AMS 2 | Everything I LOVE and HATE about the AI | Automobilista 2 v1.5.5.5 

Thanks for watching all! I deliberately didn’t include wet weather running in this video. Need a bit more time with it and will likely do a dedicated video on it when I have!

great video. i'm always especially interested in the ones that concentrate on the ai. the recent improvements to the ams2 ai is why the sim is now my favourite. i must admit the ai car when passed drops away is something i've not noticed although it was highly noticeable on raceroom where whenever passing a car they would drop away never to be seen again. in contrast i've had to generally battle to keep ahead with the ams2 ai with similar pace when i pass them

iRacing AI is the only AI to date that can make me forget i'm racing against robots. I really hope AMS2 can have that one day, because the sim is one of the best out there. But for me m, it's not there by a long way yet

Good points mate. It's good to see people enjoying ams 2 now. Reiza have earnt their success by sticking and believing in what they are creating.

I think you make some good points, especially about the multiclass issues, the pile ups that happen, and the rubber banding issues. I've been pointing out the rubber banding issues since release. I even remember debating Renato on one of the first AMS2 videos at Brands Hatch. The rubber banding is a huge issue because it really does take the fun and excitement out of overcoming and AI opponent only to basically have them give up after you do. I'd say to add to your list a few other big issues are still their pit strategies, AI tire usage vs player tire usage discrepancies, AI teammate issues, drafting issues. The AI seem very limited in their pit strategies still which I think is tied to the AI still burning through tires much faster than a player does. You can see this when you have your AI teammate drive. They burn through tires so fast in the P1 cars for example that they can't even do a full fuel stint before pitting without your input for new tires. That means AI in endurance racing will never double or triple stint tires which hands you a huge advantage for series that don't allow fueling and tire changes at the same time. Another issue for like formula USA is you can't mandate specific tires to be used so the AI will always just choose soft tires which along with their fast degradation means you can basically win through the AI always needing to pit more since they basically will never choose the hard tire for longer runs. The AI teammate is still problematic as I already stated with the increased tire wear, but it also does a poor job taking care of the car in multiclass races and you'll likely always have suspension or areo damage taking the car back over if you're playing with realistic damage because it does far too much bumping between itself and the other cars on track. Lastly another issue that seems to plague all cars that was supposed to be addressed with the latest patch and hot fixes is the AI never fully taking advantage of the draft. It will use it up until it's time to sling shot past, but then as you pointed out can become timid and instead to tuck in behind the car in front. It really makes gaping cars just behind you much easier and breaks immersion pretty badly since you know a human player is trying to slingshot past on longer straights 10/10 times if the room is there. I'm hopeful this next year really nails this issues down because if Reiza can fix these shortcomings the potential for AMS2 in the offline market would be unmatched IMO. It's already pretty good, but if you set up endurance races or full length GPs these issues pop up pretty regularly and become quite annoying.

Great video. Music levels should be down a little so we can hear you better...

Great video. Thank god I am not the only one struggling to overtake a chain of gt3 cars with an lmdh. I kind of felt like I am doing something wrong

Was this all done with the update just released within the last 24 hours? There have been a few AI uppdates in the last couple months, to varying degrees of improvement, and this one most recently mentioned something about "AI corridors", and I've never seen that mentioned before. Was hoping whatever that is, was the key to sorting out multi-class passing.

Another great vid Ben off now to try it out🙄

Ccustom AI files that you can get from Race Department work wonders and that issue of easing off after you pass doesn't happen, some of the other issues you mention also are lesser. I think it's called stamina that effects them to 'rubber band', you can increase this with customer AI files.

Great video Ben. Would be interesting to see how good/bad the AI is when doing pitstops as well. Even with all the improvements the game has had over time, unfortunately the best single player experiences and AI racing games are still the F1 series especially (F1 2020 still being the most appreciated game of the series as far as I know) and iRacing. I'm not sure about RaceRoom but at this point I don't believe it's a relevant game in the racing genre anymore

There isn't "rubberbanding" per se in the game, that would mean the cars would be unrealistically fast when behind and slow down when in front, which is the opposite of what happens in AMS2. I think it may be some kind of brake boost they get when within 1 second or so that makes them faster within that threshold. I think that may be one of the reasons for the pack/ trains that form, but at the same time it may be necessary to make the AI able to pass. So quite a conundrum if that is the case, still I enjoy the AI a lot and its definitely one of the best of the modern sims.

Good video Ben! Just as an additional video idea, maybe it'd be good to have an AI comparison across the different sims if you haven't done one. Personally, I think AMS2 has good AI although has some flaws as you've pointed out yourself, along with the pace disparity between some corners, different weather conditions and quali/race. iRacing, although it's multiplayer focused, is imo the most consistent and issue-free AI in comparison to the others but it'd be good to get your opinion!

I want to thank you for this game, I really enjoy it, but I have noticed that when I play against the AI, the full or maximum damage, the damage suffered by the AI is not equal to the damage suffered by the player, I would like to know if in possible updates this aspect will be balanced which is very important for simulation

I'm really enjoying the AI now, especially when using custom AI files and tweaking different attributes (similar to what iRacing has) to make them more aggressive / better at defending / more prone to mistakes - I especially like making the slower drivers on the grid more error prone as it adds a little to the drama and realism (or certainly helps give you that iRacing lobby feel!!) without just having easy positions handed to you from Alonso or Lauda . Where its still a little annoying is AI drivers getting stuck behind eachother - especially bad in practice / quali for some reason? although tweaking the AI files to make slower drivers worse at defending against the faster, more aggressive drivers helps a bit. They sort themsleves out evenutally but monitoring a quali session you can see backmarkers holding up faster cars for several laps - possibly an issue with having fixed top speeds or limited AI draft? For faster classes, you can adjust all cars on the grid to have better Blue Flag compliance. I've not tested this extensively but worked well in the race I had (GT3 / LMDh at Monza). And the rubber banding can be a bit obvious sometimes (where the AI will defend or fight like crazy for a while before chilling out) - although I find they fight a lot longer now - ended up going life and death with P1 in Estoril yesterday, mostly chasing, for at least 5 laps, but once I cleared him he fell back and I was putting a second a lap on them.... was amazing fun while it lasted though! But then I've had back markers hound me for multiple laps with serious pressure so its a little random.

Oh good god so the issue with the AI just disappearing behind you after passing them wasn’t just a me thing. This is still my major gripe with the AI, and until it’s fully fixed I can’t really get into AMS2 at all.

Fully agree with you but you also state that AMS2 brings the best AI today at least from a competitive standpoint. Which is my biggest critic as they sometimes just push you off track 😅

0:36 no, the AI does NOT defend against you, it only might seem that way but i did literal dozens of hours of tests at this point even with the newest update and the AI do not react to you approaching the corner and will NOT defend the inside of it ever, nor change their line on a straight in order to break the tow, or move in any way that would put you in a disadvantage. They also will give you a lot more room than you deserve and you can abuse this and push them to the edge of the track. Only with a recent update the devs added the AI function to follow the draft, otherwise you are racing "around them", not "with them". Also take note how they drive side-by-side with you, but they pretty much never drive that way into corners with each other like they always hesitate to overtake and brake even when there is a clear, safe opening. There is one racing game which i see as the absolute benchmark in AI racing but at this point i am afraid to even mention it as people bring up "physics arguments" as if that had anything to do whether the AI experience is good or not. I also did my own video on the current state of AI showcasing all the improvements but also the many issues. So many years since release and the AI racing is still bad overal.

AMS2, ACC and RaceRoom are pretty much on par in terms of AI track awareness, and I value this pretty highly. It can be strange to say this, but an AI with good track awareness can give the confidence to go multiplayer later, as it worked for me on iRacing when I started playing it. AMS2's AI divebombs can be a real problem in a multi-car train, as the domino effect will eventually hit you. Happened with me multiple times when racing Hypercars at Le Mans for example.

I feel the same about the bad points you've mentioned - and this is why I've stopped playing AMS 2 for now. All the hype about Le Mans and LMDh quickly went away for me as soon as I attempted a 3 hour race with multiclass at Le Mans. And the fact that there is no regular, independent racing - i.e. daily racing - on the platform, makes it unusable for me right now. Hopefully the AI gets improved a helluva lot because incremental updates would be pointless - like the 2 or 3 they've released since Le Mans - the difference was barely noticeable.

I am not IA fun in all Sims But still alternative ❤

sims that prioritize AI and singleplayer over multiplayer are doomed for failure, only F1 has good AI