Whiplash wrote:Yeah, it's a good idea to combine them. But, speed control has somehow made the faster cars to act like a cowards. Most of the time they slow down and hide behind he slower cars even they can overtake them easily.
Seems like the main problem is that cars can't understand when to overtake and when not. That's why I'm wondering what would happen if you would implement some more aggressive and simpler logic:
- Cars that are behind should always try to overtake.
- Cars should never slow down to avoid other cars, but only use steering. If a car slows down, that should be caused only by ai line.
Maybe you've already tested that? Even if some crashes happen, I feel like they would still look more natural than the current pussy waiting.
Yeah, of course I have tried. But I don't think any simple algorithm works. a) They have to check if there's room on the road for overtaking. Not easy, when everyone is moving and bots can "see" the road only certain amount ahead. You have to estimate how long the overtaking will take etc. b) When you move away from optimal driving line, specially if you overtake from outside, you almost always have to slow down, otherwise you drive off road.
But yeah, I try to come up with something better. If any of you have some knowledge or algorithm suggestions, go ahead. I have tried to find stuff on internet but they are all pretty useless.
Here's little more detailed info what I have included into this shit:
1. Estimating road length it takes for overtake based on current speed of cars.
problem: Usually if car can't find a spot to overtake it slows down to avoid collision. This makes the speed difference of the cars smaller --> Even less likely to have enough road to overtake --> Gets stuck behind car
2. Checking if there is enough room on road for overtake ("passing lane").
problem: Cars move around constantly so situation changes and this is not that precise stuff anyway.
3. Checking if car have enough time/space to turn the car to overtake/avoid collision.
problem: Speed/direction of the cars changes constantly and its not linear change, so calculating this is always just rough estimation.
4. Deciding which side is better for overtaking
-Default is from inside. But there should probably be some better way to determine this. Sometimes the side changes during overtake and that can also cause problems. There is also some restrictions for outside overtaking as it is longer route and you usually have to slow down to not drive off road.
5. If car can't overtake, can it wait or does it have to brake.
-Not much of a problem unless you want to keep certain safety distance. Then you have to take that to account.
6. Calculating the spot where bot needs to "aim" when overtaking and deciding when it can get back to normal AI line.
-This could get difficult specially if cars are side by side because then both cars might decide to avoid the other at the same time. Otherwise I think my method works as well as it is possible. Can't make them humans, though.
And thanks for feedback, Whip. I know there are not many here that care enough to check these recordings (and I don't blame them, hehe).
Tue Mar 31, 2015 8:45 pm
