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Undercut overpowered / AI strategy poor

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Just playing the game for the first time this weekend and from what I can remember of F1 2016 this game has exactly the same issue. Where if you're starting near the mid to rear of the pack it's always best to go short on your first stint and use then use the 3 or 4 laps of free track to overtake a load of cars in the pits. 

First race I used it was in a customized championship where I had to finish 3rd or above assuming Hamilton won. I had a few practice laps around Austin and found it a bit of a struggle with the blind apexs and the super wide track. With that in mind I thought qualifying would be tough so decided to focus solely on the race by qualifying with the medium tyres.

I started 16th and immediately dropped to the rear of the field after the usual dodgy start but this wasn't an issue as I eased the car around in lean fuel mode, learnt the track and kept in touch with 19th place. I came in lap 4 and then put on the soft tyres, after that point my pace was miles quicker than the AI. By the time the pitstops were sorted I had made my way up to 5th. With pace to burn I overtook my way up to second and won the championship.

The second time I used it was in my second career race. The Alfa Romeo I'm in is an absolute dog so I decided to emulate my undercut from before. Again I qualified around 16th (on the mediums) but this time actually made up places to around 11th on the first lap. Vettel who'd started a place in front of me but who I'd leap frogged at the start was on a charge through the field and I actually let him through at the last corner on lap 3. I pitted on lap 4 for the softs and again I was miles quicker than the AI and eventually came out 6th just behind two Red Bulls, Leclerc and a Merc.. I didn't have the pace to catch them in this race but Sainz behind me was too slow to catch me. 

Poor old Vettel in a car miles quicker than me had got stuck in the midfield traffic and took a few laps to get past Sainz in 7th and never got close to reaching me in sixth. 

I reckon if I pit on lap 1/2 at Monaco I'll have a good chance of being on the podium with the Alfa as they'll just sit on their hands as I undercut my way to the front. Also the undercut has another benefit if the safety car is deployed in the race as I'll be the most likely to benefit.

How come the AI aren't doing their own matching aggressive undercut strategies or at least responding to my undercuts by pitting earlier than they intended to cover me off? I was hoping the AI strategies would be a little more nuanced by now but it doesn't seem to be the case.

 

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17 hours ago, crooky369 said:

How come the AI aren't doing their own matching aggressive undercut strategies or at least responding to my undercuts by pitting earlier than they intended to cover me off? I was hoping the AI strategies would be a little more nuanced by now but it doesn't seem to be the case.

The AI hasn't come up with unique strategies of any kind since F1 2010 (when the wear was just as negligible as it was IRL). In the old games they were hardcoded based on the combination of the car's tyre wear and the driver's tyre wear stat (with your teammate occasionally being able to emulate your strategy by overriding the former stat using your stint lengths), while in the new games they don't even bother using the driver's stats in the calculations anymore.

It's just laziness.

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The term 'ai' in this game in recent years is a misnomer. Although it certainly is 'artificial' there's definitely no 'intelligence' going on. 

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