Microsoft developed the technology more than a decade ago and put it to limited use in the original Forza game: Players couldn’t see or race each other’s Drivatars. This is what the team hopes the Drivatar can create, rather than having a single variety of AI driving around the track in the same way, lap after lap. They had very different driving styles, one very clinical and precise, and the other much looser. Dan Greenawalt, creative director at Turn 10 Studios, used the example of an old rivalry in F1 between Michael Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya. More importantly, the point is to have a variety of driving styles on the track. The goal is to make a computer that drives just like a human.
The Drivatars use Bayesian learning to develop in the image of their human counterparts: Yours picks up what routes you like to take, whether you drive fast into a corner or brake early, if you bump other cars to get them out of the way or steer clear of opponents.
For years, Turn 10 has wanted to use a learning neural network to totally change how racing artificial intelligence works and, potentially, change how videogaming works into the future.
