Ok, before I start, let me just preface this by saying that I know LFS is an "Online" simulator, and that the majority of people (at least from what I see in the forums) use it that way. Unfortunately, even though I have been playing LFS for about 5 years now, I've finally resigned myself to the fact that I'm just not an online gamer. I've tried leagues, I've tried pick-up, but the problem is that I just don't have nearly enough free time to practice and be competitive (or maybe the real problem is just that I suck!). I actually think it's a testament to how much fun LFS is that it could keep me interested this long without me even having anyone really to race.
Anyways, back to the topic...
My understanding is that the AI will be improved before the final release of S2. I started thinking a while back about a way to try and implement an Unofficial Add-On to allow for an offline Career mode in LFS. While I was thinking about this, it occurred to me the biggest problem with career modes in other games is that it's all about "beating" them. This led me to my final idea... the Single Player Online Career (SPOC) - if nothing else, it's got a cool acronym!
The way this would function, is that the "AI" behavior would actually attempt to model the driving of other players using the system. It would have to be based on some replay analysis, and the ability to determine each players "preferred line" and various other driving characteristics that would have to maintained in some central location (e.g. LFS World). The AI drivers would actually become LESS "intelligent" in terms of improving and learning... although they would still need lots of "I" in terms of being aware of the cars around them, and reacting during a race!
In a way, you could kind of think of this as an intermediate step between hotlaping, and full online racing. Perhaps there might even be other uses in real online races (e.g. filling grids, or allowing "auto-pilot" type features)... although that obviously assumes that the new drivers perform a little better than the current AI.
Anyways, I just thought I'd throw the idea out there in case anyone else thought it might be interesting, or in the unlikely event that it would be relatively easy to achieve at the same time as any other AI improvements were made. Chances are that it's never going to be much of a priority, and there's so much to enjoy with LFS that it doesn't really matter regardless...
Anyways, back to the topic...
My understanding is that the AI will be improved before the final release of S2. I started thinking a while back about a way to try and implement an Unofficial Add-On to allow for an offline Career mode in LFS. While I was thinking about this, it occurred to me the biggest problem with career modes in other games is that it's all about "beating" them. This led me to my final idea... the Single Player Online Career (SPOC) - if nothing else, it's got a cool acronym!
The way this would function, is that the "AI" behavior would actually attempt to model the driving of other players using the system. It would have to be based on some replay analysis, and the ability to determine each players "preferred line" and various other driving characteristics that would have to maintained in some central location (e.g. LFS World). The AI drivers would actually become LESS "intelligent" in terms of improving and learning... although they would still need lots of "I" in terms of being aware of the cars around them, and reacting during a race!
In a way, you could kind of think of this as an intermediate step between hotlaping, and full online racing. Perhaps there might even be other uses in real online races (e.g. filling grids, or allowing "auto-pilot" type features)... although that obviously assumes that the new drivers perform a little better than the current AI.
Anyways, I just thought I'd throw the idea out there in case anyone else thought it might be interesting, or in the unlikely event that it would be relatively easy to achieve at the same time as any other AI improvements were made. Chances are that it's never going to be much of a priority, and there's so much to enjoy with LFS that it doesn't really matter regardless...
