iRacing: AI Development Update

[Paul Jeffrey]

Following a community enquiry about the status of AI development in iRacing, RaceDepartment reached out for a comment from those in the know...

Behind the scenes, the new AI code has been in development for the online racing simulation for a couple of years now, in fact I managed to get some seat time with the WIP version of the AI build back at the 2018 Sim Racing Expo, but a little bit of confusion about the current development direction appears to have taken seed within the community in recent days.

Earlier this week I noticed one of our community members mention a curious comment from the iRacing customer services, who noted that AI development within the sim isn't something on the immediate priority plan list. Curious, the community member in question posted a comment asking if anyone knows more about this potential change in development direction by the title.

Having thought about it myself, I noticed we hadn't actually had much in the way of news about the AI for quite a while, which led me to reach out to our friends at iRacing for an update directly from the people behind the sim itself.

Fear not, AI is still very much on the cards for a release "sooner rather than later". What's more, a career mode is also in the works!

"Yes, I can confirm we are definitely on with development of AI for iRacing. In fact we have been for a couple of years" said Executive Director of iRacing, Tony Gardner.​

"We hope to release it sooner rather than later. Although even after we release it, just like everything we will continue to improve it, both the AI itself and the career mode/features around it.

It really just looks look any other iRacing race, if we are doing it correctly that is how it should look. In fact we have put out plenty of videos already using AI, we just didn’t make much of a point that it was AI. For example showing off a new piece of content, like a car or track...." ​

So there you go folks, iRacing will indeed be getting an AI update in the near future... plus a nice and unexpected bonus in the form of some kind of career mode.. rumours be gone!

For more news about iRacing, head over to the iRacing sub forum here at RaceDepartment and get involved with the community today!

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[Jayblue]

They sent me an offer for 3 months for $5. Best deal they have done for ages so resubbed to test out the AI and improvements they have made since I left 3 or so years ago.

Not had a long time to test but did a 30 min session with AI in the MX5 at Lime Rock Park. Came away mighty impressed. Looking forward to more extensive test over the coming weeks.

 

[AlexHeuskat]

now we can race against the Mazda with the AI

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

yep, you can also field mixed grids but there still some bugs associated with that

 

[RCHeliguy]

Been enjoying the AI currently running it at 60-85%. Not a bad tool for learning how to drive with a pack and learning how to pass, but they still aren't at the same level as real people and feel different.

 

[RCHeliguy]

For comparison I did some races today and in one race I qualified P5 and finished 2nd. Great race! I had to wait for the guys in front of me to make mistakes and reel them in. The last 3 laps I was right on the leader's tail. There is a pretty big difference between the AI and real people.

The biggest difference I think is that real people lose their concentration and make bigger mistakes than the AI make.

However The AI are good for learning how to drive in a pack.

 

[MarcG]

I resubbed for 5 bucks and grabbed the 911 (later realising i didn't need it) to race against the AI, first impressions after 4 races at LRP are that it's off to a very good start. Coming from a heavily influenced RF2 AI background I know what makes decent AI tick and these iRacing AI are very good.

They don't yield on the inside line and let you pass (like in RF2), instead they hold their position and make you back off if you're on the outside. Pack racing was relatively clean, they give you room and I didn't see any weird behaviour when in close company with them. When on the outside of turns they again don't back off and give good value for clean racing. I saw some spins and plenty of minor mistakes (lock ups) which was nice, nothing I hate more than "perfect" AI, they need to be close to Humans and so far so good in this regard.

LRP isn't the best for overtaking so I won't comment too much on them in this regard right now. (I may grab one of the other tracks this week as LRP is the only one I own with AI currently) But I have noticed they don't defend very well and they don't follow the draft if you move over on the straight.

The AI Roster section is very good, I've already created the (V8) Supercars field with roughly the right values but will need lots of tweaking, also added in a few legends of the V8s & World Motorsport to create 29AI overall. The options are good and there's not too many to change, but I would however like to see more emphasis on individuality so perhaps a "Simple" Option as is and a more "Advanced" option with more things to change. The whole Single Race setup procedure is clean and easy, very straight forward which is nice, the Beta UI has come a long way since I last tried it a year ago.

Finally I've said this before and I'll say it again, VR in iRacing is absolutely superb and in my Reverb it's just simply stunning with likewise performance (i9-9900k, 2070Super, 16gb RAM).

 

[Kurupt CDN]

For a soft launch the AI is very impressive as I am half way through a Porsche season and really enjoying it.

I started upgrading parts on my ancient PC. Previously had a i5 3570k @ 4.6ghz and gtx 970 ssc with a Lenovo explorer....it ran vr...barely...I eventually reduced it from 90hrz to 60hrz which ran fine but the overall clarity was reduced.
I picked up a gtx 1660 ti last night on sale to see what improvements the Nvidia SPS would give..... absolutely amazed at the performance gains running med/low settings with x4 AA and 140% resolution in steam vr at 90hrz....a few dips at tuskuba and Barcelona due to the cpu but nothing terrible.
As mentioned above....the performance of VR in iracing is amazing and the best I've experienced in any sim.

Other developers really need to add Nvidia SPS to there titles.

Next payday is a cpu/Mobo... currently leaning towards a R5 3600x on sale for the same as a 3600 or a i5 9600k.
I am not going for a high-end build

 

[F_B]

Skip Barber is now available for AI races as well as Mid Ohio and Road Atlanta.

 

[Ricardo Rey]

Skip Barber is now available for AI races as well as Mid Ohio and Road Atlanta.

Hi F_B
Updating now. I take it's part of the update?

 

[F_B]

Yep, just download all the updates and it should be available.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

online racing, especially in the Skip, has been so great this season in the lower splits (absolutely no irony here), I will dutifully download and then not use it

 

[RCHeliguy]

I enjoyed AI for a few days, but I'm having a lot more fun racing real people.

 

[Deleted member 205301]

I enjoyed AI for a few days, but I'm having a lot more fun racing real people.

Same here, had fun, probably for people having lots of free time, it's nice, but for me (2h/week maxi) I spend it on online (cause of competition)
@++

 

[F_B]

Hi F_B
Updating now. I take it's part of the update?

Same here, had fun, probably for people having lots of free time, it's nice, but for me (2h/week maxi) I spend it on online (cause of competition)
@++

Exactly the opposite here.
I also have very limited time during the week so I don’t try to waste that time with real human stupidity or waiting and practicing for a certain race; I just choose a car, a track, some opponents and I’m ready to go.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I tried that ( just picking a track & car and racing against AI ), but I found that it was meaningless to me without real people. I just didn't care about the outcome because it had no value.

With iRacing it does take more time to learn a track and then schedule a race, but I'm actually vested in the process and I'm learning to drive better because of it.

There is no right or wrong here. It's just what works for you. I play Dirt Rally and have enjoyed that without racing against real people, but since it's a time trial, it feels like I'm racing against myself.

 

[Ricardo Rey]

I agree there is no right or wrong. I started Racing humans online going back to 1998 with GPL. Still do race online with several sims.
I will say the AI in iRacing are really good though. Sure, not perfect (of course neither are humans). Haha
In most sims I can beat AI even set to 100% strength. These iRacing AI are hard to beat at 50% and have been "taught" well. I actually feel like I am racing humans at various skill levels. I wait for them to start talking at any moment. It's great we have so many options to enjoy.
Cheers!

 

[Deleted member 205301]

I also have very limited time during the week so I don’t try to waste that time with real human stupidity or waiting and practicing for a certain race;

Yeah, i could understand that pov. It's true that sometimes, I use my time to train, I have time to do only one race .....and....(you know)....it's ruined by the famous first'lap'heroe (and all his lil brothers^^)....bothering....
At first, i though I'd do same as you (only AI'races) cause of people's stupidity, but I like too much tchat, or congrats somebody I was fighting with (there are hopefully still lots of respect over 2000sof races), and I cannot do that with AI (yeah, maybe i'm foolish, but I like people, generally speaking^^)
@++

 

[M D Gourley]

Exactly the opposite here.
I also have very limited time during the week so I don’t try to waste that time with real human stupidity or waiting and practicing for a certain race; I just choose a car, a track, some opponents and I’m ready to go.

100% agree here, AI is really convenient for the limited time I have and iRacing have done a superb job with the AI.....so apart from actually knowing that you are racing AI and the possibility of conversation amongst racers, how would you know you were racing AI if put into a race and were not told that these are AI, as the cars on screen are just the same...it is just the emotion, knowing these are real Humans.