Delete Rubberband AI

  • Thread starter Thread starter gt362gamer
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gt362gamer
All GTfans, me included, demanded to PD to bring us a better AI competition in gt6, instead of that, PD had the great idea of make an AI who will wait for you and let you win. I just finished a race in National A, and in the last lap i was 15 seconds behind the 1st car, i spun and lost another 10 seconds. I almost win. I watched replay and I saw how the AI driver did an 2:27 in the second lap, but in the last one he did 2:48. I mean, cmon PD, are you kidding us? This thing is supposed to be called a race? It doesnt make sense at all.
 
Thank you, @gt362gamer. While others have mentioned rubber banding as part of AI improvement, I think this is the only thread which calls this out as a standalone suggestion. In my opinion, it is worth while addressing this as a single important issue.

Here is why I feel the rubber banding detracts from the racing experience.

I expect the other drivers on the track to be capable of driving with consistency. Unless they are caught up in traffic, I expect them to be able to put in laps within 1% or 2% of their average lap time. And, let's face it, in these career events, the only car we have to worry about is the lead car who never has to deal with traffic.

Of more importance is the experience on the track. Often I find that during lap one of a career event, the lead car is actually increasing his lead over me. And he is doing so at a rate that says I will never catch him, even if the other cars on the track cause me no obstruction. So I will clearly fail to win this race. Then on lap two, something magic happens and I'm steadily closing the gap, but I know I'm not driving any faster. By lap four, the lead car and all his cronies have dropped into the local Starbucks, leaving the event for me to walk away with.

This behavior is really poor because:-

  1. I don't learn anything from the experience
  2. I have no feeling of achievement
  3. I get to expect and rely on there being a Starbucks for the leader on every final lap
  4. I don't get punished for making gross mistakes, since if I spin out and do a few 360s, I know that the leader will wait for me
  5. I can not predict how close the outcome of a race will be until the final stages when I unexpectedly overtake the leader
 
  • More challenge
  • Makes you anxious
  • Pressure
I'd rather keep the "rubberband" AI behaviour than slow AI's...
I'd rather have a broken leg than a fractured scull, but why do I have to have either? More challenge? Go back to GT3 on the PS2 and tell me GT6 is harder!
 
It's not just rubberbanding that is the issue. It's the fact that there's no common start. You always start last, some 20 seconds or so behind the leader. In a normal race with normal drivers 20 seconds is an impossible gap to close, especially over only 3-5 laps. In fact, even if everyone started together it would be a miracle to go from last to first in so few laps.

To address the issue, they would need to do the following:

  • Increase race length. Perhaps they could even make this an adjustable setting, like in Arcade mode.

  • Everyone starts the race together, rolling or standing.

  • Replace rubberbanding with an AI "skill" setting that you can set before the race. They could also keep rubberbanding as an option, so if for instance my grandmother with no previous racing experience wants to try a race she can have a little easier opposition. Perhaps even add a setting that adjusts the tension of the rubberband, i.e. how big influence rubberbanding has on the AI. So if you want a lot of rubberbanding you set the tension to high, if you want a little you set tension to low, if you don't want rubberbanding you just untick the box.
 
It's not just rubberbanding that is the issue. It's the fact that there's no common start. You always start last, some 20 seconds or so behind the leader. In a normal race with normal drivers 20 seconds is an impossible gap to close, especially over only 3-5 laps. In fact, even if everyone started together it would be a miracle to go from last to first in so few laps.

To address the issue, they would need to do the following:

  • Increase race length. Perhaps they could even make this an adjustable setting, like in Arcade mode.

  • Everyone starts the race together, rolling or standing.

  • Replace rubberbanding with an AI "skill" setting that you can set before the race. They could also keep rubberbanding as an option, so if for instance my grandmother with no previous racing experience wants to try a race she can have a little easier opposition. Perhaps even add a setting that adjusts the tension of the rubberband, i.e. how big influence rubberbanding has on the AI. So if you want a lot of rubberbanding you set the tension to high, if you want a little you set tension to low, if you don't want rubberbanding you just untick the box.
Some good ideas there. Polyphony Digital take note! If it wasn't for online play, I'm not sure I would enjoy GT6 as a game, just for the reasons you specify.
 
It's not just rubberbanding that is the issue. It's the fact that there's no common start. You always start last, some 20 seconds or so behind the leader. In a normal race with normal drivers 20 seconds is an impossible gap to close, especially over only 3-5 laps. In fact, even if everyone started together it would be a miracle to go from last to first in so few laps.

To address the issue, they would need to do the following:

  • Increase race length. Perhaps they could even make this an adjustable setting, like in Arcade mode.

  • Everyone starts the race together, rolling or standing.

  • Replace rubberbanding with an AI "skill" setting that you can set before the race. They could also keep rubberbanding as an option, so if for instance my grandmother with no previous racing experience wants to try a race she can have a little easier opposition. Perhaps even add a setting that adjusts the tension of the rubberband, i.e. how big influence rubberbanding has on the AI. So if you want a lot of rubberbanding you set the tension to high, if you want a little you set tension to low, if you don't want rubberbanding you just untick the box.
PD also needs to program all AI opponents to use competitive cars. An career event with a limit of 650PP where there's 1 or 2 AI opponents using cars around 600PP and everybody else is using cars with 570PP or lower isn't fun or challenging at all.
 
There's a solution.💡
BOB b-spec has three settings
-Own pace
-Push pace
-and Push it hard

If PD would/could put that in for AI, then both problems could get solved for you all.

only thing that has to be done, that "push it hard" really keeps the leaders to push it hard.
 
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