2021 Indycars at Indianapolis: AI oval racing

[MJQT]

For those looking to try out the new 2021 IR-18 Indycars at Indianapolis on the oval and get the best experience possible:

• To ensure the AI automagically select the Indy 500 aero package, be sure to select the correct aero package for yourself, then to be safe, click "Force Setup" (thanks gmoore for the updated information!)
  • When the rF2 IR-18 was first released, you had to choose the "Brickyard" Indianapolis layout, because the Indycars did not auto-select the correct package on the "Oval" layout, and wouldn't even switch when you "Force Setup"
  • Even though the "Brickyard" layout AI would presumably be intended for NASCAR, judging by its name, it seems this is what 397 initially used to test the Indycars, cause it's the only one that works as expected
• If you want to run with full-course yellow flags enabled, use the Brickyard layout, as the safety car gets stuck behind a wall on the "Oval" layout (thanks Ole for this information!)
• Create a rfmod with the updated RFM in the thread linked (with the new Indycars and Indianapolis) to have 100% working "oval racing" flag and full-course yellow rules implemented via an updated StockCarRules plugin
• Enable the StockCarRules plugin and restart the game
• Instead of "All Cars & Tracks", select your new rfmod series
• Practice and find a reasonable AI level (might need to be fairly high)
• Still having issues? Some other advice from roninho from later in this thread

For an idea of the Indy oval AI behaviour with the new IR-18 cars, look at this Twitch stream from MrGit (who didn't even create a new rfmod or tweak settings very much). I'm cautiously impressed. The AI appear to quickly spread out in a way not unlike real life Indycar, get up to and stay at 210-220+ mph speed, and not bump or slam into the walls on corner exit (causing slowups and pileups) nearly every time. All of these things the AI could not do yesterday in my testing with the old 2014 DW12 at Indy (admittedly the Oval layout, not Brickyard).

Not sure what Studio 397 did (maybe in the AIW lines and talent files?) but to first impressions, it seems to work okay. Maybe it's progress related to the upcoming Indycar game? I'm sure the AI still are unable to slipstream and slingshot past, thanks to that longstanding ISImotor AI bug. Which sucks. But even so, looking from the outside, this looks like legitimate improvement.

By the way, depending on your default AI settings, I wouldn't be shocked if you have to mess with AI Limiter and Aggression a bit too. Possibly lower the limiter value to help the field spread out as in real life, and lower the aggression since it's dangerous 220+ mph oval racing, not touring cars. But you may not need to, I don't know for sure.

For those who have purchased the Indycars and know something about American open wheel oval racing, I'd love for you to try this and to hear what your experiences are after doing the tweaks and fixes I've listed above. Do the AI race well, or poorly? Do we have a new contender for a single player Indy 500 simulator, or is that still a pipe dream?

Edited for grammar and clarity a couple times

NOTE: If only you didn't have to do all these tweaks. It'd be better. You should not have to manually fix a game this much to get it working half-correctly. It's not acceptable. But it's rFactor 2 in 2022, so you shouldn't expect anything less. By the way, let me know if I'm wrong about any of these tweaks for whatever reason, and I'll update the post accordingly.

 

[nyrmetros]

Thanks!

 

[Lefthook]

Not gonna lie, I came to this thread hoping some angel from heaven left a setup here that would give me a 39.700 at Indy. :-(

 

[gmoore]

For those looking to try out the new 2021 IR-18 Indycars at Indianapolis on the oval and get the best experience possible:

• To ensure the AI automagically select the Indy 500 aero package, select Indianapolis 'Brickyard", not "Oval"
  • Even though the "Brickyard" layout AI would presumably be intended for NASCAR, judging by its name, it seems this is what 397 used to test the Indycars, cause it's the only one that works as expected
  • Whereas the Indycars don't auto-select the correct package on the "Oval" layout, and won't even switch when you "Force Setup"
• Create a rfmod with the updated RFM in the thread linked (with the new Indycars and Indianapolis) to have 100% working "oval racing" flag and full-course yellow rules implemented via an updated StockCarRules plugin
• Enable the StockCarRules plugin and restart the game
• Instead of "All Cars & Tracks", select your new rfmod series
• Practice and find a reasonable AI level (might need to be fairly high)

For an idea of the Indy oval AI behaviour with the new IR-18 cars, look at this Twitch stream from MrGit (who didn't even create a new rfmod or tweak settings very much). I'm cautiously impressed. The AI appear to quickly spread out in a way not unlike real life Indycar, get up to and stay at 210-220+ mph speed, and not bump or slam into the walls on corner exit (causing slowups and pileups) nearly every time. All of these things the AI could not do yesterday in my testing with the old 2014 DW12 at Indy (admittedly the Oval layout, not Brickyard).

Not sure what Studio 397 did (maybe in the AIW lines and talent files?) but to first impressions, it seems to work okay. Maybe it's progress related to the upcoming Indycar game? I'm sure the AI still are unable to slipstream and slingshot past, thanks to that longstanding ISImotor AI bug. Which sucks. But even so, looking from the outside, this looks like legitimate improvement.

By the way, depending on your default AI settings, I wouldn't be shocked if you have to mess with AI Limiter and Aggression a bit too. Possibly lower the limiter value to help the field spread out as in real life, and lower the aggression since it's dangerous 220+ mph oval racing, not touring cars. But you may not need to, I don't know for sure.

For those who have purchased the Indycars and know something about American open wheel oval racing, I'd love for you to try this and to hear what your experiences are after doing the tweaks and fixes I've listed above. Do the AI race well, or poorly? Do we have a new contender for a single player Indy 500 simulator, or is that still a pipe dream?

Edited for grammar and clarity a couple times

NOTE: If only you didn't have to do all these tweaks. It'd be better. You should not have to manually fix a game this much to get it working half-correctly. It's not acceptable. But it's rFactor 2 in 2022, so you shouldn't expect anything less. By the way, let me know if I'm wrong about any of these tweaks for whatever reason, and I'll update the post accordingly.

Hi, for me the Indycars use the correct kit on the "Indy-Oval" layout, when you "Force Setup"

 

[MJQT]

Hi, for me the Indycars use the correct kit on the "Indy-Oval" layout, when you "Force Setup"

Do you mean that the AI cars use the correct kit when "forced"?

If so, that's great. Perhaps that's been patched in? If you check the MrGit stream linked above from right after launch, he tries exactly that and it didn't work for him (or others in chat, as I remember) on the Indy Oval layout.

 

[gmoore]

Do you mean that the AI cars use the correct kit when "forced"?

If so, that's great. Perhaps that's been patched in? If you check the MrGit stream linked above from right after launch, he tries exactly that and it didn't work for him (or others in chat, as I remember) on the Indy Oval layout.

yes. they use right kit when forced. did it yesterday.. i guess today has been a small update.

 

[MJQT]

People keep liking my original comment (thank you!) but no-one has responded to my original question.

Has anyone been able to have a good Indy 500-type experience racing AI with the new Indycars on the Indianapolis oval in rF2? Or is it a poor experience?

If people who've tried it could share, that'd be much appreciated.

 

[ben32star]

People keep liking my original comment (thank you!) but no-one has responded to my original question.

Has anyone been able to have a good Indy 500-type experience racing AI with the new Indycars on the Indianapolis oval in rF2? Or is it a poor experience?

If people who've tried it could share, that'd be much appreciated.

I'll try when I can these days. I'm interested too

 

[Durge Driven]

Look where we came from

no poor experience here

 

[Durge Driven]

Tested AI 50-100 laps with increased fuel usage for multiple stops
Had no issues I could tell all pitted okay etc. etc.

 

[MJQT]

Thanks so much for the info @Durge Driven

Would you be willing to record a quick gameplay video showing how the AI race? If so, I'd really appreciate it. Am curious to see what the wheel-to-wheel racing looks like, how the field spreads out (or doesn't), and so on...

 

[Durge Driven]

How AI race depends on many things strength and aggression, fuel usage and tyre wear levels , fixed setup used
rF2 AI tends to be more random from race to race for me which I like, rF2 a AI will make a stupid mistake...just like real drivers
Other studios AI are more robotic in nature... imo
rF2 AI once you tweak everything right for your self is as good as anything
You got to remember I talking about no flags no safety cars which makes less chance of problems

I don't see the importance, for instance what sim can AI with safety car un lap themselves ?
Yeah what I thought

edit: what I meant, what is the use of obeying flags and SC for longer races if no one gets their laps back ?
Shorter races why would anyone want flags or safety cars I just can't understand, oh well

 

[MJQT]

How AI race depends on many things strength and aggression, fuel usage and tyre wear levels , fixed setup used
rF2 AI tends to be more random from race to race for me which I like, rF2 a AI will make a stupid mistake...just like real drivers
Other studios AI are more robotic in nature... imo

I appreciate why you like rF2 AI, but that's not the point. What I was wondering is if you could share a representative or 'typical' experience, whatever you deem that to be, with the Indycars at the Indy oval. That's all. If you don't want to, that's okay, of course.

rF2 AI once you tweak everything right for your self is as good as anything

Not on fast ovals it isn't – compared to NR2003 or iRacing AI, for example. But that's why I'm curious about seeing how the rF2 AI Indycars race at the Indy oval... seems like there's genuine potential to see improvement.

 

[Durge Driven]

For mine they spread out natural looking some running alone some in pairs and gaggles p up to 5/6 cars
battling 3 lines etc.

I don't know real Indy record 2021 was 39.5
At 120% on Indy my AI at least get best time of 39.6 and run out to 41

For me personally I have not driven iRacing Indy, no other sim I have are anywhere near as good as experience I get from rF2 with Dallars Indy combo

That does not mean I think rF2 is good enough, it has lots of warts like buggy flags and SC but after 10 years use it owes me nothing
That does not mean I saying all car/track combos are good either, they are not

Like flags and SC also bad combos don't use them, waste of time

 

[wellness_28]

Can someone help me maybe? I just bought the IR18 and it´s awesome. But i can´t get the AI to use Oval/Indy500 configration at Indianapolis.

I choose "Brickyard" and get my car the Indy500 configuration. But when i start practise or a race the AI always has the road configuration. What more can i try maybe?
I read something with "force setup" for AI, but i can´t find it in the race settings or setup menu with the new UI. Could someone help me please? Thanks in advance!

Greetings from Germany

 

[davehenrie]

Can someone help me maybe? I just bought the IR18 and it´s awesome. But i can´t get the AI to use Oval/Indy500 configration at Indianapolis.

I choose "Brickyard" and get my car the Indy500 configuration. But when i start practise or a race the AI always has the road configuration. What more can i try maybe?
I read something with "force setup" for AI, but i can´t find it in the race settings or setup menu with the new UI. Could someone help me please? Thanks in advance!

Greetings from Germany

When you customize your car, and choose the superspeedway configuration, then before you leave that screen, click on the FORCE SETUP. That should do it.

 

[nounoubleu]

Hi all
Thak you for this interesting thread that made me decide to try the combo Indycar/Indianapolis, 30 years after my first experience on the Brickyard with the legendary Indy 500 game

Ok, so, I'm totally lost!!!
As I usually proceed on road circuits, I played with ARB, suspensions, camber (based on Motec results), without any success. Finally the best way I found to ensure a relatively comfortable ride allowing me to take turns > 300km/h and without crashing every 2 laps was adjusting the rear wing to a slightly positive angle. (I also lowered the wind to 0km/h to limit side effects)
IRL and in base set up, a negative angle is applied on the rear wing.
Is there any trick I should know ?

By the way, I didn't tested a race but only practices. I noticed AI crash very often (especially in T4 just before the pit entry....) that makes me worry about their clean race ability. In this thread, I could read AI work relatively well, so I probably do something wrong.
my AI setup: 32 AI on the track, AI level = 95%, AI limiter = 50% and agression 15%. I set AI mistake set to 0 in player.json
Is there anything I should modify to improve AI experience?

 

[MJQT]

Wish I could help @nounoubleu directly but I unfortunately don't own the Indycars, so I can't really. In general, though, I can offer a couple thoughts.

Setup is super important in oval racing, but the defaults should be decent. Hmm. Maybe working on your throttle progression (subtle adjustments are really important) and turn-in point?

If the AI are crashing, maybe try a different oval layout (either Brickyard or Oval, whichever you aren't using now)? That, and running a long practice session with "Autocalibrate AI" set to 1 might help too?

 

[nounoubleu]

Wish I could help @nounoubleu directly but I unfortunately don't own the Indycars, so I can't really. In general, though, I can offer a couple thoughts.

Setup is super important in oval racing, but the defaults should be decent. Hmm. Maybe working on your throttle progression (subtle adjustments are really important) and turn-in point?

If the AI are crashing, maybe try a different oval layout (either Brickyard or Oval, whichever you aren't using now)? That, and running a long practice session with "Autocalibrate AI" set to 1 might help too?

Thank you for your reply and advices.
Concerning setup/driving style, after some practice, I finally found something decent that allows me to do 41"5 steadily, therefore far from perfect nor flat out in all turns but secure . By the way, default setup is clearly tricky for rookies like me, mainly due to the rear wing (on mine , I'm still around -1) and too high tires pressures that prevent reaching the right temperature range.
And the most important: practice, practice and practice again.

I also found this article that helped me a lot :

IRL: Setting up a car for the tricky Indianapolis Motor Speedway | Car News | Auto123

Read this car news article from 2010-05-17. IRL: Setting up a car for the tricky Indianapolis Motor Speedway

www.auto123.com

As for the AI, I aways use autocalibrate. I haven't dived much but I suspect that the IAW is not perfect before pit entry: I think when the AI intends to stop, they leave their line a little late and if at the same time another arrives on the left line, he hits the car that intends to pit in. Strangely it seems to occur less often with AI level at 100 (or higher).

 

[Hal Burns]

I am enjoying the IR-18 and Indy Brickyard layout, using the Indianapolis 500 config and running at 90% for now. Very intense.
Rookie question: What would enabling the "Stock Car Rules plugin" do for me? And would I again turn it off for running standard road races?