race (for short races at least) before allowing them to jump into another, might encourage clean driving and completion…
the presentation yesterday was amazing, i’m so excited for the new multiplayer features.
however, i was still praying for the confirmation of private lobby drivatars, which we still haven’t got.
please turn 10, with private lobby drivatars, and the ability to choose their car/livery/tune, there are literally millions of possibilities for us players.
please for the love of god.
Picking AI cars in private lobbies was my all-time favorite Forza feature! Made for so much creative freedom! I’d prefer if that option also existed in freeplay too, but at the very least allow it for online lobbies.
Plus, in prior Forza titles you could also hand select the cars the AI drove in, making for endless combinations and possibilities. It was my all-time favorite Forza feature, & while I’d love to see that option in single-player as well, I’d be more than satisfied with at least seeing it in online!
this morning i woke up from a dream - i was playing FM23 on launch day with my mates, we were so excited to get in to a private lobby and start racing, so we jumped in; there was no drivatar option in private multiplayer.
turn 10, for the love of god, you’re giving me nightmares now, please quell the mental torment.
and that’s it, it’s confirmed that drivatars in private lobbies are not in the game at launch, pretty bloody unacceptable in my opinion. i’m still excited to play the game later today (steam user), but this is sour.
in forza 4 we have full customisation of AI in our private lobbies, letting them use cars from our garage and more.
in forza 5 we lose that customisation for no reason, but at least we can still fill the lobby with drivatars.
in forza 6 they apply a ridiculous 5 drivatar-per-player in the lobby limit, meaning 2 friends in a lobby can only add 10 drivatars (even though they expanded the grid size to 24)
in forza 7, they COMPLETELY remove drivatars in the private lobby without any sort of reasoning behind it, completely ruining the game for many people.
and it’s happened again, idk how this is possible, as it’s not hard to add and this is the most voted for multiplayer feature on the suggestions hub.
very annoyed with this, and it better get sorted ASAP in later updates.
One major disappointment for me so far is the Private Multiplayer, there’s still no option to fill the grid up with AI racers (as far as I can see), it is a deal breaker (edited) and incredibly disappointing considering all earlier Forza’s had this option apart the last game (7).
In earlier games it used to be great to play with a few mates and fill the grid with AI / Drivatar racers.
Forza 7 has no Options to Add Drivatar to Privat Lobbys 
Indeed, I said that in my post.
Yes it is.
But there are already plenty of topics and suggestions for that. Vote and comment there too.
But the missing ai in mp is not the worst.
You cannot choose all track layouts.
You cannot set up changing weather as you like.
You cannot choose manual grid.
Homologation Groups got no specifications.
As we all know since a while: Turn 10 is not really interested in User Feedback
This is sad news since I believe it was a topic during some of the reveal videos.
This is THE BIGGEST failure in the game at the moment. My racing group just does not want to buy another Forza game if we cannot have total control over our private lobby.
We want multiclass races where AI drives the slow cars and we race around them…nope…can’t do that since Forza flippin 4.
If only 4 people show up to race night we want to race full races with 24 racers…but just be hanging with friends only.
Why on EARTH is AI in private lobbies not a thing, why!?
This is really an incredible shame, but unfortunately shows once again that Turn10 is not really interested in user wishes. I’m also pretty sure, especially looking back at the Forza series, that the feature won’t be added anymore either. I’ll definitely play it a bit in single player (via GP), but definitely won’t buy any CarPacks or anything like that for it. Long-term motivation is almost zero…
Please, it’s great for private session with few friends.
Ditto - I echo every word.
The lack of AI in private lobbies is a kick in the groin to the fans of the series. I’ve been playing FM since the first game.
What gives the game life is the ability to just race friends and fill the lobby with AI.
Why is this important when more than likely we are running very tuned cars that stomp the AI, it’s because accidents happen, bad tunes happen, and when you fall back in the back if there’s no one to race against. The AI fills that void. It gives you a sense of being in a race and gives you a challenge beyond just running a clean line.
Super weird this isn’t in the game.
At least in private multiplayer there should be options to add AI / Drivatars.
Come on FM8 – give friends a challenge to drive through the pack to get up front, or tag team to take AI drivers out of contention. We need some excitement here !!