Was trying to do some F1 races with the AI and I could not make it anywhere without getting punted, now I am not the greatest racer but I keep getting punted(only really happens in F1 cars tbh tho so might be a skill issue?) and there were 19 other cars but do you think its a me problem or a AI problem

Both

Jokes aside, it may be that F1 is just too fast for AI to handle, or you have a bad car set for them.

So do most people just stick to online?

yes, avoid using fast cars with AIs in general. because they lack spatial awareness and only stick to the racing line (meaning they will do anything to stay on it, including ramming). AIs in lfs generally dont do fast cars and are much better in slower cars

ai are terrible.

i can't really go back to racing AI after driving with other people, in any game, ymmv

Quote from johneysvk :

ai are terrible.

i can't really go back to racing AI after driving with other people, in any game, ymmv

Racing against real people is undeniably the best option for all the reasons in the world

However, playing against the AI is not always an ideological choice. Some have no other options and/or can't find anything for them online.

of course, especially seeing as the racing community is pretty much dead these days

Quote from johneysvk :

of course, especially seeing as the racing community is pretty much dead these days

Undeniably. It is also possible that, for various reasons, the number of solo players has become greater than the number of online players, even on the best days.

Any recommendations for consistently going races? or do most people just try and do league races?

The upside of league races is that you know what and where racing happens,that might be the reason why organized racing is still going strong despite the decrease of online activity.

Because we are a really small team, we drive against AI too (online). And yes sometimes it can be frustrating to drive against AI.

If you know that the AI drives stubbornly on the racing line, then you have to take that into account if you want to drive with it. On the other hand, the AI also drives quite conservatively when it gets into trouble (risk of getting onto the grass).

Here you cann see a stream of a race with another team driver and 5 AIs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ierJqCDCHaQ

My teammate struggles with the AI more than I do.

And because we're driving against the AI, we allow car resets while racing. That can reduce frustration while racing.

The behavior of the AI is said to have changed/improved in the future, new version. Let's see what happens.

ai is terrible and it frustrates me... they never commit to overtakes and suddenly slow down whenever you're side by side with them which makes the racing not fun at all

Honestly, I'm surprised the AI issue hasn't prompted people to make more mods balanced around the uf1000 and the gt class of cars. The issue of the AI performing conservative driving however will still be a problem regardless but at least they aren't ALWAYS losing total control when they inch a tad bit too close to the car infront.

Quote from Avraham Vandezwin :

Undeniably. It is also possible that, for various reasons, the number of solo players has become greater than the number of online players, even on the best days.

I'm picking it is due to how intimidating the skill is of players who compete in these big events for those who are only just getting into the game which keeps them away from online racing.

Quote from Metalmoltres121 :

I'm picking it is due to how intimidating the skill is of players who compete in these big events for those who are only just getting into the game which keeps them away from online racing.

You're right. Or at least we are of the same opinion

Most of us no longer have twelve and a half years and dozens of hours a week to train. That's why some here think racing with fixed settings would reinvigorate online racing.

https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/102700

IMHO races with fixed setups could even constitute a category in their own right, with specific world records, championships etc.

Quote from Metalmoltres121 :

Honestly, I'm surprised the AI issue hasn't prompted people to make more mods balanced around the uf1000 and the gt class of cars. The issue of the AI performing conservative driving however will still be a problem regardless but at least they aren't ALWAYS losing total control when they inch a tad bit too close to the car infront.

Many solo players have found ways to improve their AI experience without releasing their mods.
With the mod system, calibrating an AI that matches your performance level is very simple and takes less than a minute.

For example, with my modified version of the XRT, the AI did 1:25.55 yesterday on BlackWood GP. With the original version of the XRT, the AI runs at 1:31.23 (with my desktop, which I don't play with).
With cars modified to make the AI faster, the AI behaviour is neither better nor worse.

I think I will probably just stick to leagues now then.

Of course, the best racing is with real players. But they aren't always available when you want to race, and some people (sometimes) enjoy racing alone without the need to interact and cooperate with other people. So there will always be a need for AI drivers.

I've done some AI improvements in the last few test patches. You can read the descriptions here, see the notes for D37 to D40:
https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/102117

Feedback will be welcome, on the test patch thread. There are definitely some improvements but please let me know if I've made something worse by mistake. AI is pretty tricky to get right!

Hi Scawen,
It is very likely that LFS is used by more than 300 people per day around the world. If they are not online, it may be because many of them are playing alone against the AI. Thanks for thinking of them too

I understand that this is not the priority and that it makes people complain who are waiting for other important updates. But LFS also needs more competitive quality AI and more accessible and unifying online challenges (perhaps also a basic single player championship mod, but that's off topic ).

As an exclusive solo player (who has very little time for testing), I responded on the topic of patch 40.

As a slightly less able person AND an old git, I find the thought of racing against much more adroit folk intimidating. Not to mention the internet connection here is about as good as Ghengis Khan or Boudica ever got.
More modern sims do bugger all either because frankly they major on pretty graphics and leave me wondering if THAT is where the money goes, rather than making the thing usable. Yes I know, colour me old.