I’m having twice the fun playing Arcade while the servers are down!

  • Thread starter TFSI400
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TFSI400

TFSI400

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United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Honestly, this is how every career race should be. Standing start, cars jostling for position before the first corner, contact, sparks, spins and drama!

Watching the replays back is like watching BTCC back in the 90s. It’s proper hardcore racing. I’ve genuinely enjoyed every race I’ve done offline today so much more than 99% of the career races.

This has really opened my eyes.

Why couldn’t this be the norm?! Why haven’t they grasped that these dramatic and competitive races would make the career simply much more fun? Is there a reason?

I’m truly bewildered here. It’s like I’m playing a different game 😕
 
This is one of the main things that truly, and completely baffles me about this game.

Apart from removing needed features from lobbies for no reason, the decision to put terrible AI on career races while there's another perfectly good AI ready to go is actually warping my mind, because I can't think of a valid reason for it!
 
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Streeto
This is one of the main things that truly, and completely baffles me about this game.

Apart from removing needed features from lobbies, putting terrible AI on career races while there's another perfectly good AI ready to go is actually frustrating me because I can't think of a valid reason.
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That’s something I wondered about actually. The AI in these Arcade races seems… different? In a good way.

It felt like they were driving more competitively and acted less idiotic. I don’t know if I’m imagining it though 🤔
 
TFSI400
That’s something I wondered about actually. The AI in these Arcade races seems… different? In a good way.

It felt like they were driving more competitively and acted less idiotic. I don’t know if I’m imagining it though 🤔
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Perhaps the chili setting influences the GT7 arcade AI as well and not just the races tagged with chilis?

Good to hear the arcade's AI does it's job, I actually might try a few races right now as I just checked to see if server's back up.
 
I wouldnt mind if ee could make a custom race but you can't . I have been arguing day 1 the AI is good but the race formats are bad .
 
TFSI400
That’s something I wondered about actually. The AI in these Arcade races seems… different? In a good way.

It felt like they were driving more competitively and acted less idiotic. I don’t know if I’m imagining it though 🤔
Click to expand...
It's the custom race AI, same as in GT Sport but a bit faster and more defending of the inside lines compared to GT Sport.

They are still not very good though. I did an arcade race in the rain on N24 and they clearly didn't have the right tires. I finished a minute ahead of the pack. At night or rather on a cold track they are the most competitive as it seems they're not affected by changes in grip by temperature. I could easily beat them on the afternoon setting, yet at night I didn't have as much grip and the AI re-passed me on the outside at the mini karoussel before the straight. That car just got the boost, rubber banding is very clearly in action, but that's not a pass I've ever seen happen online (without the car on the inside wiping out)

Anyway was fun to see the N24 in the rain as it never rained on my first 24h (condensed to 3 hours) endurance race on N24 with full dynamic weather. Too bad you can't set up a custom race in offline mode, just nr of laps with one weather preset.
 
TFSI400
Honestly, this is how every career race should be. Standing start, cars jostling for position before the first corner, contact, sparks, spins and drama!

Watching the replays back is like watching BTCC back in the 90s. It’s proper hardcore racing. I’ve genuinely enjoyed every race I’ve done offline today so much more than 99% of the career races.

This has really opened my eyes.

Why couldn’t this be the norm?! Why haven’t they grasped that these dramatic and competitive races would make the career simply much more fun? Is there a reason?

I’m truly bewildered here. It’s like I’m playing a different game 😕
Click to expand...
If only it were filled with actual TCR cars....
 
The AI are still a bit average. They don't take defensive lines coming to a corner. They still brake unnecessarily when right behind them. They still pit manoeuvre you. But compared to career, chase the rabbit races, it's a whole other world.
 
Some good points made.

Re AI lines, they make some interesting decisions at Trial Mountain for sure 😂 I spent most of my time there yesterday so can’t really vouch for other tracks, but it sounds like the same all round.

So yes, it’s still not ‘the best racing AI ever’, not by a long shot. But comparing it alongside the career AI it’s definitely an improvement. Add in the grids starts and the experience becomes so much better. I’m actually cracking a smile throughout the races..!
 
Yesterday I also raced on the Nordschleife (where else is the best track in the world). At the hardest level and then GT3 with the (terrible) Mazda .. that was quite an experience. For a while I was just trying to overtake all the cars as early and as quickly as possible. Flying start, but the gaps were very, very small, so it was really a challenge.
For a very long time I tried to overtake the NSX directly at the airfield, because the AI brakes extremely there, it's not easy to be able to drive cleanly there and with sooo much more speed when the AI blocks the ideal line.
I then slowed down a bit and figured I could grab the others later.
In the end I conceded number 1 between the Courage Curve and the Karussel and drove the race home.
I had advised my friends who hate the Nordschleife to just drive it right now in the server down time, but soo many just don't like the ring. :(
 
I’ve got a question, hopefully someone can help?

I thought I’d have another Arcade race, despite the game being back online, but I can’t seem to recreate the same competitive nature of the races I had while the game was offline.

One thing I believe is important to this is applying BoP (Balance of Performance). This was definitely in use by default in the offline races - it was highlighted in yellow on a pre race screen. However, I can’t seem to find the option now.

If I go into Arcade Race I simply get 3 levels of difficulty to choose from. No mention of BoP anywhere.

Likewise if I select Custom Race, there’s no option to toggle BoP on or off. The only option that’s close to that is Boost (on or off) which from its description doesn’t sound like the same thing (it only boosts cars behind you, rather than matches the performance of all cars from the get-go).

Am I missing something here? Am I right in thinking BoP is the key? If so, where is the option?!

EDIT

Seems I’ve found it. If you use cars from your garage as opposition there’s no BoP applied, but if you select the opposition by class it does indeed bring up ‘Apply BoP’ in yellow on the pre race screen.
 
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I played offline arcade for like an hour last night. On Pro difficulty. Start from the back by not going on green. You can catch the leader in like 3 laps and then mysteriously the leader starts to match your pace and you leave everyone else behind. So it has rubber banding too. AI is just very poor in this game.
 
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Sounds like it's the same AI that is used in the post-Cafe "career" races.
They are more competitive, but still dumb af.
They sometimes brake way too early, only to lift again and almost don't make the corner, or ram you in the process; they ignore you and steer into the corner although you're on the inside and have the line etc.

The rubberband here is just adjusted so they're quicker.
 

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