Ok, this is really weird....

[CommanderBond]

ive been goofing off back at Sardegna on the WTC 800 grind races this past week and i came across something i never have before... the AI seemed to run out of fuel.

The first time it happened i was leading and i ran smack into the rear of mr. Ordonez ( nissan ) doing about 40 mph (80 kmh ). it was weird and i didnt expect it. it happened again a few more times and i thought it was pretty odd.

i watched the replay from the drivers camera and there were no lights on the dash that were flashing or anything like that so i thought it was really weird.

has this happened to anyone else ?

 

[Famine]

has this happened to anyone else ?

Yes. It's infrequent, but it happens.

Additionally, for a second time:

You will not use “textspeak” (“r”, “u”, “plz”, etc.) in your messages. Decent grammar is expected at all times, including proper usage of capital letters.

 

[Meythia]

has this happened to anyone else ?

As Famine already pointed out, it can happen.

I guess it depends on the circumstances, sometimes the AI can trigger it to happen on its own, but the player can also contribute to this.
My guess based on the observation is that AI will pit at different laps depending on in how much "fighting" it is involved.
This can be among other AI, but very likely fighting with the player is happening much more frequent - especially when the player for whatever reason is not pulling away but staying in very close distance in front of or behind of the AI.

I dont think it simply happens out of the blue, but because the AI rules propably contradict suddenly.
I could look like this
rule 1: pit before running out of fuel
rule 2: pit before tyres are worn
rule 3: drive at 95% throttle, unless you are 1s behind any other car, then drive 99% throttle
rule 4: if you cant overtake and create a gap on a straight, fall behind and try again by gathering up speed from drafting

You can see it pits for tyres because it will have more than enough fuel left for additional laps when using other than hard tyres.
You can see it pits for fuel when it uses hard tyres.

The AI doesnt drive at full throttle all the time, for whatever reason, and can be observed by game reviews.
Its throttle bar doesnt hit the max

The falling back and try again can also be observed.

Now create a situation in which the AI will have enough fuel to complete a lap based on its 95% estimation, but suddenly it has to fight the whole lap and drives at 99%, this will increase the fuel consumption and rule 3 breaks with rule 1.
And propably this is further affected by the game changing wind direction and strength during the race.

 

[suomi1]

I found out it was more related to the AI driver than to what really happens on track. Note that the issue persists as long as you don't relaunch the game.

Once, I had Fraga running out of fuel at Sardegna.
Then I started the 1h Spa race. Fraga once again was running out of fuel...

So, because I'm not a top driver, I had an idea. I tried to win the Maggiore Human Comedy 1h race thank to this bug. I almost did despite not being quick, just because Fraga was messing with all the field by racing at a very low pace. I lost because I was pushed out of the track two times, but I was about to win with 1'58' something as a best lap.

 

[ZevZoq]

In one of my Sardegna runs Fraga spent the entire race Sunday driving for some reason...I think I lapped him 4 or 5 times by the end.

 

[TumeK5]

In this race, the AI kept driving without fuel for the remainder of the race.

 

[CommanderBond]

Thanks for all the replies. Like i said that's never happened to me before so I was wondering if that was a thing.

 

[seadog777]

I used to do that race a lot for the high payout, and it did happen a few times. Caught me by surprise too.