One of CARS more unique characteristics is the ability for the end user to affect development of the Game from the very start. of course, that doesn't mean that any idiot, even an idiot with over a $1K to burn, can impose their insanity on the rest of the players, but it does mean that for maybe the first time, regular users can affect the direction and the features of a major videogame.
What would your wish list look like? What features would you like to see that currently are not available in the major simulators?
I will start with some of mine:
AI
Everyone wants to see better AI. However, it's really hard to make AI behave like real humans. What I would like to see, I don;t think it would be impossible and probably would even be possible with the current crop of games. You tell me:
1) AI that doesn't run you off the road at the first chance they have. In other words, AI that drive their cars as if they were paying for them (or at least they had to talk to the pit crew and the mechanics after the race.
2) AI that behaves differently in practice, Qualification and the race. For that matter that behaves differently at the beginning, middle and end of a race.
For instance, I would like to see an AI that during qualification does not race me. Rather, it would be nice if it gave me some room to get my lap in, like a real human would. I don't think this set of instructions would be too hard to follow.
During the race, at the start the AI should drive conservatively and only get really aggressive at the very end.
3) Above all I'd like to see an AI that reacts to my track position and if it's behind me doesn't try to run me off the road. In fact, an AI that above all tries to avoid contact would be great.
This is not something preposterous, I believe. When I did f;lash programming, I coded a few games where a ball had to avoid objects. I understand, this is a whole fdifferent ballgame, but I see AI avoiding cars on track all the time. Changing their line to drive around anotehr AI and not run over them. It's possible.
Multiplayer:
1) I would really like a multiplayer where one can limit choices, similar to the way Race 07 does but with a bit more choices
2) It would be nice if the servers could have a "notes" field where the admin can write up brief instructions for the players.
3) I would like the Mod and Track field to be a bit smarter. With the name of the track andmod and room for insertng a download link for each. Ideally, I'd like it to change color if the tack or mod are not present on my game as well so that at a glance I can see what games I can join or not
(Obviously, this is mostly targeted to the way rFactor does things)
Installations and updates.
A smart installer would be very nice and apparently CARS is going to have one. I'd love it if it also had an API for modders so that they could update their mods the same way as well. While I am at it, it should also make a backup of the files that have been overwritten and have a way to revert to the previous built.
ANTICHEAT
Anyone that looked at the "Leaderboard" of F1 2010, F1 2011 or Dirt 1,2,3 knows that we have cheaters all over the place. I raced against the "World record" in Dirt 3 the other day and the SOB looked like he was driving a slot car. After T1 he was gone.
In F1 2011 there was a world record about a full minute faster than the actual RL lap time on one of the tracks the day after the game launched.
We need an anti cheat for the game but also some way to be able to run any driver lap on a clean machine after the fact. So that if one cannot catch the cheaters during the race they can at least be caught afterwards.
That's it for now. I am sure I'll have more. See what you can do.
What would your wish list look like? What features would you like to see that currently are not available in the major simulators?
I will start with some of mine:
AI
Everyone wants to see better AI. However, it's really hard to make AI behave like real humans. What I would like to see, I don;t think it would be impossible and probably would even be possible with the current crop of games. You tell me:
1) AI that doesn't run you off the road at the first chance they have. In other words, AI that drive their cars as if they were paying for them (or at least they had to talk to the pit crew and the mechanics after the race.
2) AI that behaves differently in practice, Qualification and the race. For that matter that behaves differently at the beginning, middle and end of a race.
For instance, I would like to see an AI that during qualification does not race me. Rather, it would be nice if it gave me some room to get my lap in, like a real human would. I don't think this set of instructions would be too hard to follow.
During the race, at the start the AI should drive conservatively and only get really aggressive at the very end.
3) Above all I'd like to see an AI that reacts to my track position and if it's behind me doesn't try to run me off the road. In fact, an AI that above all tries to avoid contact would be great.
This is not something preposterous, I believe. When I did f;lash programming, I coded a few games where a ball had to avoid objects. I understand, this is a whole fdifferent ballgame, but I see AI avoiding cars on track all the time. Changing their line to drive around anotehr AI and not run over them. It's possible.
Multiplayer:
1) I would really like a multiplayer where one can limit choices, similar to the way Race 07 does but with a bit more choices
2) It would be nice if the servers could have a "notes" field where the admin can write up brief instructions for the players.
3) I would like the Mod and Track field to be a bit smarter. With the name of the track andmod and room for insertng a download link for each. Ideally, I'd like it to change color if the tack or mod are not present on my game as well so that at a glance I can see what games I can join or not
(Obviously, this is mostly targeted to the way rFactor does things)
Installations and updates.
A smart installer would be very nice and apparently CARS is going to have one. I'd love it if it also had an API for modders so that they could update their mods the same way as well. While I am at it, it should also make a backup of the files that have been overwritten and have a way to revert to the previous built.
ANTICHEAT
Anyone that looked at the "Leaderboard" of F1 2010, F1 2011 or Dirt 1,2,3 knows that we have cheaters all over the place. I raced against the "World record" in Dirt 3 the other day and the SOB looked like he was driving a slot car. After T1 he was gone.
In F1 2011 there was a world record about a full minute faster than the actual RL lap time on one of the tracks the day after the game launched.
We need an anti cheat for the game but also some way to be able to run any driver lap on a clean machine after the fact. So that if one cannot catch the cheaters during the race they can at least be caught afterwards.
That's it for now. I am sure I'll have more. See what you can do.
