Assetto Corsa AI Video and Massarutto Statement

[Paul Jeffrey]

Following the big Assetto Corsa PC update from Kunos Simulazioni, Aristotelis Vasilakos has released a nice video of the new AI code - with some interesting words from Marco Massarutto.

The main thrust of the 1.14 build update released last week focussed around the single player artificial intelligence, an area of the game lacking behind its main sim racing rivals in recent years. Now following considerable work from all involved with Kunos Simulazioni, the current generation build of Assetto Corsa has moved on leaps and bounds since its early days to arguably move very close to the top of the AI pile. With passing and defending from the AI cars and human like behaviour, the new build really is a substantial step forward from the development team.

To mark the new build release and in something of celebration of the new AI physics engineer Aristotelis Vasilakos has released this excellent video of a multiclass AI field racing around the Spanish Barcelona Grand Prix Circuit in Assetto Corsa:

By way of his own personal Facebook page, Marco Massarutto added the following words with regards to the responsibility structure at Kunos:

"I would like to take advantage of this gameplay video to say something. We are a team of crazy, genuine people who love their job, showing some talent but, even more, a genuine devotion for what they do. This makes Assetto Corsa what it is today. But I can't forget to mention that, most of AI&physics algorithms, as well as the tyre model, the netcode and the graphics engine of our game has been programmed by one single person, my teammate in business Stefano "Kunos" Casillo. .

All the tracks (except for one) have been modeled by one guy, Simone Trevisiol, who takes care also about shaders, post processing effects and gfx fine tuning. Most of the sound environment and effects has been managed by one guy (with some programming support), Luca Sodano.

Only one guy, Aristotelis Vasilakos, is behind the car handling, vehicle dynamics and tyre data (that means this lazy guy updated all the hundreds of cars included in the game each time Stefano updated the code behind physics and tyre model). And Gianluca Miragoli is behind the 3D modeling of at least half of the car models and most of the interiors. I should mention all the others that made Assetto Corsa what is today and I thank all of them. But the people mentioned above are with us by the beginning. I'm proud to be part of this team.

Oh, btw: the video shows the new AI algorithms in action: the Toyota TS040 is driven by AI (aggression set at 45%) and it has been placed in the last position in order to show its capability to overtake slower cars at Barcelona circuit , where overtaking sometime is not an easy matter, and it was pretty difficult to see before this update. Sorry to be late, but good things need time.

Assetto Corsa is a racing simulation available to purchase on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

If you enjoy the new AI then I'm very pleased for you, it is very good indeed. Want to know what's even better though? I'll let you in on a secret... racing against real people, online, in organised events with an emphasis on respectful driving... enter into the equation RaceDepartment Club Racing! We have the best cars and tracks from the game, great event admins and a lively and enthusiastic club of enthusiasts with some awesome teamspeak banter. Suitable for rookies right through to aliens alike, out club events are for you, the sim racing enthusiast. Get yourself involved and sign up for a race today*

*good times guaranteed

Enjoyed the video? Impressed with the new AI? Liking AC post V1.14 release? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[Alistair McKinley]

Interesting. Although I haven't tossed so dissimilar cars on a track to test, I'm curious about the aggression and strength used on this one? I'll try to replicate that using my "formula" of 95+/-3 strength and 90 aggression and see what happens.

I've been using the same "formula" since Saturday evening.
I was testing for about 3 hrs in different multiclass settings and I've been very pleased with the new AI.
If you set up a track day with huge differences in performance (like Abarth 500 against McLaren P1) you will sometimes get the "old" AI behaviour like it was shown in the video above.

 

[Alistair McKinley]

Except that races against AI now are better than 90% of public server races. Also, some cars you can't find online, against AI you can drive anything you like, anytime you like

And in addition to your post:
You can drive where you like with as many opponents as you like.
Don't get me wrong: I really enjoy online racing but sometimes it's more enjoyable to fire up a quick race against the AI because of the reasons mentioned.

Sorry for double posting. Next time I will use multiquote.

 

[cr4wl3r0]

Dear Kunos Team, what can I say: I fell in love with AC from the beginning and I still enjoy every single day.
So, please, keep going on improving and adding features and (most wanted...) some other laser scanned track. I' m in tune and ready to contribute to your effort by purchasing "everything" you will go to release.
Also, you have done the right choice by letting your "creature" open to modding, so everyone can contribute (= even more enjoy for all...)
Also a big thank to all modders community and to this site (RD of course...) founders.....
Ciao !!

 

[William Wester]

Hi William, that's ok, maybe I haven't found the perfect combo or adjustment in rF2 as it isn't my every day sim, although I have it since the very beginning.
...
...
I had memorable battles in rF2 and AMS in the past, even perfect ones, and I like them both and plan to keep playing them - but this update made me almost believe (by the first time ever on some SP races) that I was playing against humans - and this "moment" is what made my opinion.
My two cents, too. Together with yours 0.02, we now have four.
Too bad we can't even buy a beer!

I guess it was the "...now AC definitely holds the crown by a very good margin" that tripped my reply. I agree the AI is much better, actually just finished a very believable GT3 race at Vallelunga. The AI still does some strange things but vastly improved on the few combinations I've tried. I don't think the rF2 AI has been surpassed but at least now it's much more fun to race the AI in AC.
My $.02 (another, not my original cents )

 

[F_B]

Loving the new AI because now I can fully use all the great mods out there which you hardly find online. If you find the right settings (aggressivness, strength, car/track combo etc) you can have fantastic races, often better than the average online race with noobs. Great great improvement!

Looking at such a small team as Kunos and seeing what they have achieved with AC you just can say that it's impressive. Hoping for many more years/AC2.

 

[FumikiKoizumi]

can't deepmind from google just play assetto corsa for 6 months and come back and beat our asses?

 

[ouvert]

Interesting. Although I haven't tossed so dissimilar cars on a track to test, I'm curious about the aggression and strength used on this one? I'll try to replicate that using my "formula" of 95+/-3 strength and 90 aggression and see what happens.

It was 100 strength and 50 % aggression ... Strangely I had better result with minimum aggression on different test where

Interesting. Although I haven't tossed so dissimilar cars on a track to test, I'm curious about the aggression and strength used on this one? I'll try to replicate that using my "formula" of 95+/-3 strength and 90 aggression and see what happens.

it was 100 strength and 50% aggression .... strangely with minimum aggression in different test 9 GTRs ovetake 9 Abarth within first lap ...
What I miss is fater AI using its power right on green lights on starting grid ... when I did similiar test in AMS (one V8 stock vs 17 Mini Coopers) V8 car overtook first few car on starting, than contiunes to overtake and between Coopers and Surtees it was on 1st place ... that is 17 overtakes in 4 corners ...

 

[RichardHessels]

I've run several races against the A.I. since the update and the races have been more exciting than the rookie league races I ran against humans in iRacing.

Porsche Cup at Monza, 20 lap race against the A.I. was impressive.

I started 25, last place. Worked my way slowly up through the field to about 6th by lap 15 or so. The lead pack of 5 cars was a few seconds ahead , I was between them and the 2nd pack which was about 2 seconds behind me. Then this blue Porsche broke away from the rear pack and started running me down, after about 2 laps he drafted pass me on the Rettiflo Tribune, then a lap later I drafted past him on the Variante Ascari. We swapped positions about 3 times in the close laps. Through all of this we started catching the front pack, with one lap to go I drafted past the 5th place car on Variante and we went door to door through the Parabolica then I slowly started edging him out entering the Rettiflo Tribune, I was able to pass him and won by about a car length.

I don't ever recall in any sim the A.I. cars battling against the human driver quite so much. Typically when you pass them, that's it. These dudes will run you down , set you up then draft past you on the straight or stick a nose under you in a corner. It was pretty amazing.

Ran another race in the Mazda MX5 at Bilsterberg that was bananas !! The newly update A.I. files for this track combined with the updated A.I. is amazing !

Your Ai difficulty is set to low if you pass 20 cars in 6 laps.

 

[CobraCat]

Your Ai difficulty is set to low if you pass 20 cars in 6 laps.

*plonk*

 

[ronniej]

AC has been the best Early Access title I EVER purchased.

 

[melanieuk]

AC has been the best Early Access title I EVER purchased.

One Hundred percent agree, from the very first early access, with only having One car and One track, to what we have now, we have actually seen this baby develope to one of the most liked, most owned and most played racing sim today, many changes we seen in the Audio, the graphics, features been added in slowly to top quality modelled Cars, Tracks, and useful apps, it is truly a great title, well done Stefano and the whole team at Kunos.

Ps.
And not forgetting many of the great Mods we now see on popular sites like RD.
Thank you to the Assetto Corsa modding community.

 

[Terra21]

"All the tracks (except for one) have been modeled by one guy, Simone Trevisiol"

Surely Kunos Should be seriously thinking about adding some more staff to assist Simone with the track making aspect of the game. It's definitely an area they are always getting a lot of requests/feedback for...More Official AC tracks. But at the end of the day i guess it all depends if Marco has been busy/successful in getting any new track licenses for them to put the work into. And wouldn't we all love to know the answer to that question...

 

[F_B]

I’d love to see them adding the top-mod tracks to the game, but I think my wish is a little naive and it’s not that easy to do so.

 

[Brandon Wright]

Wierd. I completed these on beginner and intermediate today. Never once did I see a 5 car pileup. I spent about an hour trying to get to hard level, but never got better than a hard fought 2nd. Maybe bad luck...i dunno, but i've never had pileups like that in any of the TT races at Zolder so far.

Zolder? Zandvoort maybe?

 

[MarkR]

Good video, where did they get the idea for a video with a Toyota TS040 starting at the back and making its way through the pack?

This was at 85% aggression for those who want to see a bit more cut and thrust to the overtaking.

Fully agree with the article and I'm loving the new AI, I've run all sorts of races in all sorts of cars since release and for me it just works. If I set the AI strength to roughly match my best lap time and aggression at 85% for mixed cars of the same class (or 95-100% aggression for all the same cars) I get some great racing. It feels and plays on par with AMS single player to me.

I also find racing in VR makes managing the close pack situation so much easier the extra spatial awareness is invaluable. The VR in AC is up there with the very best VR games of any type.

One thing you didn't mention is how the AI now make much more realistic mistakes, I've been capturing a few and a video is in the works. They show signs of pressure, hit kerbs and run wide especially toward the end of races. It is superb.

As with many others here I've been playing AC since EA in 2014 and loved it. The console version deeply disappointed me and I let Kunos know that and I think the lack of the talent mentioned in the article working on the game was a large part of the issue. PS4 is much improved now but we are still waiting for the Xbox One update and I hope that shows all of the crazy dedication and passion Kunos have demonstrated in this latest PC v1.14 patch.

All round an excellent update and I'd say the PC game now exceeds any expectation I had of it ever becoming and has more than proven value for money including all the current DLC.

 

[Furious Panda]

Had no idea the A.I. had been updated,will have to reinstall it and give it a go,although if there's still a huge FFB dead zone on my g29 that can't be tuned out then it will go back in my virtual bin

 

[F_B]

Had no idea the A.I. had been updated,will have to reinstall it and give it a go,although if there's still a huge FFB dead zone on my g29 that can't be tuned out then it will go back in my virtual bin

You tried everything with the settings? Because imo AC has the best FFB out of the box beside rfactor 2. No PCars craziness.

 

[Furious Panda]

yeah tried all the settings,only way I can reduce it is to run the steering so heavy that its almost impossible to drive,rf2 is perfect,just up the setting {minimum torque I think it's called] till the wheel starts oscillating then back it down abit which leaves a tiny dead zone that the wheel needs but is barely noticeable while driving.

 

[whip]

i've never seen ac ai have trouble overtaking in the past when 1 car is much faster than the other, its when you have 2 of the same car that they just train round with identical laps one after the other with no overtaking

has that been fixed?

 

[ShredatorFIN]

i've never seen ac ai have trouble overtaking in the past when 1 car is much faster than the other, its when you have 2 of the same car that they just train round with identical laps one after the other with no overtaking

has that been fixed?

Yes. Evident on any video about 1.14 AI you can find.