u/jonheartland

Even with my expectation of this game being more like Horizon 5.5, I was still baffled they'd done absolutely fuck all about the Drivatar AI. Basically, on Expert difficulty and up, you need to take the following into account in order to win. This is identical to how it was in FH5.

• Drivatars will always match your speed unless you're in pole position: This is why you should never build a car for speed and always build it for handling. They'll always be as fast as you are, with slightly stronger acceleration uphill. Even worse on launch, as you'll almost always lose 1-2 positions instantly on the straight.
• Drivatars have stupendously high grip no matter the surface: This is especially egregious in dirt and cross-country events. I've never seen a single Drivatar oversteer, ever. I'm getting dive-bombed in the corners because the AI can take the inside line at ludicrous speeds. The perfect, single-file driving in cross-country also looks ridiculous.
• Each circuit and sprint track has 1-2 weak corners for the AI: It varies but for circuits it's usually going to be the 2nd or 3rd corner and in sprints also commonly the (second to) last corner to fake close finishes for the player. It's so fucking dumb but because the AI cars are so overpowered, this is your one and only win condition.
• Every race requires one (1) miraculous overtake: In addition to my previous point, if you don't exploit that early, weak corner and don't overtake at least 4-5 cars, good luck trying to win lol. Unless you can drive flawlessly for the remainder of the track. If you sit in 5th or 6th for too long, the leading Drivatars will become impossible to catch.
• Don't tune your car to the PI limit unless you have an insane tune: I've had most success using stock cars, no joke. Again, unless you know how to tune your car perfectly, you're fucked trying to squeeze as much power out of it because the handling will suffer and you won't stand a chance in the corners. I usually just do tires and weight reduction.
• You can just chill out once you're in the lead: This one pisses me off greatly. I have to torpedo myself through corners in order to get even a whiff of the guy's ass in front of me, but once I'm in the lead I can just take my time like it's a Sunday drive and finish every race with the exact same 2-3 second lead. That sucks and isn't exciting at all.

In other words, racing becomes very predictable, formulaic, and it completely kills any immersion for me because you start looking at the game like code instead of an experience. I've had much more tense races in Gran Turismo 4, and that game is over 20 years old.