When it comes to racing games I've enjoyed single player more than multi, since I find most people online don't understand the basic rules of racing, leaving a gap, etc they feel driving on the inside using your side of the car as a brake and turning aid completely viable, so my question is with all thje mods out there what is a fun competitive single player for this gam,e?
Enjoyable Singleplayer?
- Thread starter Deankenny
- Start date
Not sure if you were talking to me? If so, it is the Lancia Fulvia S1, Ford Escort RS1600 & Porsche 911 RSR 3.0. For a short sprint race like that with the 911's mixed through the grid you can leave them as they are. If you wanted to do a longer race you would probably have to give them 50-100% restrictor and also probably need to avoid tracks with very long straights as the 911 is much faster above 120mph or so even with full restrictor.Great balance of cars there! More details
Perfect example of what I was saying before, then; the quality of racing highly depends on the specific combo.
I've had absolutely spectacular races with the AI at Spa in the GT3 cars. I'm not super fast, but I was within 1 second of the 2017 Spa24hr laptimes IIRC. I was able to qualify mid pack (intentionally not at my top pace) and make my way to the front right at the end of a 1 hour race. Brilliant racing all throughout the field.
I don't know what "GT-R's" means (Nissan GTR? Some other type of GT car?) but obviously that car/track combo is no good.
Like me and others have said earlier in this thread, single player fun with AI is quite dependent on the track/car combo. After a few weeks racing GT3s against the AI in rF2 almost exclusively, this discussion prompted me to try the same type of racing in AC again. I picked Imola and all GT3 cars, a combination that I hadn't tried in the past as I usually go with single manufacturer grids and often slower cars.
Since @Deankenny was originally asking for what works well in single player, I felt like sharing the battle for P3 on the last lap. I'm the #1 Audi and I'm basically side by with the #6 Audi from turn 1 to turn 8 in what was a really fair and fun battle since the start of the race. So yeah, I was quite surprised by how well this particular mix worked out, comparable to the experience I get on rF2 if not a little bit better.
I can't stress enough how important it is to use Helicorsa (or Crew Chief) if you're on single screen, especially with low FOV and to always configure the AI strength and aggression to match your skills or maybe even a little bit below that, to give you some leeway when racing close. If the AI exactly matches you, then you could be driving on the edge and possibly beyond that, when trying to overtake them, resulting in a frustrating experience. Hence my advice to at least initially run against a slightly weaker than you AI, which you can always progressively pump up.
Since @Deankenny was originally asking for what works well in single player, I felt like sharing the battle for P3 on the last lap. I'm the #1 Audi and I'm basically side by with the #6 Audi from turn 1 to turn 8 in what was a really fair and fun battle since the start of the race. So yeah, I was quite surprised by how well this particular mix worked out, comparable to the experience I get on rF2 if not a little bit better.
I can't stress enough how important it is to use Helicorsa (or Crew Chief) if you're on single screen, especially with low FOV and to always configure the AI strength and aggression to match your skills or maybe even a little bit below that, to give you some leeway when racing close. If the AI exactly matches you, then you could be driving on the edge and possibly beyond that, when trying to overtake them, resulting in a frustrating experience. Hence my advice to at least initially run against a slightly weaker than you AI, which you can always progressively pump up.
Also a side note: What most people call "AI ramming" is actually poor positioning and race craft on the part of the player. Situational awareness isn't great when you're racing on a screen, and a lot of people seem to think they've 'got the line' when they don't even have an overlap yet, and then blame the AI for turning in on them. Or when the roles are switched (and the AI actually does have an overlap) they claim the opposite is true and the AI rammed them.
I think the AI on AC is pretty darn good. I find cars that need to have a little sliding (think AC cobra or GPL pack) for lowest lap times you will want higher AI skill setting. For something like an open wheel where its gripped up for lowest time, run a slightly lower AI setting. I like aggression between 70 and 80 depending on track.
Also check out the AI mods here for certain AC tracks it's a big improvement
Also check out the AI mods here for certain AC tracks it's a big improvement
Ghoults
Lasse Luisu
Lots of people see ai drivers as overtaking obstacles that should simply vanish once the player wants to overtake. Like when they attempt to pass and get alongside on the apex and then they just murder the ai by taking the normal racing line and the ai basically has to brake or drive off the road to avoid the human player. Sometimes this just happens so quickly that the ai can't physically move out of the way quickly enough and pit maneuvers happen.
It makes the ai much better if you try to race them like they were humans. Give them space when you'd give space to human driver. Respect the overlap and give them space on inside and outside. Pass is complete only when the other car is behind you. Not when you decide to overtake them. There are lots of youtube vids where the human player goes for the pass and as soon as there is tiniest amount of overlap the human just totally ignores the ai and considers the overtake already complete.
Personally for me the biggest issue with the ai in ac is the speed. In some corners they can mighty quick and then in the next one they just can't do anything that could be considered race car driving. This is probably somewhat controversial or even something people may disagree with strongly but I am actually fine if the ai cheats more or less to be fast. I don't really care if the ai needs 30% more grip/downforce or 200kg less weight to take some corner quickly. Or if their turbo boost spins up quicker because they operate the throttle in totally different way compared to human driver. Engine power and drag should be equal so the corner exits and straights are still balance but in corners I'd be willing to accept lots of cheating if it meant the ai was properly quick. I'd also want an ai strength that scales up depending whether they are in pack or alone. In ac the cars are faster when they are alone so some kind of ai variable that goes from 100% to 150% whether they are alone or in a group could be fun. Just like more than 100% would be nice.
I don't really remember any instances with ai in most games where they randomly punt me. I do remember lots of times where I tried to barge my way through and the ai simply held their line and pit maneuvered me. It sucks and can make you feel angry in the heat of the moment but there needs to be some level of respect for the racing itself or racing simply can not happen. If I set the ai too fast and too aggressive and then try to granturismo my way through the field I am simply looking for an impossible solution to a wrong problem. But at the same time I feel in every game I need to set the ai faster than I'd really want because I am adjusting to an average speed and in some corners the ai are quicker and in some other corners they are pretty poor.
That being said. Situational awareness is a skill that can be learned. You don't need to see or hear the other car around you all the time to know where he is. A lot of the skill is in predicting and making good guesses where he has to be when you don't see the other car. Triple screens probably help with the accurate positioning when dicing for positions but to actually know where the other car is should be something that relies more on your brain than on your eyes and ears. The rearview mirror alone can tell a lot about where the other car is going to be. Just like having a car in rearview mirror and then not having it there should be a clue. These same deadspots exist in real life as well. Plus the look left/right buttons do exist as well.
I think the biggest issue with situational awareness is not really the problem with vision and predicting but the sensory overload just from driving the car. Especially new sim drivers are so focused and mentally overloaded just with driving the car that they don't have the mental capacity to pay attention to the traffic around them. As such they can have a car right next to them that they are completely unaware of because they are 100% focused on getting to the apex. Same is probably true with ai drivers but with the twist that lots of people don't really consider ai drivers as true competitors but just overtaking obstacles. So it is not that they don't see them but almost feel like they don't need to.
I can't agree more with what @Ghoults said above. To be honest, I've criticised the AI in AC for lacking spatial awareness. Introspection does wonders though and if you really want to become quicker and a better racer, you must start by correcting your mistakes.
Analysing my crashes with the AI I realised that in most cases I shouldn't even have attempted to overtake. Just like in a real race, a risky overtake will likely result in a crash or at least some contact. Once I started to go easy and avoid diving from way behind, it all improved dramatically. Surely using Helicorsa also helped, especially on those occasions when you're entitled to run side by side but the single screen setup with low FOV gets in your way. Pressing the buttons to look left and right still feels a bit tricky to me, maybe because I'm still a bit overloaded with the task of keeping the car on the road while racing side by side.
Another tip I leave here that helped me a lot is to focus on getting a better exit before a long straight and consequently have a nice chance to overtake the AI on sheer acceleration. Obviously it's not as "spectacular" as braking super late, but it's way less risky. As an example, I've been able to consistently overtake the AI at Silverstone by nailing Luffield much better than them. I get a much better exit and then my speed advantage is enough to get side by side at Woodcote and I'm already ahead even before braking to Copse with almost zero risk.
Analysing my crashes with the AI I realised that in most cases I shouldn't even have attempted to overtake. Just like in a real race, a risky overtake will likely result in a crash or at least some contact. Once I started to go easy and avoid diving from way behind, it all improved dramatically. Surely using Helicorsa also helped, especially on those occasions when you're entitled to run side by side but the single screen setup with low FOV gets in your way. Pressing the buttons to look left and right still feels a bit tricky to me, maybe because I'm still a bit overloaded with the task of keeping the car on the road while racing side by side.
Another tip I leave here that helped me a lot is to focus on getting a better exit before a long straight and consequently have a nice chance to overtake the AI on sheer acceleration. Obviously it's not as "spectacular" as braking super late, but it's way less risky. As an example, I've been able to consistently overtake the AI at Silverstone by nailing Luffield much better than them. I get a much better exit and then my speed advantage is enough to get side by side at Woodcote and I'm already ahead even before braking to Copse with almost zero risk.
Ghoults
Lasse Luisu
For me the buttons become much more convenient to use when you make them instant look left/right. Some sims have this slow head turning where it takes like a second to turn your head to the side and then another to turn it back. I find that really difficult to use because it is not just disorientating but I also feel that it is unrealistic. Setting that head turn speed to instant at least for me makes using the buttons almost free in terms of mental processing cost. It makes the driving easier and it makes it easier to quickly glance to the side.
Most of the time I don't use the left/right look to see if a car is there but to see the overlap and what is our speed difference. To get that info you don't really need to look at the other car very long. A quick glance is enough to tell you all of that. Not to know where I am now but what is the situation going to be 5 seconds later at the braking point for example. If there is a car next to me I don't really need to see it to be able to give it room. If I know I need to leave room I leave room. If you drive on ovals a lot then this is different because you can be side by side all the time and with triple screens you can do that a lot more precisely.
I also feel the slow head turn is unrealistic because that is not how human eye works. When we turn our head to look to the side our eyes don't slowly pan to the side but the eyes turn towards what we want to look at extremely quickly. Even when reading a book the eyes constantly make these super quick movements (called saccades). The slow head turning is pretty much the total opposite of this. If our eyes were rigidly pointing forwards all the time then that would be realistic but the way our eyes can move and do move it is totally different.
So true... I play AC and rF2 and both have a delay by default, which I immediately turn off. It helps massively and I agree with you that it also becomes more realistic. Not only the saccades are almost instant, but also the actual neck movement is also faster, at least in my case, when changing lanes and checking the blind spot IRL.
My problem is more about hitting the right button as I sometimes hit the pit limiter in rF2, which obviously isn't a very good idea.
In AC I don't have that problem, but of course it's a matter of optimising my button shortcuts on the wheel. Your tip about using the quick glance to actually foresee the future position of the car next to you is very important. I've started doing that recently and the time you need to "be away from the track ahead" is much shorter, thus less distracting and easier to manage mentally.As a sort of self conclusion about the AI, I'm lucky to have these two amazing sims, AC and rF2 which are so realistic that often when one believes something isn't quite right with them, in reality the problem comes from the fact that we're not real race drivers and don't really know how it feels and how one should react in some cases. Analysing our driving then shows that everything was fine with the AI and we were the ones doing something wrong. It also helps us having a more accurate opinion about racing incidents in real series that we watch. Of course, no AI will be perfect any time soon, but then again that's an extremely complex task.
I find this too. I can often get frustrated cos the AI seems to have been unreasonable (crashing into me) but when I watch the replay I see that I was being equally as stupid or that it was simply my fault.
Granted VR is not as clear as a monitor, but the other positives you get with VR really outweigh that and make this issue neglible, being able to tilt your head and directly look out at the apex as you hit it perfectly really makes VR worth it alone,
Being able to turn your head to look at the mirrors is only one small benefit of VR. With TrackIR you're still staring at a screen infront of you. And the desk, and the wall, and that smelly old beer can your wife has been nagging you to get rid of for the last two weeks. As an aside, it's still unnatural with TrackIR because you can't turn your head as far to look at the mirror as you would in real life or you'd be staring at your living room furniture instead of your screen.
In VR the only thing you can see is the game, there's zero external distraction and that's why it's so much more immersive. Add to that the 1:1 head tracking so there's nothing to get used to like there is with TrackIR. Plus it's in stereoscopic 3D, which I personally find to be the biggest benefit (even if it is a subtle and mostly subconscious thing). Having real depth perception has seen an absolutely massive improvement in my consistency. I'm able to gauge braking points far better, gauge elevation changes much better, etc.
