> If there is one thing that is ruining this sim for me, it's the way the
> inside AI cars will always smash into you coming out of T4 if you're high
> outside. In watching the replays (helicopter view), I see the cars swing
> right into me even though I'm hugging the wall, and it's always T4 where it
> happens. Why can't the AI drivers see you there and avoid plowing into you?
> I really think the AI needs some substantial work. The cars just seem to
> hold their line with almost complete disregard for the presence of a human
> driver. Any comments?
I have been doing a lot of racing on Talladega. I noticed that the AI has
2 preferred lines going down the backstraight, with the right bumper on the
dashed line, and an inside line. My problem is that if you try to pass low
coming out of turn 2 (since the angle there is tighter than in 4), you had
better
watch out since the physics of the situation will demand that you drift up
towards the wall, but, because they don't obey the same physics model that
you do, they won't drift, and if they get it in their minds that they want that
inside groove, you are screwed. At this point if I notice that I can't avoid
hitting them, well I make sure the essobees really >feel< it!
In some places they make room for you (outside in the trioval), in other
places it's like you don't even exist from their perspective. I sometimes
forget
that I am racing against an AI (since the game is so realistic otherwise) and
will
do something that a human would easily cope with, but the AI is just oblivious.
It is really a matter of knowing where to pass (coming out of 4, or,
if your car isn't too tight to not slip out of the low groove in the upcoming
turn, slingshotting around them on the backstretch or trioval), and where not
to (at 196 MPH in a draft too late going into 1 or 3 most notably, too low
on the apron in the trioval, or 3 wide >anywhere<). At this point if they are
jockeying around in front of me, I am content to be the back door on the draft.
And they really have a hard time with passing - tho part of that is the
lapped cars don't get out of the galdanged way, plus it really porks
your speed having one of these slowpokes in your draft and the
other guys behind him never try to pass the guy...
John DiFool
