F1 2010 Developers Address AI and Other Issues

In a post on the official F1 2010 forums, the game's community representative wrote a lengthy response addressing the numerous issues players have been experiencing. Key members of the development team who worked on the systems in question and are now involved in creating the upcoming patch were consulted. We cut through the "you really have to be a fan" technical talk to get to the following highlights.

Taking on the most serious topic first--the assertion that the racing in the game is scripted--the post reads:

The AI system implemented in F1 2010 is very complex, and is certainly not scripted in any way. Every AI driver is trained with a series of race behaviours such as overtaking, defending a position and slipstreaming etc. On top of these behaviours we have a unique set of characteristics. These characteristics are defined per driver so you'll notice some subtle differences. Some drivers are better at race starts or are better at overtaking (they look for narrower gaps), or are better in the rain, or are more aggressive, or are better around certain race tracks. We also have a system which can make certain drivers have a particularly good or bad race depending on a number of factors.

The post goes on to definitively state that in races every AI car physically drives the race just like the player does.

This is not the case, though, in practice and qualifying. Citing the fast-forward and jump-to-sector features as the cause, the post reveals AI times are, "calculated based on a 'football management' style simulation model." By virtue of allowing the ability to teleport around the course, it was not possible to simulate the cars circulating the track 100% of the time.

The post addresses a few other issues. The numerous pit stop problems such as being forced to wait in the pit or even becoming stuck there are being investigated and they are attempting to duplicate them so a fix can be made. Other problems like AI cars making abrupt track resets and incorrect advice from your race engineer appear to be simple glitches that will be addressed in the patch. No new word was given on when that will arrive, though, beyond as soon as possible.