Why use cheats then? Seems to me you're good enough to beat them on your own. Unless you are using cheats the vastly expand the game in a better way I don't see the point.
Racing games AI isn't bad at all, I would argue to say it's some of the most straight forward and reliable AI out there. The less dynamic the track is the better it gets, for example Crash Team Racing's AI was incredibly annoying and more often than not you could get beaten and not be halfway through the game (meaning the difficulty the AI you played was around 'medium').
I'm not that good really. With cheats I'm good. Without them I'm average. When playing easy mode I'll win but as the difficulty level changes then to win I'll need cheats. That's why I use them.
I have to admit that I've never actually used any cheats on a racing game, like I have on other genres of games. I think I just enjoy the fact that it genuinely is a game that's based on your skill level, and the faster you get round the track the better you get.
I'd only ever use them if I were really that stuck or if there are just particular challenges that I'm not interested in or tired of but the game forces me to play them to level up. Otherwise I think cheats mostly just diminish the enjoyment of the games.
For me I like winning more than improving my skill level. In arcade racing to be honest, I don't think skill matters much especially if the game's got rubberband AI. For sims however I wouldn't use cheats.
A.I is quite good on a lot of games I've played, it's easier to make a racing A.I than a football A.I for example, there are less scenarios to take in consideration. A lot of racing games have brilliant computer A.I.
With the AI, a lots going to depend on how much experience you've got aswell, and if your just playing a racing game for the enjoyment then the AI won't really matter all that much to you. It will make the most difference to those who are fanatical about racing and not only play the games but are fans of motorsports in the real world aswell.
Well AI has that effect. It's commanded to adjust it's ''level'' the way you're driving, so it's assuming you're good, and thus, catching up to you.
It's called "Rubber Band AI", basically you guys have a "rubber band" between you two, when you go too far ahead, they will magically get behind you for the sake of competition. It happens a lot in most games where there are unlimited AI enemies, just so you don't get bored when you are too far ahead of the game. I think it makes the game pretty unrealistic though, and since you definitely earned being in front of the race, there should be no reason for the AI opponents to suddenly catch up to you.
I think that it has a very long way to go if it wants to be a realistic experience. I think now, that Ai is usually just too easy to beat. They can't even come close to racing the way a good user can. I've had some games that were kind of hard on a higher difficulty setting, but it could do with improvements.
There's no doubt that the AI in racing games especially as a Kong way to go to be as good as what it I'd in other games, and like what's been mentioned before I think the game developers are partly at fault for this. If they concerned themselves more with the AI instead of on the visual aspects of a game, I think people wouldn't mind, as the AI can make or break a game depending on just how bad it is.
I don't really like this system all that much as well but I have to admit it's at least an extra challenge though I just wish they could just implement a way to make it fair and still enjoyable though perhaps if they make it too realistic it may take some of the fun out of it I don't know.
Rubber Band AI is a cheap, artificial way to increase difficult in games. I understand why games use it, but I wish games did not implement it. I'd rather the developers just increase the skill of the AI's driving, rather than basically make them cheat.
I have two minds about this. In short races I can understand having this because it keeps the action going, but in endurance racers I'd much rather a non-rubber band AI because after all in endurance races pit-stops play a key part and being over taken while in the pits is a little annoying.
For arcade racers rubberband AI is fine IMHO. For a sim racing game however players need something more realistic which is why most hardcore sim racing games don't have rubberband AI unless you choose an arcade mode (if they offer one, that is).