After reading
this thread I revisited the AIs behaviour using my latest mod. To be honest I hadn't realised how much the number of crashes between the AI had increased versus the stock game. It was particularly bad in the example of Melbourne, but it was evident at other tracks too.
The main cause of the AI's misbehaving seems to be the increase in the cars' weight. We're up to 690kg in 2014 against the original 605kg (
and it's set to rise further in 2015). The problem is the AI do not seem to consider the increase in weight when making driving decisions. Using a test value of 1000kg, the AI regularly sailed past their braking points and off into the gravel, even with no other cars around. So I guess the braking points must be hard coded using an assumed car weight, and changing that value breaks the AI's behaviour.
So, how do we deal with this when the minimum weight is always increasing? Well, the main symptom of increased weight that we want to simulate is to slow the cars down. So, instead of increasing the weight, how about we reduce the grip? It achieves the same effect of reducing the cars' responsiveness, and lowers cornering speeds, but importantly, the AI can deal with changes of grip that they can't manage with the weight. So we get our great AI back, and realistic lap times as well.
So, after some experimentation, I've created a new 2014 physics file that restores the AI's good behaviour and still simulates 2014 levels of performance. Lap times are pretty close to reality, as are top speeds, and when combined with my 2014 Magic Data the results are good. Try it and let me know what you think:
GP4 Central 2014 CSM Mod v3.0GP4 Central 2014 Mod (Laptop Edition) v3.0=====================================================
Intel NUC 8i3, 8GB RAM, MS Sidewinder Wheel
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/2015 08:18AM by TomMK.