GTPNewsWire
Contributing Writer
- 21,864
- GTPHQ
This is the discussion thread for a recent post on GTPlanet:
This article was published by Kyle Patrick (@SlipZtrEm) on January 18th, 2018 in the iRacing category.
AI Drivers are Coming to iRacing This Year
- Thread starter GTPNewsWire
- 37 comments
- 9,377 views
- 3
- United States
- PRDretsam
I cant argue against this. Each series needs a minimum number of players before is counts as a point race or it invalidates itself. Most of the time a series will run all week seeing only a few races daily while others run around the clock.
It will be nice to have every series open to race regardless of if there are at least 8 players or not.
It will be nice to have every series open to race regardless of if there are at least 8 players or not.
- 26,881
- Houston, Texas, USA
- JMarine25
I still have never played iRacing, but my reaction is a bit mixed. I think this is a great thing first because this will give you a chance to enhance your skills in taking on different opposition. On the other hand, proing your worth against other human racers have lent to the challenge and character of iRacing. This may all come down to how iRacing handles and implements AI drivers. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
About the only thing I've seen in regards to combining many human gamers with some AI drivers is the modern Mario Kart games, where some lobbies have had AI drivers to fill the grid if such lobbies allow for them. So this is about the only thing I am reminded of in the case of filling out grids for races with so few entrants.
About the only thing I've seen in regards to combining many human gamers with some AI drivers is the modern Mario Kart games, where some lobbies have had AI drivers to fill the grid if such lobbies allow for them. So this is about the only thing I am reminded of in the case of filling out grids for races with so few entrants.
- 1,818
- Alberta
- left888
Going on 8 years at iRacing and I do NOT want to see AI at all. Let the arcade games like pCars2 and console racers and all the others have AI. iRacing was so good cause it was real racin' against real competitors. Call me old fashion but I am dead against AI, it will sully iRacin's reputation. I did a survey at iRacing and a full 40% were dead against AI as well.
- 1,036
- New Zealand
- noshog
i cant see AI being used in anything 'official'.
If it's some kind of separate mode then I dont see anything wrong with it.
Personally I wouldn't use it anyway, if I want some on track battles but not join an official race I will just jump in the most popular practice room I can find, in a full practice room you will always find someone to have some battles with.
If it's some kind of separate mode then I dont see anything wrong with it.
Personally I wouldn't use it anyway, if I want some on track battles but not join an official race I will just jump in the most popular practice room I can find, in a full practice room you will always find someone to have some battles with.
- 1,818
- Alberta
- left888
In what world is 40% a majority? My point being, that there is a lot of opposition in bringing in AI. When close to half the membership dislike AI says a lot. Clearly iRacing's goal is to bring in the console players, i.e. "revenue". It won't surprise me, if in a few years iRacing is on the consoles.
Wayne, to your point, AI won't be used in any offical races. iRacing has already stated as much. I agree with you, joining a full practice server is much funner, than racing "mindless AI".
- 939
- Zürich
And this exactly the kind of typical arrogant comment by the racing sim community that puts off people wanting to take the next step after they've got hooked through the likes of GTS and PCARS - which I'll add are sims, just with certain gaming elements. An arcade racer would be Ridge Racer or Track Mania.
You see here's the question that I have. Would I like to give iRacing a shot? sure I would. Would I want to race with people who say that kind of thing and hold an elitist attitude towards sim racing? probably not.
Also consider this - wouldn't it be good for a newbie to iRacing to face off against AI first in order to hone their race craft before they pile in and ruin a load of races. I don't think anybody is saying that you have to use the AI, but if it's a good AI then you might also be able to benefit from it in terms of practice races as well.
- 629
- Ontario, Canada
- B-Line98
Never had a reason to keep trying iRacing but with AI I'll probably give it another go
- 87
- Mexico
Sometimes play with the AI if is good is more realistic that play with others players, I don't know how the community of Iracing is, but in Assetto Corsa or in Project cars there are a lot of players that only ruin the inmersion by doing stupid things like crashing, runing on a wrong race line or quiting on the first corner. Those are reasons why I prefer to play with the AI.
What a pig headed arrogant attitude. How is it old fashioned to be against AI? AI was here before online racing, weird! And how exactly does AI make it arcade? I have never tried iRacing purely because it doesn't have ai, I am not into online racing, never tried it, doesn't interest me. Don't have time with a job and family to sync my time racing at obscure times with others. With ai I can race when I want with whatever car combo and track I want. And 40% against it? That means 60% weren't and if extra people came onboard purely because of AI then that would make your 40% even lower.
- 2
- Australia
Typical arrogance from a sim-racer fanboy. I for one welcome the addition of AI, especially well-programmed, competitive ones. AI was a thing looong before online was even thinkable, and having the option to race against AI opposition would make this game a lot more accessible to those who don't want, have, or care about online modes. But that's just my two cents 
- George Bernard Shaw
I wrote an email to iRacing to ask when they are going to release this AI-offline mode.
Answer:
So does this mean you still have to pay for subscriptions?
I thought it was going to be an offline mode separate from the subscription based online part.
Answer:
So does this mean you still have to pay for subscriptions?
I thought it was going to be an offline mode separate from the subscription based online part.
Last edited:
- 710
- NC
- MadRR
Yes it appears you are going to still have to be a current member if they do eventually have ai for an offline mode. The new ai is just going to be an addition to what they have now. I never read anything anywhere saying it would be an offline mode. Even if so you’re still going to have to pay for it and be a member.
Source.
As far as I understand, you have to become a new member (if you're not a member yet). But that is what I don't understand. iRacing is subscription based as we all know. But what about this offline free addition for existing members? Do I, as a new member, have to pay for a new subscription as well every time when the subscription ends? Or is it a one time pay and you can only access the offline addition? It would probably be a base sim with a few tracks and a few cars. All the other tracks and cars can be purchased just as you do for the online iRacing.
- 710
- NC
- MadRR
It’s safe to think that you’re going to have to keep your subscription active to be able to acces anything iracing does online or offline. Anything offline would be some ways down the road I would imagine but you’re still going to have to have an active membership if I had to put money on it.
This is just going off instinct from being a member for 7 years and what I’m reading. I have no use at all for ai or any reason to ever cancel my membership so it doesn’t bother me what they do.
- 76
- Australia
I actually left iRacing years ago because of the lack of AI. And I only raced against real people when I was a member because of the lack of AI. As some have mentioned, AI was around in all racing games and sims from the very beginning. It is not like it is some sort of novelty or that we are going into un-chartered waters. From memory, Kaemer's AI implementations in previous sims were amongst the very best. And I doubt he has lost his programming skills.
For those concerned about AI having a negative impact upon iRacing, consider the possibility that people such as myself who are no longer members may be enticed back along with new members who have never attempted the sim before. I don't see how there can be any negative impacts on account of its implementation. On the other hand though, if people are worried that real human races will lose numbers, perhaps you should be asking yourselves why.
For those concerned about AI having a negative impact upon iRacing, consider the possibility that people such as myself who are no longer members may be enticed back along with new members who have never attempted the sim before. I don't see how there can be any negative impacts on account of its implementation. On the other hand though, if people are worried that real human races will lose numbers, perhaps you should be asking yourselves why.
- 8,721
The way the cars drop onto the track is immediately reminiscent of the Papyrus days. Glory be.
Still, they don't look much elevated from those path followers at this point. The inclusion of AI can only be positive in my opinion, especially if they can tune it to effectively "train" players.
Still, they don't look much elevated from those path followers at this point. The inclusion of AI can only be positive in my opinion, especially if they can tune it to effectively "train" players.
