Question about car/AI behaviour on various tracks

[RC45]

I am trying to understand what are the influences on the game engine and AI when controlling various cars on the same track.

As an example I like to use Longford 1967 for most of my car tuning testing.

The long straights, unforgiving 100% commitment braking zones and bumpy undulating track surface make it like a mini Nurbergring for car setup.

My main question is what causes the AI to stick to the racing line in some cars but in other cars have them take liberties with the braking points even appear to try cut corners in other cars.

It makes trying to drive with the AI frustrating as in some cars they lap very well, while in others they try cut some corners and end up crashing,

Is the track missing some important data or are some cars missing some important data, and if so - what data files of the cars or track should I be making changes to?

Thanks in advance.

 

[ouvert]

I would wait a week for a 1.7 update .. it should contain AI changes .. no point analyzing it till then ... also doing it on mod track is not the best way ..

 

[RC45]

I would wait a week for a 1.7 update .. it should contain AI changes .. no point analyzing it till then ... also doing it on mod track is not the best way ..

I understand the recommendation about not using a mod track as a testing source, but the issue is isolated to certain cars on tracks with obstacles close to the racing line.

The tracks Kunos works with don't need to deal with obstacle avoidance because the obstacles are well clear of the racing line.

I am trying to understand why on the same track certain cars will always take a very aggressive inside cutting line on higher speed turns than others.

Is there a data file within the cars set of attributes that tweaks the AI driving of that car over and above the base game engine AI ?

It seems there must be because the game is the same, the track is the same, race day parameters are all the same - but cars is different.

Are there sections of the AI.ini file that influence how aggressive the AI is with that particular car?

And in all honesty I am not looking forward to 1.7 - each time AC has been updated the "feeling of realness" seems to be been reduced.

As someone that has Project Cars on PC, PS4 and XBoxOne, with proper wheels for each (Thrustmaster TX for Xbone, T500RS for PC and PS4) I noticed once ProjectCars went console, the PC version suffered the indignity of being softened up.

My real fear is that the changes leading up to AC going console have been to numb us to the coming dumbing down for the general audience.

Anyway, enough thread jacking - I just want to be able to adjust how stupidly the AI behaves in certain cars on various tracks. Changing AI level for the race day just makes the corner cuttering cars slow down and the conservative cars almost crawl.

 

[Stereo]

Cars do have different lookahead settings, because different performance means the size of brake zones varies and softer setup cars take longer to turn-in. It affects how far in advance they see obstacles, if it's set too long then they'll cut corners more (as they turn in earlier) and if it's too short they'll understeer out.

Track AI also has some hints about corners to help AI take the right line, I don't know exactly what they are though.

 

[RC45]

Thanks, I have been working on the ai.ini files of a couple cars and had pretty decent results. It is a bit hit and miss as I am not sure where the proper documentation for these features are.

But I now have a trackday setup for a number of Ferraris that allow me to be on track with the 288GTO, 288GTO Evo, F40, F40 Comp, F50 and F50GT and have the AI at 100% able to keep it mostly on the track around Longford.

Now to tweak the Enzo, FXX, LaFerrari and FXX K.

Then I will toss in a bunch of 1950's and 1960's Ferraris to be rolling chicane traffic and see what happens

 

[s1mm3n]

Stefano tweeted last week, that he had done 14h of work for the AI. So lets see what's coming for us with the next update!

 

[Brandon Wright]

Thanks, I have been working on the ai.ini files of a couple cars and had pretty decent results. It is a bit hit and miss as I am not sure where the proper documentation for these features are.

But I now have a trackday setup for a number of Ferraris that allow me to be on track with the 288GTO, 288GTO Evo, F40, F40 Comp, F50 and F50GT and have the AI at 100% able to keep it mostly on the track around Longford.

Now to tweak the Enzo, FXX, LaFerrari and FXX K.

Then I will toss in a bunch of 1950's and 1960's Ferraris to be rolling chicane traffic and see what happens

I see you're mixing mod cars in there (and some are probably of questionable origin). I believe cars can have their own AI files and if a mod car doesn't have the AI setup correctly they will act abnormally. I'd wager that you're seeing the biggest issues with mod cars?

 

[RC45]

I see you're mixing mod cars in there (and some are probably of questionable origin). I believe cars can have their own AI files and if a mod car doesn't have the AI setup correctly they will act abnormally. I'd wager that you're seeing the biggest issues with mod cars?

Yes, they have their own AI files. If it is a compiled data.acd file, it appears you need to extract the data.acd and then remove the data.acd file for the game to read the contents of the data directory.

And I experience problems from across the entire board, even with some Kunos cars. And I mean to mix mod cars. That's exactly what a track day is - an eclectic mix.

Much of their physics is also guestimated and tweaked after the fact any way. Why else do they have modifiers and base numbers and other tweakable options to adjust behavior?

I have some free mods, some pay-ware mods, donation mods and the paid Kunos DLC.

Some, such as the Viper ACR needed just a little tweak to not collide with the bridge after the viaduct and the obtuse angled last corner of Longford, as did the free F50GT. The pay to play Enzo and Mossler both behave well.

The 917K was perfect right out of the box... zip file. The Kunos Ford GT40 needed a little tweak.

I am working my way through the entire list if cars I have. I am only concerned with AI that cant drive the course cleanly and fixing broken sound mappings. f a model looks good, I keep it - if not its put on one side until a better 3D model comes along.