WRC 9 AI speed on different surfaces

[oink83]

Been loving WRC 9 on the PS5, and despite there being a handful of irritating QoL bugs, the one issue that's bothered me the most is there seems to be a huge delta in the speed of the AI between different surfaces.

I've been playing career mode and on a second season in WRC (about 5th overall season), and have been playing with AI difficulty at 115% (and all sim damage and driving settings), which on gravel gives a great challenge for me, forcing me to push my pace most stages to achieve a podium and stay in the running for the championship.

But then moving to different surfaces, the AI competency shifts massively. On Snow at Sweden, I win by around 30 seconds by the end of day 3, but on tarmac at Japan, Germany and Monte Carlo, I have to push extremely hard to make it close to the top 3, which is especially frustrating on a punishing rally like Germany, as one misstep wrecks the vehicle on a fence or wall.

This is frustrating for a couple of reasons, mainly that on a rally such as Germany, where the game itself even tells you that drivers have to be extremely cautious, and yet the AI just tear it up no problem, it forces you to risk a massive crash just to keep up and risk losing necessary points (also made worse by the fact that the same drivers always make the top 3 and no-one ever retires, so you can't afford to retire once during a season).

The embedded solution it would seem would be to just loosen the difficulty way down for these events, but it feels like such a let off - and something that would be great if they addressed. That, with the aforementioned issue that the AI rarely crash and lose a chunk of time, and never retire a stage, would be a massive welcome to the career mode.

Would be very interested to know if anyone else has this same issue.

 

[tunaphis]

Couple observations that might help.
Having cars breakdown on course has it's own on/off, When on AI seem to even out somewhat.
When hot-lapping it takes 2-3 runs at a stage before AI times level out to a more sensible results.
Attempting to get the 150% trophy I just left it at (forgot really) 150 which closed up the wild swings you mention.
Don't really bother with career so all of these may only apply to time trial/quick race.
Also loving it.

 

[the13PeSK]

Couple observations that might help.
Having cars breakdown on course has it's own on/off, When on AI seem to even out somewhat.
When hot-lapping it takes 2-3 runs at a stage before AI times level out to a more sensible results.
Attempting to get the 150% trophy I just left it at (forgot really) 150 which closed up the wild swings you mention.
Don't really bother with career so all of these may only apply to time trial/quick race.
Also loving it.

Getting 150% trophy/achievement is pretty easy if you set this difficulty for manufacturer challenge in career mode. Pushing hard on one of the SSS is much easier than trying to do so on a normal SS. I've unlocked my achievement during Toyota manufacturer challenge based on Swedish SSS.

 

[cjr3559]

Absolutely have this same issue. In WRC7, with some practice and experience it was easy to trounce the AI at Germany. Since then it seems KT figured it was time to turn (and not subtly) the Germany AI difficulty up to 11 in WRC 8 & 9.

I’ve played a fair amount of the career modes in WRC 8 & 9, and while I like career modes, finishes against the AI are frustratingly all over the place; which makes it exceedingly difficulty to determine where you really stand personally and as a team.

I’ve ditched the career mode for now. And while it still has the same AI inconsistencies, I’m having more fun with the basic ‘Season’ mode.