Okay, this is a bit of a weird one, and I'm not quite ready to call it a bug yet. And let's leave out that only noticing it by now speaks volumes about my powers of observation. But if you're racing the AI, and you're on the inside of a corner, it'll give you as much room as it possibly can, to the extent of running onto the outside kerbing. Ever since I started noticing it, the only times I've been hit by an outside car is if there are other cars around so the AI doesn't have room, or if it loses control on a kerb. Go on the outside however, and the AI will happily proceed to murder you in place. Regularly, vigorously and with every sign of keen enjoyment. If you're on the outside on entry, the AI will pull out into you if it feels like it. If you're on the outside, as the AI comes back onto power and starts to drift out, it'll completely ignore your presence and punt you off. So something screwy is going on. It's a little hard to make any firm conclusion since there's a fair amount of variables, what with different corners, different cars and so on. But I started noticing it a few days ago, and ever since then I've made a conscious effort of never getting on the AIs outside, to the extent of simply backing off before reaching a corner. And my off-line racing has improved massively. On a sidenote, can we, for the love of god, get the adaptive AI to ignore the slowest lap-time in the index file when deciding on the level to be run? One yellow flag, or an off, and you're stuck with a slower AI until another ten laps has been run. It's friggin' annoying.
I think they interpret that open inside in a certain way and try to attack that opening. They seem to have very limited peripheral vision so to say, so they simply don't expect and can't really "see" an opponent driving in a way that's different to theirs. So when you try a late braking technique, like staying on the outside very long and then shooting past the apex, they won't be able to realize what you're trying to do. That's why I often say it's the users fault when they're being pummeled in corners. Cutting into the AIs line, especially in corners, is not a good idea. It's arguable whether that shouldbe regarded as realistic or not, but I tend to try and take the (artificial) opponents view. What can you do when you're on the inside and sb shoots into your line, especially if your peripheral vision is a bit on the weak side. So what I do in corners when there's opponents around is try to maintain my line, whatever it might be.
Sure, I get that, and I agree with it. My point is that the AI doesn't seem to have a problem with varying its line when it's on the outside (within limits obviously). If you're on the inside, it'll keep its distance (or at least try to) and doesn't try to hit the apex. If you're on the outside, it doesn't seem to care. So it's not only a peripheral vision issue. Then again, I may just be imagining things. It's a bastard of a thing trying to reproduce with any level of consistency, because the bloody thing is also trying to race you.
Maybe I phrased it a bit odd... The way I see it, it's not that they don't care but rather that they "forget" you're there. Maybe describing it this way makes more sense. You leave an opening, which they see and try to attack. They attack it and "pass" you, i.e. you're not inside their front detection field anymore. Then they kinda "forget" you might still be there, or in other words they don't expect that you on your suboptimal outside line might still be trying to keep that position.