An online-focused title, many racers may forget iRacing has some of the best AI in sim racing. Here is how to make the most of its roster system for maximised immersion.
This week, iRacing moves to Season 4 of 2024 and with the change came a sizeable update last week. But whilst content headlines the additions, the ability to recreate official series events with the title's AI also featured among the changelog.
Allowing racers to enjoy their favourite series without the onslaught of over-ambitious dive bombs and voice chat abuse, those tired of the online scene may well see benefit in the new feature. But AI itself is far from new in iRacing with the game getting some of the most authentic computer rivals in sim racing and the system allows for a great deal of immersion. If you know what you are doing.
Adding cars is Step 1 to iRacing AI Roster Creation. Image: iRacing.com
You can either add individual cars one-by-one to your roster, or input en-masse. For simple, quick roster creation, you might as well randomise vehicle attributes. But for in-depth rosters, we would suggest adding blank driver values that you will later adjust. For multi-class grids, make sure to select the 'Use Car Classes' option from the get-go. Switching to this class mode once you have selected your cars will result in very strange class selection that is difficult to correct.
Once you have chosen the correct cars for your iRacing AI Roster, you can now go through each car and input basic information. We would recommend inputting the names and car numbers for each entrant to your grid before going any further.
Use the iRacing Paint Booth for simple liveries. Image: iRacing.com
However, if you prefer spending more time with your creation, painting your own liveries in iRacing is possible by downloading each car's template from the UI itself. Getting all your sponsor decals and shapes lined up may take a while, but the additional immersion will be tenfold. Once your livery is painted, simply drop the exported .TGA file into the correct AI Roster folder in Documents/iRacing/airoster.
Once your liveries are in the correct folder, you should be able to select them from the window for the correct car.
Save your liveries to the correct folder in airosters. Image iRacing.com
iRacing AI has a collection of Attributes to manage. Image: iRacing.com
You can very easily spend hours of your day fine tuning these settings and leaving little time for actual racing. Our advice for those looking to get out on-track is to leave these settings equal between every car in your Roster. However, random differences within a 5-10% window does seem to work best from our testing.
In addition, for the first three settings, a 45-55% value across the board works well if you want to avoid any major pile-ups.
From the iRacing forums to Trading Paints, there are several locations online for sharing and downloading different AI livery packs. But with abundant resources for every other sim racing title, why not upload your niche TCR series or immensely detailed Formula One grid to the OverTake downloads page. Select the iRacing Miscellaneous folder and let other community members revel in your creation.
Are you a fan of iRacing's AI systems? Let us know in the comments and join the discussion in our iRacing forums!
This week, iRacing moves to Season 4 of 2024 and with the change came a sizeable update last week. But whilst content headlines the additions, the ability to recreate official series events with the title's AI also featured among the changelog.
Allowing racers to enjoy their favourite series without the onslaught of over-ambitious dive bombs and voice chat abuse, those tired of the online scene may well see benefit in the new feature. But AI itself is far from new in iRacing with the game getting some of the most authentic computer rivals in sim racing and the system allows for a great deal of immersion. If you know what you are doing.
Creating iRacing AI Rosters
Putting together your own AI driver rosters in iRacing is by no means a short task if you go through all the steps. But compiling liveries, driver names and stats all accurate to the real world can make for fantastic immersion.First Steps
As you enter the AI racing section of the iRacing UI from the left-hand menu, select the AI Roster tab at the top-right of the screen and a new window will appear with your first options. Name your new AI Roster and select a first car to add to your line up.Adding cars is Step 1 to iRacing AI Roster Creation. Image: iRacing.com
You can either add individual cars one-by-one to your roster, or input en-masse. For simple, quick roster creation, you might as well randomise vehicle attributes. But for in-depth rosters, we would suggest adding blank driver values that you will later adjust. For multi-class grids, make sure to select the 'Use Car Classes' option from the get-go. Switching to this class mode once you have selected your cars will result in very strange class selection that is difficult to correct.
Once you have chosen the correct cars for your iRacing AI Roster, you can now go through each car and input basic information. We would recommend inputting the names and car numbers for each entrant to your grid before going any further.
Livery Choice
Now you have the correct drivers for your chosen series, it is time to get down to details. A realistic and immersive grid by definition requires all the liveries you would recognise from the real life event you are aiming to replicate. Thankfully, iRacing has its own rudimentary Paint Booth in which you can put together the correct colours and basic design concept for most liveries.Use the iRacing Paint Booth for simple liveries. Image: iRacing.com
However, if you prefer spending more time with your creation, painting your own liveries in iRacing is possible by downloading each car's template from the UI itself. Getting all your sponsor decals and shapes lined up may take a while, but the additional immersion will be tenfold. Once your livery is painted, simply drop the exported .TGA file into the correct AI Roster folder in Documents/iRacing/airoster.
Once your liveries are in the correct folder, you should be able to select them from the window for the correct car.
Save your liveries to the correct folder in airosters. Image iRacing.com
Statistics: Time Consuming Yet Crucial
Setting iRacing's AI system apart from other sim racing titles is the depth to which one can go to to adjusting each car's individual personality and characteristics. Dubbed a driver's attributes, not only can you adjust a bot's overall skill, you can also modify how they perform in certain aspects of a race.- AI Aggression is similar to other games. By increasing this value, you make the driver more prone to making aggressive moves both in attack and defense. Push this too high and daring overtakes will more frequently become scary crashes whilst lower values will produce a timid driver avoiding moves at all costs.
- AI Optimism affects a driver's confidence, both in the car and in their own ability. Similarly to aggression, optimism will affect how a driver performs in traffic. This is a brilliant setting to distinguish professional and amateur rivals.
- AI Smoothness acts as you would expect. The smoother a driver is, the easier they will be on the tyres, certainly becoming more and more apparent as stints go on. Drop this too low however and the AI will struggle to make the most of their performance.
- AI Age is a simple value that makes drivers more or less reactive. In an ageist display, a 70-year-old AI driver will struggle to react to incidents ahead in the same way as a youngling.
- AI Pit Crew Skill is another setting that will reveal itself most in longer races. Those teams with a higher value will perform tasks more efficiently than lower skill outfits.
- AI Pit Strategy Riskiness may be quite the mouthful of a name, but is crucial when running races with varying strategy options, be it changeable weather or a tight fuel saving race. Blend this with the Smoothness setting and you will make for a collection of merging strategy options across a race.
iRacing AI has a collection of Attributes to manage. Image: iRacing.com
You can very easily spend hours of your day fine tuning these settings and leaving little time for actual racing. Our advice for those looking to get out on-track is to leave these settings equal between every car in your Roster. However, random differences within a 5-10% window does seem to work best from our testing.
In addition, for the first three settings, a 45-55% value across the board works well if you want to avoid any major pile-ups.
Sharing Your AI Grids
It is all well and good spending countless hours fine tuning your AI entry lists to best simulate different races from the real world. But there is nothing better than sharing the fun with the community.From the iRacing forums to Trading Paints, there are several locations online for sharing and downloading different AI livery packs. But with abundant resources for every other sim racing title, why not upload your niche TCR series or immensely detailed Formula One grid to the OverTake downloads page. Select the iRacing Miscellaneous folder and let other community members revel in your creation.
Are you a fan of iRacing's AI systems? Let us know in the comments and join the discussion in our iRacing forums!
