Forza Motorsport is celebrating its 20th anniversary this month, and the team at Turn 10 Studios has marked the occasion by releasing Update 20, which sees the return of Fujimi Kaido and some important changes to Drivatar AI.
As part of the 20th Anniversary update that dropped on May 5, a new multi-line system was introduced to Forza Motorsport. Trained on multiple lines of traffic, this system aims to give Drivatars (AI-controlled racers) more options for the optimized racing lines they can follow.
After running various tests, monitoring behaviour, and gathering feedback from the community and developers, the team at Turn 10 noticed that the previous AI system frequently moved to a dynamic racing line as the Drivatars tried to find their own ideal line on the track.
According to a blog post on the official Forza website, this could result in sub-optimal driving performance, such as collisions, AI driving off track, or things that a professional driver would not usually do, subsequently making gameplay feel unrealistic and unbalanced.
Turn 10 Studios has since outlined what it would ideally like to see from the Drivatar AI to ensure players can enjoy a fun and engaging single-player racing experience. This includes:
- Faster, even when they are not on the optimal racing line.
- Skilled and defensive, providing exciting competition.
- Capable of overtaking the player and passing other AI opponents without veering off track.
- Able to better limit collisions and off-track behaviors, including awkward mergers when they attempt to return to the ideal racing line.
This is where the new multi-line system comes in. Developers hope the update will improve side-by-side racing in heavy traffic scenarios, allowing AI to race without erratic driving behavior when it's not forced to stay on the optimal line, all while maintaining skill and consistency.
Additionally, the blog post also states that the multi-line system will allow AI to elegantly blend between different racing lines in traffic. For example, they can still drive fast by themselves just like previous systems, but they will now benefit from race start behavior improvements, collision avoidance, situational awareness, and improved passing behavior.
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