Today on War Stories, Ars Technica is joined by Dan Greenawalt, Creative Director of the Forza franchise, who takes us through the colossal potential (and many challenges) of utilizing deep neural networks to build sophisticated racing AI. Beginning with the original Drivatar AI in Forza Motorsport for XBOX in 2005, Greenawalt and his colleagues experimented with computer learning, refining their methods from iteration to iteration. It was once the AI system was unshackled from local hard drives and placed online in Forza Motorsport 5, however, that the floodgates truly opened. As the AI rapidly evolved, producing unexpected new behaviors, the Forza team quickly learned how challenging it would be to wield this two-edged sword in creating realistic opponents.

00:00 Introduction
00:42 Chapter 1: The Setup
07:17 Chapter 2: The Problems With AI
11:00 Chapter 3: Drivatar
19:24 Chapter 4: Rubber-banding
23:32 Chapter 5: The Lesson

Thank you to the following YouTube users for gameplay footage:
kevi86
TheYamiks
pHiLaToR99
Tyerell
testdrive426
Alex SandOr
Paragleiber (Gleiber)
GameplayOnly
SpecAgentProduction
POWERHOUSEHD
John GodGames
Freelancer Gamer
Pirate Love
SnoopZaKT1
ApexClone
RapidKiller11b
THE RED DRAGON


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How Forza Uses Neural Networks To Evolve Its Racing AI | War Stories | Ars Technica