iRacing AI Opponent Roster Adjustments

[Kenadian]

Good news everyone, I believe we're finally reaching a place where AI is really no better or worse than human opponents in many scenarios. AI provide a compelling racing experience adding much needed traffic and challenge throughout the Race.

Having said that, work remains to get AI to a place where they remain challenging to all Competitors. This is currently being focused on and requires feedback from all participants to dial in.

How AI Driver Attributes Affect Racing:

Each AI Driver Attribute influences the AI Driver during AI Events as follows:

• Relative Skill – A measure of how skillful this AI Driver is compared to the other AI Drivers in this AI Opponent Roster. A lower value results in slower cornering speeds and a less optimum driving line. A higher value results in faster cornering speeds and a more optimum driving line.
• Aggression – A measure of the AI Driver’s behavior when interacting with other cars. Low Aggression encourages more car spacing and less overtake attempts. High Aggression encourages tighter car spacing and more overtake attempts.
• Optimism – A measure of the AI Driver’s confidence in their own skill. A lower value results in more conservative throttle and braking behavior, such as lift and coast into a braking zone. A higher value results in more confident throttle and brake behavior, such as aiming for optimal acceleration and braking marks more often.
• Smoothness – A measure of the AI Driver’s steering behavior. A lower value results in more oversteer. A higher value results in more understeer.
• Age – The simulated age in years of the AI Driver. A value closer to prime racing age results in faster reaction times. As age increases, it also provides racing experience that can slightly improve overall performance.
• Pit Crew Skill – A measure of the training and consistency of the AI Driver’s pit crew. A lower value results in slower pit service times. A higher value results in optimal pit service times.
• Pitting Strategy Riskiness – A measure of the AI Driver’s likelihood to gamble with pit service. A lower value results in conservative pitting strategy. A higher value results in pushing the car to avoid pitting.

There will purposely be series accurate "trouble makers" such as Sky Tempesta and Getspeed Mercedes. They usually seem to be troublesome in the real world Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe so we'll try to mimic them here.

Lastly, this post isn't just to report bad Drivers but to draw attention to good Drivers. Using good Drivers configurations will help to level the Roster that much quicker.

Sincerest thanks to those of you sharing your valuable time and patience in this endeavor!

 

[Kenadian]

AI Skill Level:

AI Skill Spread 55 - 85% (Roster):: (UI RNG scaling 55 - 85%/disabled) Updated 2023 May 23. I've other drivers testing these settings in iRacing Forums with feedback being mostly positive.

AI Skill Spread 40 - 85%:: Updated for 2022 Oct 27 race. Yielded positive results at Spa, testing ongoing.

AI Skill Spread 41 - 95%:: Drivers with high relative skill are still gapping the field by values of 20+ seconds or more. More puzzling is the fact some Drivers with identical set values also gap by 20+ seconds consistently, Raffaele Marciello and Ulyese de Pauw for example.

AI Skill Spread 50 - 100%:: seems to provide a decent challenge spread across the Grid. I think Drivers still park in corners a bit too much though. Perhaps a change to to 55 - 100% should be attempted?

AI Skill Spread 55 - 100%:: may help AI roll through corners better, needs testing.

AI Skill Spread 60 - 100%: made the AI mostly impassible in corners and straights. Most AI were pretty careless and over aggressive (this was our bad Sebring Race).

LEGEND:

• Requires adjustment
• Feedback required - small changes possibly required
• No further changes required

• 

 

[Kenadian]

Pit Stops:

One Pit Stop around the 25 - 35 minute mark for Fuel only.

All Competitors must fill the tank during the Pit Stop.

Fuel Load:

Fuel load is 60% full for all cars. This setting seems to get all AI in the Pits within a 3 lap window.

It appears however that some AI are running out of fuel (track dependent) so we may want to consider:

• 62% fuel load (just to get AI over the hump)

... and/or a change to affected Drivers Pit Strategy Settings.

Fast Repairs:

Currently running 3 fast repairs as AI were limping around track in broken cars on 1 fast repair.

Since making this change I've not seen recurrence of this phenomenon, please advise if your experience is different.

LEGEND:

• Requires adjustment
• Feedback required - small changes possibly required
• No further changes required

 

[Kenadian]

AI Roster Management - iRacing

LEGEND:

• Requires adjustment
• Feedback required - small changes possibly required
• No further changes required

AI Roster Changes:

1. Relative Skill: AI are scaled to roughly mimic their real world Skill; highest Skill is 85%, lowest 55%.
2. Aggression: AI are scaled to 50%.
3. Optimism: AI are scaled to 50%.
4. Smoothness: AI are scaled to 50%.
5. Pit Crew Skill: AI are scaled to roughly mimic their real world Team Pit Skill.
6. Pitting Strategy Riskiness: AI are scaled to 50%.

 

[Kenadian]

General Notes:

1. AI Pitting: AI may ignore your car when Pitting. If you've a sense an AI Driver is Pitting give them plenty of space as they may drive through you.
2. AI (opening race laps): AI takes a few laps to drive within assigned limits. It's advised to give all AI Drivers plenty of room at all times with emphasis on Race opening laps.
3. Concertina/Accordion Effect: AI opponents are more capable of driving offline than human opponents in most cases. This tends to stack cars more than expected particularly in opening laps. All Drivers are advised to leave adequate spacing in opening laps allowing for adequate reaction times.
4. Netcode is clearly an issue for both @Skid_Marc_ and I against AI. Given we both Stream switching back to West Coast server to see if netcode is affected as I don't recall it being an issue previously. No noticeable difference in netcode between iRacing Server Locations.