Gran Turismo 7 Custom Race thread

[jesse100190]

had to deal with a late race monsoon at Suzuka tonight during the gr.1 race pitted in time at the end of lap 6 for inters and it was pouring the rest of the race.

 

[sejtur]

I made a feature request in the suggestions forum to make rubber banding AI optional. If you’d like PD to implement it, please like that post.

Thread 'Make AI rubber-banding behavior optional'

Mar 23, 2026

It makes the racing a bit artificial, so I’d like to see a toggle in the main options menu for all races that include AI drivers, also custom races. When switched on, it keeps it as it is, and when switched off, it removes all rubber-banding behavior.

Thank you.

• sejtur
• Replies: 0
• Forum: Features

 

[Voodoovaj]

I made a feature request in the suggestions forum to make rubber banding AI optional. If you’d like PD to implement it, please like that post.

Thread 'Make AI rubber-banding behavior optional'

Mar 23, 2026

It makes the racing a bit artificial, so I’d like to see a toggle in the main options menu for all races that include AI drivers, also custom races. When switched on, it keeps it as it is, and when switched off, it removes all rubber-banding behavior.

Thank you.

• sejtur
• Replies: 0
• Forum: Features

It already is optional. This is what the weak boost setting is.

If you play without weak boost, that's what no rubber banding is like. With no boost, the AI has to be set to one pace, even though players range from people who can barely turn a corner to those who can compete with the best in the world. So, they find a middle ground. So, yes, "no rubber banding" is "boost off". What you requested is to have the feature that the game already has, and you hope that PD understands what you are actually trying to ask for.

How can you ensure that the AI gives a fun experience for everyone? Basic AI behavior (no boost) or the boosted behavior for those who want a challenge. Where the issue is for most people is that the boost becomes so extreme that it breaks the immersion, which is a different ask altogether. I agree that the boosted AI should not be able to set impossible lap times, but that is a different request.

 

[sejtur]

It already is optional. This is what the weak boost setting is.

If you play without weak boost, that's what no rubber banding is like. With no boost, the AI has to be set to one pace, even though players range from people who can barely turn a corner to those who can compete with the best in the world. So, they find a middle ground. So, yes, "no rubber banding" is "boost off". What you requested is to have the feature that the game already has, and you hope that PD understands what you are actually trying to ask for.

How can you ensure that the AI gives a fun experience for everyone? Basic AI behavior (no boost) or the boosted behavior for those who want a challenge. Where the issue is for most people is that the boost becomes so extreme that it breaks the immersion, which is a different ask altogether. I agree that the boosted AI should not be able to set impossible lap times, but that is a different request.

It is not already optional. "Boost off" still has rubber banding, as you can see in the video I added in this post. And I'm not just talking about custom races. In the pre-made races, you can't even adjust the boost. But that doesn't matter, as rubber banding occurs regardless of the boost type. About giving everyone a good experience: that's why I suggest the rubber banding being optional with a toggle in the main options menu. For me and many others, the game would be more enjoyable without rubber banding.

 

[Voodoovaj]

It is not already optional. "Boost off" still has rubber banding, as you can see in the video I added in this post. And I'm not just talking about custom races. In the pre-made races, you can't even adjust the boost. But that doesn't matter, as rubber banding occurs regardless of the boost type. About giving everyone a good experience: that's why I suggest the rubber banding being optional with a toggle in the main options menu. For me and many others, the game would be more enjoyable without rubber banding.

Again, I don't think enough people grasp this.

Ok - take it off completely. Now tell me, how fast should the AI go? 100% of what the car can do will be equivalent to DR S+ (superhuman), so choosing 100% of the car's ability would be the worst choice. Which level do you choose to accommodate all skill levels?

Pick a pace from the list below.

(equivalent to...)
DR S
DR A+
DR B
DR C
DR E

It can only be one so which one? Remember, it's not rubber banding anymore. It's going to run the exact same lap time, every lap, no change at all. It's not going to scale to your skill level if your skill level changes. What do you do once you get good enough to beat it? Because you will never lose to it ever again.

So which one do you choose? You only get to choose one. One for every player out there.

And remember, real people also "rubber band".

 

[sejtur]

Again, I don't think enough people grasp this.

Ok - take it off completely. Now tell me, how fast should the AI go? 100% of what the car can do will be equivalent to DR S+ (superhuman), so choosing 100% of the car's ability would be the worst choice. Which level do you choose to accommodate all skill levels?

Pick a pace from the list below.

(equivalent to...)
DR S
DR A+
DR B
DR C
DR E

It can only be one so which one? Remember, it's not rubber banding anymore. It's going to run the exact same lap time, every lap, no change at all. It's not going to scale to your skill level if your skill level changes. What do you do once you get good enough to beat it? Because you will never lose to it ever again.

So which one do you choose? You only get to choose one. One for every player out there.

And remember, real people also "rubber band".

They can assign a certain pace to every difficulty setting. Let’s say: hard = S, normal = B, easy = D. Additionally, the player also has the choice which pp his car is. They already have different paces for every difficulty so they may not have to change much, aside from removing the rubber banding ofcourse. And if you want to race with rubber banding, just keep the toggle switched on.

 

[Voodoovaj]

They can assign a certain pace to every difficulty setting. Let’s say: hard = S, normal = B, easy = D. Additionally, the player also has the choice which pp his car is.

You described how the game is now. You simply may not realize it, because it's not intuitive.

On a side note, I don't think people really grasp how fast DR S guys are. I'm a DR A+, I hold my own online fairly well, and the DR S guys are around 2 seconds a lap faster than me on most tracks.

They already have different paces for every difficulty so they may not have to change much, aside from removing the rubber banding ofcourse. And if you want to race with rubber banding, just keep the toggle switched on.

If you change the difficulty, the competition changes. If you choose "easy" (beginner, I don't remember what it's called...no peppers??) the cars in the race are lower PP. If you choose more peppers, the cars are higher PP. Of course, this excludes the races where they enforce a certain behaviour. This is why they say that changing difficulty may not affect all races.

We all assume the AI gets better in any given car if we make the difficulty "professional", but what it really does, is give he AI faster cars. It's been this way forever. During the GT5 hack, you could turn the difficulty up to 10 and if you entered a race with a 550pp car, your competition would be in Group C racers. Test it, you will see it still behaves this way.

And again, when you refer to rubber banding, you have to be specific to what aspect you are referring to, because real life racing had rubber banding. That is a normal behavior. Some laps racer 1 is faster, other laps race 2 is faster, and they change positions.

I agree that the excessive and obvious rubber banding is bad for the experience, but the subtle stuff is absolutely necessary.




On a completely unrelated note, I think my app is ready for the world. I want to speak to the admins first.

 

[sejtur]

You described how the game is now. You simply may not realize it, because it's not intuitive.

That’s why I said they don’t have to change much. To me, the difficulties are intuitive. They can keep that as is IMO.

On a side note, I don't think people really grasp how fast DR S guys are. I'm a DR A+, I hold my own online fairly well, and the DR S guys are around 2 seconds a lap faster than me on most tracks.

You can always pick a faster car. I’m B I think. Long time since I did online races.

And again, when you refer to rubber banding, you have to be specific to what aspect you are referring to, because real life racing had rubber banding. That is a normal behavior. Some laps racer 1 is faster, other laps race 2 is faster, and they change positions.

I agree that the excessive and obvious rubber banding is bad for the experience, but the subtle stuff is absolutely necessary.

We don’t know exactly which rubber banding systems are in place, but speaking for myself, and to keep the communication simple to PD, I’d say remove all rubber banding and just let the cars drive their maximum pace for the respective level.

 

[Voodoovaj]

We don’t know exactly which rubber banding systems are in place, but speaking for myself, and to keep the communication simple to PD, I’d say remove all rubber banding and just let the cars drive their maximum pace for the respective level.

No offense, but you don't realize what you are asking for. You are thinking of the AI like people. No racing AI can work as you describe. NO game has ever implemented that, and there's a good reason for it, it's boring and way more annoying.

You're going to try to fit 10 million players into 4 or 5 tiers, none of which will be interesting to anyone.

Trust me (and no disrespect meant) if you are a solid B when racing with others, then the AI is slowing down for you. You want that rubber band in there. The AI is slowing down for almost all of us. No one complains about it, because few notice it. It's the rapid recovery we hate.


On another note, my team manager (from my app) told me to finish 4th. I was closing in on a podium and realized that I woudl be 1 lap short on fuel. The series leaders seemed to be dropping back from me, and I realized that they were conserving fuel, while I was burning it. Here is the last lap. I REALLY hoped the series leaders would pit, but no luck. Still, the race was on for 4th. Big mistake by Sophy at the Monza chicane made it interesting.



I'm finding that 3x Fuel and 5X tires is the sweet spot for these sprint races 10-15 laps.

 

[suomi1]

That’s why I said they don’t have to change much. To me, the difficulties are intuitive. They can keep that as is IMO.

You can always pick a faster car. I’m B I think. Long time since I did online races.

We don’t know exactly which rubber banding systems are in place, but speaking for myself, and to keep the communication simple to PD, I’d say remove all rubber banding and just let the cars drive their maximum pace for the respective level.

Don't waste your time arguing with him about rubber banding bro, we already tried.

 

[Voodoovaj]

Don't waste your time arguing with him about rubber banding bro, we already tried.

you not understanding how racing game AI works doesn't make me wrong bro.

There's an ENORMOUS difference between setting the rubber banding to be unobtrusive, and removing it altogether. It's like the difference between drowning and dying of thirst. Asking for it to be toned down is possible, asking for it to be removed is not.

 

[sejtur]

No offense, but you don't realize what you are asking for. You are thinking of the AI like people. No racing AI can work as you describe. NO game has ever implemented that, and there's a good reason for it, it's boring and way more annoying.

How did you distill from my words that I think of AI like people? And Assetto Corsa and ACC work exactly like I describe. No rubber banding.

 

[Dave A]

you not understanding how racing game AI works doesn't make me wrong bro.

There's an ENORMOUS difference between setting the rubber banding to be unobtrusive, and removing it altogether. It's like the difference between drowning and dying of thirst. Asking for it to be toned down is possible, asking for it to be removed is not.

There are games which have no rubber banding whatsoever, and you can mod older GT titles so that the AI doesn't use rubber banding at all. But it is easier to create closer, entertaining races with some rubber banding than with none at all albeit not impossible to do so.

I know, as I've modded games to remove the rubber banding entirely in races and still created close races. That's not to say your point has no merit, if the intention is to create races that will feel close, engaging and entertain the majority of players, some rubber banding that's not overly noticeable/intrusive can be a winner and it can make balancing the races far, far easier.

But it's incorrect to state that no game just lets the AI drivers go and the engine doesn't rubber band them in any way. Plenty of games do that, to varying degrees of success, just like there are varying degrees of success as far as implementation of rubber banding in racing games goes.

I think you are confusing rubber banding with programming AI behavior. You can set AI to drive within certain thresholds to simulate skill settings, GT has settings for the AI's skill at acceleration, cornering, braking, aggression and so on, you set values to those and the AI will drive according to how you have set the virtual driver up. That is not rubber banding, as those parameters do not change in-race based on how fast or slow the player is driving.

So if you set an AI car and driver to do a 1'30-ish lap time, without rubber banding that driver will complete lap times in that area (excluding laps where mistakes or crashes may occur). With rubber banding on, if you overtake that car and pull ahead, those lap times will start to drop, conversely, if you fall behind the lap times will get slower. It will vary based on how fast you, the player, is driving. That's rubber banding.

 

[suomi1]

There are games which have no rubber banding whatsoever, and you can mod older GT titles so that the AI doesn't use rubber banding at all. But it is easier to create closer, entertaining races with some rubber banding than with none at all albeit not impossible to do so.

I know, as I've modded games to remove the rubber banding entirely in races and still created close races. That's not to say your point has no merit, if the intention is to create races that will feel close, engaging and entertain the majority of players, some rubber banding that's not overly noticeable/intrusive can be a winner and it can make balancing the races far, far easier.

But it's incorrect to state that no game just lets the AI drivers go and the engine doesn't rubber band them in any way. Plenty of games do that, to varying degrees of success, just like there are varying degrees of success as far as implementation of rubber banding in racing games goes.

I think you are confusing rubber banding with programming AI behavior. You can set AI to drive within certain thresholds to simulate skill settings, GT has settings for the AI's skill at acceleration, cornering, braking, aggression and so on, you set values to those and the AI will drive according to how you have set the virtual driver up. That is not rubber banding, as those parameters do not change in-race based on how fast or slow the player is driving.

So if you set an AI car and driver to do a 1'30-ish lap time, without rubber banding that driver will complete lap times in that area (excluding laps where mistakes or crashes may occur). With rubber banding on, if you overtake that car and pull ahead, those lap times will start to drop, conversely, if you fall behind the lap times will get slower. It will vary based on how fast you, the player, is driving. That's rubber banding.

Exactly, and let's add to that the fact that some dataminers have confirmed the thing was far more of a mess than we initially thought, with layers upon layers upon layers of rubberbanding and AI behavior presets stacked.

I did another test this morning, just to see if any update has changed something recently. It works exactly the same.
Boost weak stays the best solution since the performance window in which the AI evolves is the narrowest. That said, a 5-second difference for a GT3 at High Speed Ring is still quite significant (6 seconds for Polyphony's AI).

 

[Voodoovaj]

There are games which have no rubber banding whatsoever, and you can mod older GT titles so that the AI doesn't use rubber banding at all. But it is easier to create closer, entertaining races with some rubber banding than with none at all albeit not impossible to do so.

You're talking about the part you dislike, and ignoring the parts you do like. That's why we all play with the weak boost on.

I know, as I've modded games to remove the rubber banding entirely in races and still created close races. That's not to say your point has no merit, if the intention is to create races that will feel close, engaging and entertain the majority of players, some rubber banding that's not overly noticeable/intrusive can be a winner and it can make balancing the races far, far easier.

Maybe you did. I didn't know that you could mod out the entire AI system of a game. Did you write the AI that replaced it?

Or, are you saying that you modded the system to reduce the parts you didn't like. it's an important distinction.

I think you are confusing rubber banding with programming AI behavior. You can set AI to drive within certain thresholds to simulate skill settings, GT has settings for the AI's skill at acceleration, cornering, braking, aggression and so on, you set values to those and the AI will drive according to how you have set the virtual driver up. That is not rubber banding, as those parameters do not change in-race based on how fast or slow the player is driving.

Rubber banding is a behavior. It's the behaviour that allows them to race with you and it's part of the entire system.

I guarantee, with 100% certainty, that when you're talking about it, you're thinking of stuff that seems unnatural, like all of sudden boosting in straight-line speed, or dropping 5 seconds a lap. That's the stuff we hate.

But it's also out braking you. It's also exiting corners better than you. It's also all the things you love. People are confusing the parts they dislike with the totality of what makes it fun.

I worked on all this, directed most of them. The only thing on this list I didn't direct or design in some capacity is 2142. There's another dozen or so games that I shipped on top of this, and another dozen or so that didn't make it from start to finish (the BF based zombie game is the one I wish we shipped). Trust me when I say that I know how game AI works, regardless of what game it is. Asking for the rubber banding to be removed altogether is not what you want. You want it toned down to natural levels so that you never notice it. It's literally a fix they could make in an afternoon if they wanted to. At least I know that I could fix it in an afternoon.

When I get angry at PD, it's because I know what they're doing wrong and how it can be fixed. As in, I would bet my life on it.

 

[Dave A]

You're talking about the part you dislike, and ignoring the parts you do like. That's why we all play with the weak boost on.

Maybe you did. I didn't know that you could mod out the entire AI system of a game. Did you write the AI that replaced it?

Or, are you saying that you modded the system to reduce the parts you didn't like. it's an important distinction.


Rubber banding is a behavior. It's the behaviour that allows them to race with you and it's part of the entire system.

I guarantee, with 100% certainty, that when you're talking about it, you're thinking of stuff that seems unnatural, like all of sudden boosting in straight-line speed, or dropping 5 seconds a lap. That's the stuff we hate.

But it's also out braking you. It's also exiting corners better than you. It's also all the things you love. People are confusing the parts they dislike with the totality of what makes it fun.

I worked on all this, directed most of them. The only thing on this list I didn't direct or design in some capacity is 2142. There's another dozen or so games that I shipped on top of this, and another dozen or so that didn't make it from start to finish (the BF based zombie game is the one I wish we shipped). Trust me when I say that I know how game AI works, regardless of what game it is. Asking for the rubber banding to be removed altogether is not what you want. You want it toned down to natural levels so that you never notice it. It's literally a fix they could make in an afternoon if they wanted to. At least I know that I could fix it in an afternoon.
View attachment 1523559

When I get angry at PD, it's because I know what they're doing wrong and how it can be fixed. As in, I would bet my life on it.

You are still confusing general AI programming with rubber banding.

The fact the AI exists and can virtually drive a car around the track and be programmed to do that to one degree of simulated skill or another is not rubber banding.

Rubber banding is dynamically altering the pace of the AI as a reaction to the pace of the player in relation tot he AI. If the player is faster, then so is the AI. If the player is slower, the so is the AI. This is not giving the same as programming the AI to race at a certain pace.

And while I did not rewrite the AI of GT4, 5 or 6, I can turn the rubber banding off in each way f those games so that the AI proceeds at an approximate pace regardless of how fast or slow I drive. That means the rubber banding is off, not low, off. And this is easilly confined by racing the AI and tracking their pace and seeing that it doesn't change regardless of the player pulling ahead or falling behind.

Rubber banding is not what you think it is, it is specifically a dynamic difficulty modifier that increases or decreases difficulty (pace) of the AI based on your own (the players) pace.

Rubber banding is not programming the AI to race at a set pace and only that pace regardless of how fast or slow the player is.

FTAOD I have written rudimentary path finding AI in a project that followed a racing line and looked at braking distances, corner angles and reacted to its own grip etc. It wasn't that complex, and depending on some parameters I entered, I could lap faster or slower than it, but it had zero rubber banding. It did not react to my times or pace at all.

 

[jesse100190]

26.2 mile dirt races are like the longest time wise for me around 30 mins

 

[Voodoovaj]

You are still confusing general AI programming with rubber banding.

I'm not. the rubber band is a necessary part. It's how the other drivers know you exist.

Like, I've done this for a lifetime...literally.

FTAOD I have written rudimentary path finding AI in a project that followed a racing line and looked at braking distances, corner angles and reacted to its own grip etc. It wasn't that complex, and depending on some parameters I entered, I could lap faster or slower than it, but it had zero rubber banding. It did not react to my times or pace at all.

Ya, exactly. Having the cars find their way around the track, and ignore your existence, is indeed pathfinding, and they ignore your existence. It's driving against zombies. No one wants that.

What we are shooting for, and complaining about all the time, is having the "AI" cars react like people. Having a bunch of cars that simply path-find is not "intelligent". They're just pylons. They don't race you, and they know nothing of your existence. You want them to be cognizant of you. You want them to have a directive to be in front of you, to want o pass you, etc, etc, You want them to be alive.

(I don't want to get into a GDC presentation on this so I'll try to keep it brief)

What's unfortunate is that PD increases a car's performance limits in order to execute on these directives. That's the part no one wants. Changing the car's performance is not rubber banding - it's NPC cheating (increasing NPC ability beyond player ability). No one likes this...NO ONE (even me, I hate it, you have no idea how much I hate it, it's nail on a blackboard for me)

Here's an example of the difference:

Let's say there's pit stops and you end up 5 seconds ahead with several laps to go.

Proper implementation (what literally everyone is asking for, even though they can't quite articulate it) would have the AI try to close you down to the the best of it's ability. Maybe it catches you, maybe it doesn't, but it knows that you are ahead and it knows that it needs to close that gap (rubber band back to you). No change to the car, just AI trying to catch you on even terms.

Improper implementation (which is what we have in custom races) The AI sees the gap (5 seconds) and the car's power and grip is boosted to abnormal levels to close the gap down as rapidly as possible.

The reason the weak boost works to well is because they are rubber banding away from you, but it's often not noticeable, except for the start of races. You want the rubber band. You want the NPC cars to feel alive. You just don't want them cheating, and I agree.

 

[Sir Crashalot]

I currently started doing some Gordini Cup races on smaller circuits against Reggie.
Cars are completely stock and I'm limiting myself by setting power output to 94% and not using ABS. I also only do about 3-4 laps in time trial prior to the race to get used to the car/track combination a bit, but not too much.
Works well! The car is fun to drive (and very slippery) and the races I did so far felt pretty realistic. Just did 15 laps at Brands Hatch Indy, started P18 and only managed to finish P11.

 

[Dave A]

I'm not. the rubber band is a necessary part. It's how the other drivers know you exist.

Like, I've done this for a lifetime...literally.

Ya, exactly. Having the cars find their way around the track, and ignore your existence, is indeed pathfinding, and they ignore your existence. It's driving against zombies. No one wants that.

What we are shooting for, and complaining about all the time, is having the "AI" cars react like people. Having a bunch of cars that simply path-find is not "intelligent". They're just pylons. They don't race you, and they know nothing of your existence. You want them to be cognizant of you. You want them to have a directive to be in front of you, to want o pass you, etc, etc, You want them to be alive.

(I don't want to get into a GDC presentation on this so I'll try to keep it brief)

What's unfortunate is that PD increases a car's performance limits in order to execute on these directives. That's the part no one wants. Changing the car's performance is not rubber banding - it's NPC cheating (increasing NPC ability beyond player ability). No one likes this...NO ONE (even me, I hate it, you have no idea how much I hate it, it's nail on a blackboard for me)

Here's an example of the difference:

Let's say there's pit stops and you end up 5 seconds ahead with several laps to go.

Proper implementation (what literally everyone is asking for, even though they can't quite articulate it) would have the AI try to close you down to the the best of it's ability. Maybe it catches you, maybe it doesn't, but it knows that you are ahead and it knows that it needs to close that gap (rubber band back to you). No change to the car, just AI trying to catch you on even terms.

Improper implementation (which is what we have in custom races) The AI sees the gap (5 seconds) and the car's power and grip is boosted to abnormal levels to close the gap down as rapidly as possible.

The reason the weak boost works to well is because they are rubber banding away from you, but it's often not noticeable, except for the start of races. You want the rubber band. You want the NPC cars to feel alive. You just don't want them cheating, and I agree.

No, that's not rubber banding. That's AI programming. Rubber banding isn't knowing that you, the player, are there and reacting accordingly, it is specifically, the AI slowing down or speeding up based on your, the players, pace. You are miss applying what rubber banding is here.

 

[jesse100190]

had a few late lap monsoon tonight at Tsukuba had some oranges/reds

 

[pritchyTim]

i’m not going to bother reading everything i missed above, tons of conjecture and possibly inappropriate comparisons to other games. you were doing so well, AJ! Keep updating me about your LLM fun

you can’t turn off the rubberband in GT7
the past thousand+ comments include our collectively determining what levers we can pull to outwit the ever-present rubberband, regardless of how you toggle the Boost setting.

The closest we’ve come to zero rubberband is to never take first place. Can be solved with a pace car - just make sure it is on the same tires as you so you avoid this! Had neglected to give it sport tires here, and you can clearly see the rubberband kick into action at the very moment I take first place. The prior laps had allowed me to pull a decent gap on “second” (third, with safety car paving the way).



Back to what started the discussion - a feature request is a lovely thought, though it doesn’t go anywhere from here to PD. We can all probably agree it would be nice to have a setting, and/or a setting that does what it says it does (boost), but in the end we all have to work around these issues together given what tools ARE in the game.

 

[Sir Crashalot]

I see a lot of complaining about AI on other sims also. Looks like making a AI that drives like humans is indeed hard. It's a known problem for other fields also. For example in Chess. There are tons of bots for any range of ELO but most players agree that none of them play like a human.

 

[Voodoovaj]

No, that's not rubber banding. That's AI programming. Rubber banding isn't knowing that you, the player, are there and reacting accordingly, it is specifically, the AI slowing down or speeding up based on your, the players, pace. You are miss applying what rubber banding is here.

Wow, thank you! I had no idea. You have helped me to realize that entire 30 year career as a professional game developer and accredited expert in the field is a complete lie. Thanks for letting me know. Great timing too, because I have a really important publisher meeting next week. I'll tell them that I a complete sham.

Or maybe, you've got it wrong and you're using incorrect terminology.




Anyway, my AI driven season manager is ready for the wild if anyone wants to Beta test it. I don't know what I am going to do with it, because it's just a project that I created to help train myself on new systems. If you are interested, DM me. Sorry if you are new to the forum, I am only going to share with the folks that have at least 1000 posts. I only want to give out a handful.

 

[Dave A]

Wow, thank you! I had no idea. You have helped me to realize that entire 30 year career as a professional game developer and accredited expert in the field is a complete lie. Thanks for letting me know. Great timing too, because I have a really important publisher meeting next week. I'll tell them that I a complete sham.

Or maybe, you've got it wrong and you're using incorrect terminology.

https://www.gameaipro.com/GameAIPro/GameAIPro_Chapter42_A_Rubber-Banding_System_for_Gameplay_and_Race_Management.pdf

Rubber-banding is a technique used in racing games to keep the AI drivers near to the players in order to maintain the excitement in races. In simple terms, when an AI-controlled vehicle gets too far in front of the player, it will slow down to allow the player to catch up and, similarly, AI-controlled vehicles behind the player will gain a boost to their speed to help them catch up to the player. In this way, the AI-controlled vehicles will appear to be attached to the player via a rubber band, never getting too far from the player, hence the term rubber-banding

The Pure Advantage: Advanced Racing Game AI

How do you stop racing game AI seeming unfair, but heighten competition? Black Rock's Jimenez goes in-depth to reveal the company's AI tactics for the critically acclaimed Pure.

www.gamedeveloper.com

Rubber banding is a system that tries to maintain the tension and thrill of the race by keeping the AI characters around the player. It does so by reducing (drastically) the velocity, cornering skills, obstacle avoidance, etc., of the AI characters in front of player, and increasing (just as drastically) the skills of the ones behind.

Explaining "Rubber-Banding AI" in Game Design - Game Wisdom

The use of rubber-banding AI or giving the AI unfair advantages is a poor form of game design and does more harm than good.

game-wisdom.com

game developers implemented a rubber-banding AI — Meaning that the AI will shift its play style according to how well the player is doing. If the player falls behind, the AI will not play as well to let them catch up; if the player starts to win then the AI will become smarter and play better to close the gap.

strategy games like Civilization are notorious for giving the AI advantages to let them keep up with better players instead of just playing the game better.

We usually see rubber- banding AI in competitive titles where it’s easy to see who is winning at a glance and such comebacks are possible.

In racing games for instance you can easily tell who’s in what place and give them certain advantages to help boost their position.

https://www.ijarcst.org/index.php/ijarcst/article/download/144/136

Rubber Banding: usually used in racing games where AI vehicles slow down or speeds up

Understanding Rubber Band AI: The Controversial Catch-Up Mechanism in Racing Games

This article explores the concept of rubber band AI in racing games, discussing its implications on gameplay experience and player satisfaction.

www.oreateai.com

In the world of racing games, few terms spark as much debate as 'rubber band AI.' This term refers to a controversial artificial intelligence mechanism designed to keep races competitive by adjusting the performance of opponents based on your position. Imagine you're leading a race, adrenaline pumping, and suddenly you notice that those behind you seem to be gaining ground at an alarming rate. It feels like they’re tethered to you with an invisible rubber band—stretching when you're ahead but snapping back into place when they need it most.

https://giantbomb.com/wiki/Concepts/Rubber_Band_AI

Rubber band AI refers to a feature of artificial intelligence found in racing titles that is designed to prevent players from getting too far ahead of computer-controlled opponents. When done well, such AIs can maintain a consistent level of challenge from the beginning of an event to the end. However, when done poorly, it becomes evident that the game is bending its own rules in the computer's favour, either by temporarily enhancing the CPU's abilities, such as by making a CPU character drive at a faster speed than their vehicle is supposedly capable of going, or by inhibiting the abilities of the player(s)'s vehicle, or both. The term is derived from the metaphor of a rubber band connecting the player's car with an AI-controlled car; no matter how well the player performs, they cannot leave the computer players behind, because the rubber band will tighten again after being stretched, pulling the computer vehicle back up to the player.

Interestingly, all of these describe it as others are explaining it to you, not as you are explaining your interpretation. Forgive me for not changing my view based on a random user on a forum who disagrees with every verified technical paper on the matter I've read.

 

[Voodoovaj]

https://www.gameaipro.com/GameAIPro/GameAIPro_Chapter42_A_Rubber-Banding_System_for_Gameplay_and_Race_Management.pdf

The Pure Advantage: Advanced Racing Game AI

How do you stop racing game AI seeming unfair, but heighten competition? Black Rock's Jimenez goes in-depth to reveal the company's AI tactics for the critically acclaimed Pure.

www.gamedeveloper.com

Explaining "Rubber-Banding AI" in Game Design - Game Wisdom

The use of rubber-banding AI or giving the AI unfair advantages is a poor form of game design and does more harm than good.

game-wisdom.com

https://www.ijarcst.org/index.php/ijarcst/article/download/144/136

Understanding Rubber Band AI: The Controversial Catch-Up Mechanism in Racing Games

This article explores the concept of rubber band AI in racing games, discussing its implications on gameplay experience and player satisfaction.

www.oreateai.com

https://giantbomb.com/wiki/Concepts/Rubber_Band_AI

Interestingly, all of these describe it as others are explaining it to you, not as you are explaining your interpretation. Forgive me for not changing my view based on a random user on a forum who disagrees with every verified technical paper on the matter I've read.

I'll take my credentials over theirs - But hey, you do you. We're off topic

 

[Dave A]

View attachment 1523788

I'll take my credentials over theirs - But hey, you do you. We're off topic

You can take whatever credentials you want. I provided several credible sources that confirm exactly what people (in the industry as well as here) mean when they talk about rubber banding in racing games, which you haven't countered. It is you who stated otherwise and have yet to back that up with anything more than "trust me bro".

If you are right, and I struggle to see how (with the exception that if what you mean and how it's been interpreted have not married up correctly) given that I know of and can find plenty of papers, articles and discussions referring to it as exactly what I am describing and not how I am interpreting what you are describing it as, cite some sources. If you are right and you want to educate the conversation, stop making "trust me" arguments and educate.

I am aware it can mean something entirely different in online games and relate to lag, and objects moving then resetting back to an earlier/original position. But that's a different definition to the one being used in this conversation.

 

[Gingerale]

I think I'm on team Dave here, rubberbanding is a specific mechanic in racing games where AI speeds up or slows down depending on the position of the player.

 

[Voodoovaj]

OK, SPIRIT OF RACING is ready for sharing.

I don't want to post the link for the open public so DM me if you want a copy. Even @Dave A can have one

@Sir Crashalot @suomi1 anyone who is really interested in making the custom race feature come to life. I only ask that it's people with at least 1000 posts, and I am going to limit availability at that.

Most features will work without an API key form Anthropic, but if you want all the features, you will have to go buy a key. I think it's worth it. I'm loving the emails.


Like I said, DM me and I will send you a link

 

[CodeRedR51]

Using a rabbit car 100% eliminates rubber banding.

Should we have to do that? No. Does it make the racing better? Yes.