WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:04.080 This week on the Eye Racing down Shift. We're ready to ring in a 2 00:00:04.080 --> 00:00:07.440 new year. Christ wants no more vacations. I'm just gonna delete that out 3 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:11.160 of the HR portal. It's special events season. Or if I'll actually set 4 00:00:11.160 --> 00:00:14.519 me on the team and you called me and ask if you could race, 5 00:00:14.839 --> 00:00:17.879 and the AI guys join us to talk about all the ways you can use 6 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:20.960 I Racing AI. You set the AI really low, you start the back 7 00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:24.000 and make like a three lap race, and you play hero mode. Nothing 8 00:00:24.039 --> 00:00:26.760 wrong with that at all. All this and more, it's strap it. 9 00:00:30.839 --> 00:00:33.880 Welcome to I Racing dash If Tammiels, Greg West, I'm back with the 10 00:00:33.960 --> 00:00:37.719 boys, Kevin Bobbitt and Chris Leone. Got a great show for you to 11 00:00:37.880 --> 00:00:41.520 day. It is special events season here at I Racing. We've got a 12 00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:45.479 lot of opportunities to go race, go race with your friends. Of the 13 00:00:45.560 --> 00:00:49.280 coming weeks, We've got a nice interview with not one, not two, 14 00:00:49.359 --> 00:00:54.439 but the three members of our AI team. They're gonna talk about developing AI, 15 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:57.200 what's coming, what they've been working on, and just kind of the 16 00:00:57.240 --> 00:01:00.399 whole process. I wish it was a video interview so you could see Nigel's 17 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:03.840 hair since he you know, as as smart as Einstein and kind of looks 18 00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:07.920 like him too. I got permission to say that sort of, so it's 19 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:11.200 fine. And then we're gonna tell as long as HR doesn't listen to the 20 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:15.079 intro, we're fine. Now you were there. He gave me verbal permission. 21 00:01:15.120 --> 00:01:19.640 We're fine. Hey, we're gonna talk about NASCAR free agency, get 22 00:01:19.719 --> 00:01:23.439 kicked off this week and finished off talking about the world of out Car, 23 00:01:23.920 --> 00:01:27.400 world of Outlaw Sprint car series, things that go round and around on dirt, 24 00:01:27.439 --> 00:01:30.560 which is Chris Leone's specialty, or so you think. So if you 25 00:01:30.640 --> 00:01:34.599 listen to this podcast, how are we doing? A voice awesome? Happy 26 00:01:34.640 --> 00:01:41.159 New Year? Happy New Year? Have you written any checks wrong? Or 27 00:01:41.239 --> 00:01:44.719 is that dating myself? Nobody writes check right? One check a month to 28 00:01:44.799 --> 00:01:48.200 my h o A, and I'm angry every month when I write did you 29 00:01:48.200 --> 00:01:49.760 put the right year on it? Or did you write twenty two? Uh? 30 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:53.239 Well, I haven't returned it, so I'm gonna sue us. There 31 00:01:53.239 --> 00:01:56.760 you go. Actually, I know I dropped it off. It's like the 32 00:01:56.840 --> 00:02:00.239 last day of December. I haven't written the January one yet, so I've 33 00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:05.840 I've got an opportunity to screw it up. I'll report back. The first 34 00:02:06.200 --> 00:02:08.960 news story that I saved of the year I saved the document is twenty twenty 35 00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:15.520 one, so I'm regressive. Wow, how proud of you right now? 36 00:02:15.080 --> 00:02:21.439 That's awesome. You're two years behind. That's impressive, Chris, well done. 37 00:02:21.560 --> 00:02:23.039 Well, you know, how do you even make this meeting? Like? 38 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:28.240 I you know, I don't know. I mean, but if you've 39 00:02:28.240 --> 00:02:30.919 ever shared a race track with me, you know that two years behind is 40 00:02:30.960 --> 00:02:34.319 pretty modest. And yeah, that's fair. Maybe we shouldn't let you take 41 00:02:34.319 --> 00:02:37.240 all that time off over the holidays. It's too too long for your brain 42 00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:40.319 to just shut down him. Yeah, and and my break was a disaster 43 00:02:40.479 --> 00:02:45.199 too, so I probably should have gotten back to work quicker. Well lesson 44 00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:50.919 learned. That's take a vacation again. Chris wants no more vacations. So 45 00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:53.840 I'm just gonna delete that out of the HR portal and we're all set. 46 00:02:53.759 --> 00:02:58.800 I said, problems solved, creative solutions to complicated problems. What Kevin, 47 00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:01.639 what'd you do over the holidays? Just? Uh, family and friends, 48 00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:07.120 you know, just hanging out to do anything super exciting. Didn't go anywhere, 49 00:03:07.159 --> 00:03:09.199 but the boys are home, which is great. And uh hung out 50 00:03:09.719 --> 00:03:14.560 what about you? Yeah, kind of same old, same old plant plants, 51 00:03:14.680 --> 00:03:17.759 indoor golf and and doing a lot of I racing on on the uh 52 00:03:17.800 --> 00:03:23.680 the current season Race Challenge hosted by Chief Stewart nim Cross Bunch just picked up 53 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:25.360 a new series in that he guess what I'm racing? Does it have to 54 00:03:25.400 --> 00:03:30.240 do with does it rhyme? Was SCHMOORSA? No? Oh no, rookie 55 00:03:30.240 --> 00:03:34.800 street stocks. I'm in it. Yeah, for those that don't know, 56 00:03:35.240 --> 00:03:39.919 we have we have taken a rule out anybody can race rookie street stocks now. 57 00:03:40.680 --> 00:03:46.719 So it's uh, it's because of my my B level oval license clearly, 58 00:03:46.039 --> 00:03:51.360 UH made me too good for that series. Not um No, I'm 59 00:03:51.400 --> 00:03:54.360 having fun in him though. They're quick, short races, um plenty of 60 00:03:54.439 --> 00:03:57.599 time. I think they're every hour, you know, I just jump in 61 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:01.000 and go, um awesome any time. Looking updated car model too, so 62 00:04:01.280 --> 00:04:03.719 you should drive that in VR by the way, And I'm giving away lots 63 00:04:03.719 --> 00:04:06.879 so I let you win awards because lots of people are beating me. Kevin's 64 00:04:06.919 --> 00:04:12.599 making it rain rookies day one on I Racing, you can earn an I'll 65 00:04:12.680 --> 00:04:15.479 let you win a word a word. I can't talk. How cool is 66 00:04:15.479 --> 00:04:18.480 that? Right? I'm I'm a community guy. You know I'm doing the 67 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:23.720 right thing. Magnanimous that's your word of the day, right, Chris, 68 00:04:23.800 --> 00:04:30.079 can you spell? That's no? That's no. No, we're not We're 69 00:04:30.120 --> 00:04:38.759 not doing him. Need to stuff with my agent, hippopotamus, agent manager. 70 00:04:38.800 --> 00:04:41.560 I need seventy two hours clear space so I can get my head in 71 00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:45.000 the game. Leslie, I think we've already lost control of this podcast. 72 00:04:45.079 --> 00:04:46.720 Leslie's addicted to the script spelling Bee, by the way, she's like the 73 00:04:46.759 --> 00:04:50.639 biggest fan. She takes days off. She tweets at them, They tweet 74 00:04:50.720 --> 00:04:57.399 back. It's that's her things. What word did you guys lose in your 75 00:04:57.399 --> 00:05:01.240 elementary school spelling bees as a kid? Because is I lost on plagiarism because 76 00:05:01.240 --> 00:05:04.360 I tried to spell it like plague. I lost on money. I thought, 77 00:05:04.399 --> 00:05:12.439 you guys you copied somebody. But I am never imitated, never duplicated. 78 00:05:12.439 --> 00:05:15.439 And I'm beginning to wonder if the problem is me. I guess I 79 00:05:15.480 --> 00:05:19.279 want to talk about I racing? Sure? Why not? All right, 80 00:05:19.399 --> 00:05:25.680 Well, I'm gonna read directly off Chris's outline. Then he magnanimously supplied to 81 00:05:25.800 --> 00:05:30.000 us thirty eight minutes ago with about ten minutes notice. Uh, latest news 82 00:05:30.040 --> 00:05:36.040 and special events in bold I Racing roar is this weekend one of the most 83 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:41.519 fun events you can do on I Racing. Uh. Not a team event, 84 00:05:41.680 --> 00:05:46.319 solo. It's two point four hours kind of you know, tis the 85 00:05:46.360 --> 00:05:48.920 season for things that are twenty four hours, as we'll talk about in a 86 00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:54.480 moment, but a really a really fun event for the community. We've got 87 00:05:54.800 --> 00:06:00.360 the touring cars are going to be out there. We've got the brand new 88 00:06:00.639 --> 00:06:03.720 Toyota GR eighty six cup car, and I think we got the GT fours. 89 00:06:03.800 --> 00:06:08.360 I made this series and I just forgot that sounds correct? Yeah right, 90 00:06:09.079 --> 00:06:13.439 you got it. I did it. Yeah yeah, shaking off the 91 00:06:13.480 --> 00:06:15.959 holiday rust yeah yeah, well the ten pounds you know, either either one 92 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:23.680 of those, but yeah, that kicks off this weekend. Details in the 93 00:06:23.720 --> 00:06:28.439 forums. We've got four races going off, four time slash I should say 94 00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:31.519 going off and once again that's that's two point four hours of solo. Good 95 00:06:31.560 --> 00:06:35.439 times around Daytona and the low powered cars and Kevin. That's that's kind of 96 00:06:35.480 --> 00:06:42.759 the dress rehearsal for the Eye Racing Daytona twenty four powered by Vco the first 97 00:06:42.879 --> 00:06:46.279 race of the the VCO Grand Slam. They're back this year. Vico's big 98 00:06:46.319 --> 00:06:49.079 sponsor of our special events. Great to have them on board. They have 99 00:06:49.160 --> 00:06:54.319 got Daytona this year, which has traditionally been our biggest event. I think 100 00:06:54.480 --> 00:07:00.399 right number ye, So looking forward to that. Several staff teams UH participating. 101 00:07:00.839 --> 00:07:02.920 We'll see if Greig can twist my arm or not, if I can, 102 00:07:03.360 --> 00:07:05.920 or if he'll actually set me on the team. Is really called me 103 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:11.000 and ask if you could race. We made room for you. I was 104 00:07:11.079 --> 00:07:14.160 begging to be on the team and that they're gonna let me like so, 105 00:07:14.480 --> 00:07:18.160 man have some more so so you might see some staff out there and maybe 106 00:07:18.160 --> 00:07:21.680 we'll get a win or something. Who knows, maybe we'll just finish. 107 00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:27.319 Probably not art. We're driving the P two and the staff one of the 108 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:30.399 staff cars, and we have everybody from I think Brian Lockwood's got like an 109 00:07:30.439 --> 00:07:33.920 eight thousand I R two and I'm not trying to pick on you, Kevin, 110 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:42.720 but to Kevin Bobbitt, who's got what two thousand? Being nice, 111 00:07:42.879 --> 00:07:46.600 you're being nice. If we want to round up, sure, but we'll 112 00:07:46.600 --> 00:07:49.480 be right there in some middle split. It'll be it'll be entertaining. You 113 00:07:49.480 --> 00:07:56.959 guys love me being on the team because I bring the average down. Yeah, 114 00:07:57.360 --> 00:08:03.000 sure, well we'll go with that. No, but it should be 115 00:08:01.959 --> 00:08:05.839 a VCO, right, And so they're sponsoring again. They've got Sebring as 116 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:11.240 well, Watkins Glenn and Petite Lamp, so they're in for the four pack 117 00:08:11.319 --> 00:08:13.160 this year. I wanted to finish that thought. Sorry. Happens to be 118 00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:18.639 the very similar to the Mitchelin Endurance Cup. Interesting how that works. Funny 119 00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:24.240 how that works. So pretty excited for those races this year too. I 120 00:08:24.279 --> 00:08:26.920 mean it's pretty much one for one to what MPs is doing with the the 121 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:31.799 GTP car, the BMW being debuted in December. We have the LMP two 122 00:08:31.840 --> 00:08:37.519 class covered with the dlar P two seventeen, and we have the GTD or 123 00:08:37.720 --> 00:08:41.360 GT three class as very well represented as well. So three classes are racing 124 00:08:41.399 --> 00:08:46.039 this year in the Daytona twenty four. Really excited. I saw Doug on 125 00:08:46.639 --> 00:08:52.919 Twitter having fun conversations with the with the the Daytona twenty four Twitter handle. 126 00:08:52.960 --> 00:08:56.519 It's it's pretty entertaining to watch them go back and forth. So yeah, 127 00:08:56.759 --> 00:09:00.600 very excited about that. So we have once again this week we've got the 128 00:09:00.679 --> 00:09:05.360 Roar next weekend, we've got the Dayton of twenty four. Lots of opportunity 129 00:09:05.399 --> 00:09:11.080 to spend way too much time on I Racing, so remember to spend a 130 00:09:11.120 --> 00:09:13.320 lot of time. There's significant others during the week, so you're not in 131 00:09:13.320 --> 00:09:20.240 trouble on the weekend. Pro tip on that. But we have our special 132 00:09:20.240 --> 00:09:22.519 events calendar that there's a lot more to it than just the special events. 133 00:09:22.519 --> 00:09:26.159 And by just the special events, I think there's twenty six out of fifty 134 00:09:26.200 --> 00:09:30.480 two this year or something like that, but we fifty two weeks. But 135 00:09:30.519 --> 00:09:33.519 we also have a bunch of returning series that are going to have their calendars 136 00:09:33.519 --> 00:09:39.399 announced in the coming weeks. Nerburgring and Durance Championship, one of the most 137 00:09:39.440 --> 00:09:43.960 popular series we have on I Racing, averaged over a thousand people every few 138 00:09:43.960 --> 00:09:48.480 weeks racing around the Nerburgring, so that will be back with nine races this 139 00:09:48.559 --> 00:09:56.639 year. We've got the BMW M sim Cup, which details to be announced 140 00:09:56.960 --> 00:10:03.360 coming soon unless Kevin wants to can you remember from the negotiation, they're gonna 141 00:10:03.399 --> 00:10:09.559 be BMW's in the series. There you go. That's all the details we 142 00:10:09.559 --> 00:10:11.960 can share right now. But it's coming back. It'll be good, yeah, 143 00:10:11.159 --> 00:10:16.000 very excited notice, he said, BMW's it's almost like there's more than 144 00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:22.200 more than one. So maybe maybe a format change from the series formerly known 145 00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:28.919 as the the BMWSMGT Cup and then of course very popular the Crevintic series the 146 00:10:28.919 --> 00:10:33.759 twelve hour in durance races. There's four of those throughout the season, so 147 00:10:33.440 --> 00:10:37.799 all of those calendars will be announced in the coming weeks. I think my 148 00:10:37.840 --> 00:10:41.519 favorite part about these calendars none of these events overlap, so you can do 149 00:10:41.559 --> 00:10:46.799 all of them without any of them overlapping. We have no more room in 150 00:10:46.799 --> 00:10:50.879 the calendar. We are out of space. Anything after that, something's got 151 00:10:50.879 --> 00:10:54.519 to give, but a lot of we need to make the year longer, 152 00:10:54.600 --> 00:10:56.279 is what you're saying. Man, they're going by so fast. Go for 153 00:10:56.360 --> 00:11:01.320 it. Happy, happy to forties around the corner, my friend. So 154 00:11:01.799 --> 00:11:05.039 all right, well we have a great panel for our interview today. We 155 00:11:05.080 --> 00:11:11.039 sat down Kevin and I just about twenty minutes ago with our AI development team 156 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:16.879 of Nigel Pattinson, Alexanders and Brent Foster. This is the team that the 157 00:11:16.960 --> 00:11:20.200 team behind the team that make those little little cars with the big hearts ratio 158 00:11:20.279 --> 00:11:24.639 as hard as they do. But they sat down and discussed you know kind 159 00:11:24.639 --> 00:11:28.720 of what goes into AI and you know kind of what makes a tick. 160 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:33.679 So, without further ado, yeah, guys, all right, Kevin and 161 00:11:33.720 --> 00:11:37.840 I are back and with a trio of guests. This time we had two 162 00:11:37.919 --> 00:11:41.279 with Nigel and Tyler. We decided to up the ante a little bit this 163 00:11:41.320 --> 00:11:46.120 week with we've got Nigel Pattinson, Alexanders and Brent Foster. You may wonder 164 00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:50.120 what do these three guys have in common. While these are the guys behind 165 00:11:50.200 --> 00:11:54.480 the AI on I racing, this the team behind the team per se. 166 00:11:56.320 --> 00:12:00.240 So guys, welcome, welcome to the show. Thanks for having us. 167 00:12:00.320 --> 00:12:03.080 Hey, yep, gould to be hit. All right, so let's go 168 00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:07.720 around the room first of all and just kind of introduce everybody. Uh So, 169 00:12:07.799 --> 00:12:09.440 first of all, we'll start with Nigel. Uh, you're a senior 170 00:12:09.480 --> 00:12:13.840 software engineer. What do you do? Uh you know, what do you 171 00:12:13.879 --> 00:12:18.600 do with AI? Well, I guess I've done the coding, taking it 172 00:12:18.679 --> 00:12:24.879 on from originally the codebase that was came from NASCAR two thousand and three and 173 00:12:26.120 --> 00:12:31.080 bringing it up to where it is is now just on the eyeslide. You 174 00:12:31.159 --> 00:12:37.200 make that sound so simple. Um, yeah, it's it's been a challenge 175 00:12:37.200 --> 00:12:43.399 at times, but it's it's it's more more hard slog than anything too too 176 00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:48.399 deep or perceptive. I think, what what did you do before or you 177 00:12:48.440 --> 00:12:52.879 were here? Like what was your job? Oh, I've just said programming 178 00:12:52.080 --> 00:13:00.600 jobs in recently C plus plus but in various different industries. Nothing not more 179 00:13:00.639 --> 00:13:05.600 strict casing anything boring stuff. Again, I started kind of mucking around with 180 00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:11.480 games, going back at least a kind of Indy Car one and so I 181 00:13:11.480 --> 00:13:16.320 don't know, I looked at the file formats and did a few few tweaks. 182 00:13:16.360 --> 00:13:18.120 Like I think in those days, the games had palettes and when you 183 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:20.759 try to take a track from one of the games to another game, all 184 00:13:20.759 --> 00:13:24.360 the colors would be wrong. So I think I came out with some program 185 00:13:24.360 --> 00:13:28.159 to fix up the colors. But then when GPL came out, that was 186 00:13:28.159 --> 00:13:35.759 a pretty cool game, and so a lot of modifying that in various ways. 187 00:13:35.799 --> 00:13:39.200 Supported some of the mods like the sixty nine cars that have got wings, 188 00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:43.679 that have downforce, and it was had a big system for changing the 189 00:13:43.720 --> 00:13:48.440 code and making all kinds of changes, and they were trying to make the 190 00:13:48.600 --> 00:13:52.759 Isle of Man TT circuit for GPL, and it turns out that there were 191 00:13:52.799 --> 00:13:56.320 limits on how long the track could be, because I only needed to make 192 00:13:56.320 --> 00:14:01.559 it long enough for the Nerboogring, which is not long enough the Aile of 193 00:14:01.600 --> 00:14:07.000 Man, so that being too short. But you were doing all that for 194 00:14:07.039 --> 00:14:09.360 fun. This was It's just the fun I spent. Well, yeah, 195 00:14:09.399 --> 00:14:13.000 it became just about my life at some point. I spent way too much 196 00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:15.480 time doing it. But you weren't getting a paycheck for it. I was 197 00:14:15.480 --> 00:14:18.039 not getting a paycheck for it. Absolutely not. So you are a regular 198 00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:22.960 sim racer, got it? Yeah, except not racing, just yeah, 199 00:14:22.120 --> 00:14:26.159 modifying stuff. So yeah, that was my background. And then I ended 200 00:14:26.240 --> 00:14:28.840 up moving to the States, transferring over the States with one of my previous 201 00:14:28.879 --> 00:14:35.799 companies, and my pure coincidence, ended up about ten minute drive away from 202 00:14:35.080 --> 00:14:39.279 Eye Racing's office. So when I ended up looking for a new drab, 203 00:14:39.360 --> 00:14:43.200 that's where we went. Yeah, until, where where are you from? 204 00:14:43.480 --> 00:14:46.039 You're obviously not from the US. I'll come on, that can't be that 205 00:14:46.120 --> 00:14:50.480 obvious. I am. I'm from New Zealand. I was going to get 206 00:14:50.519 --> 00:14:58.399 South Boston, but no similar accent. It's worse. It's worse, all 207 00:14:58.480 --> 00:15:03.519 right. Next we have Alex Sanders, Senior production associate. Alex, you 208 00:15:03.559 --> 00:15:07.440 have an interesting way of getting started with the AI on I Racing, mainly 209 00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:11.799 because I'd be rated you. You got started building some basic lines for us, 210 00:15:11.879 --> 00:15:16.240 right yeah, um, way way back in the day, almost three 211 00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:22.080 years ago. Now, I guess m I Racing wanted to start doing the 212 00:15:22.120 --> 00:15:26.559 AI and we just wanted to make sure that uh kind of the idealized line 213 00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:31.320 for where the cars was was faster. So, um, me and me 214 00:15:31.360 --> 00:15:35.440 and you met through a racing league and you said, hey, can you 215 00:15:35.480 --> 00:15:39.960 try doing this? Um And from what I thought was going to be like 216 00:15:39.759 --> 00:15:46.399 a fifteen minute project once now I have a job and been m have been 217 00:15:46.440 --> 00:15:50.559 doing it three years and there's like no end in sight. There's still so 218 00:15:50.639 --> 00:15:54.720 much more to do. Yeah, and and the specifics on that Alex had 219 00:15:54.759 --> 00:16:00.320 to piece together the AI lines for the Norch Life, which is we had 220 00:16:00.360 --> 00:16:04.679 nobody on staff that could do it, and so he started out contracted out 221 00:16:04.679 --> 00:16:07.799 that big project. The next thing you know, Yeah, he works at 222 00:16:07.879 --> 00:16:11.679 Eye Racing, so that's uh, that's pretty cool. We'll get into the 223 00:16:11.240 --> 00:16:15.559 nitty gritty of some of that stuff a little bit later. And then last 224 00:16:15.559 --> 00:16:18.559 of all, we've got Brent Foster, who's the newest guy on the team. 225 00:16:18.639 --> 00:16:22.159 He's a vehicle production assistant and really has grown from somebody that we thought 226 00:16:22.200 --> 00:16:25.879 was just going to drive lines into Now Brent, you do a lot of 227 00:16:25.879 --> 00:16:30.000 car work, right, Uh? Yeah, probably at this point. Most 228 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:34.159 of what I do is working on cars for for the AI. Uh And 229 00:16:34.879 --> 00:16:40.120 but yeah, basically I just try to make sure that their car behaves the 230 00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:44.480 same way that your car does. And how did you have an interesting background 231 00:16:44.519 --> 00:16:48.080 as well? You kind of applied for this job out of your comfort zone, 232 00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:55.080 a little bit from your your classical training. Correct those words very strategically. 233 00:16:55.600 --> 00:16:59.159 Yeah, to say it was out of my comfort zone, it's probably 234 00:16:59.200 --> 00:17:03.480 a bit of an understand ement. Um. Yeah. So before starting at 235 00:17:03.480 --> 00:17:11.039 Eye Racing just over two years ago, UM, I worked as a bassoonist. 236 00:17:11.319 --> 00:17:18.519 Um. I played the bassoon and I made a living by um playing 237 00:17:18.559 --> 00:17:25.039 in orchestras and um, you know, traveling around, uh, freelancing, 238 00:17:25.680 --> 00:17:30.720 taking auditions. Um, That's that's what I did. But then when when 239 00:17:30.799 --> 00:17:37.519 COVID started, all of that kind of work was non existent for quite a 240 00:17:37.519 --> 00:17:44.160 while. Uh. And that's when I started on Ie Racing as a member. 241 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:51.240 And I saw your job posting, Greg, and I read the description 242 00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:55.160 and I thought why not, I'll send my resume and and I thought for 243 00:17:55.200 --> 00:17:59.119 sure that would be the end of it. But then shortly thereafter I was 244 00:17:59.160 --> 00:18:03.200 getting phone calls from you. I'm annoying like that. I guess that was 245 00:18:03.240 --> 00:18:07.799 gonna say, Greg and be persistent, but annoying is probably a better lady 246 00:18:07.880 --> 00:18:15.240 haveing Kevin Bobbitt joining the podcast. Brent was a Brent was a lot of 247 00:18:15.279 --> 00:18:19.240 fun to hire. I remember the night I called him. Leslie was a 248 00:18:19.319 --> 00:18:23.160 big fan of his just because his background was so off the wall, and 249 00:18:23.200 --> 00:18:26.319 I remember when I called him off from the job. I made him work 250 00:18:26.359 --> 00:18:30.079 for it a little bit, but uh definitely earned it. He's that we 251 00:18:30.160 --> 00:18:34.119 give a pretty pretty hard test to those that have to drive drive the car 252 00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:37.519 on I Racing in any capacity, and it happened. The old test was 253 00:18:37.559 --> 00:18:41.720 the portion of nine one cup car at Summit Point as part of it, 254 00:18:41.759 --> 00:18:45.319 and you had to do a quall lap, which, Brent, that was 255 00:18:45.359 --> 00:18:48.720 your car, right, Yeah. I mean it hadn't been for long, 256 00:18:48.799 --> 00:18:56.240 but it was I think maybe maybe a couple months before before this, I 257 00:18:56.359 --> 00:18:59.359 decided that that was the car that I wanted to race on I Racing. 258 00:18:59.559 --> 00:19:03.200 So you know, it was still definitely new to me, but I at 259 00:19:03.279 --> 00:19:07.240 least had my mind wrapped around and I think you put down a big que 260 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:10.519 number, so that was that was helpful in you getting the job for sure. 261 00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:15.680 So but do you still play? Do I still play? Yeah? 262 00:19:15.759 --> 00:19:21.640 Yeah I do. I mean obviously not not like I used to, um, 263 00:19:21.960 --> 00:19:26.279 you know, before my life revolved around it, and now obviously with 264 00:19:26.559 --> 00:19:30.960 a full time job here at I Racing, that's a bit different. Um. 265 00:19:32.079 --> 00:19:34.440 But you know I still do play. I still enjoy it, um, 266 00:19:36.640 --> 00:19:38.559 And I mean yeah, it will always be a big part of my 267 00:19:38.599 --> 00:19:45.440 life. And I love playing music, love playing the bassoon. So yeah, 268 00:19:45.480 --> 00:19:49.599 cool apartmental meetings start with him playing the masterpiece of theater theme song. 269 00:19:51.359 --> 00:19:55.559 Yeah every week we should national anthem, we should bring that in. Actually, 270 00:19:55.720 --> 00:20:00.559 yeah, we need talent show during the production meeting on Mondays. All 271 00:20:00.640 --> 00:20:03.160 right, So let's get into the iRacing and AI. It's a fairly new 272 00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:08.319 addition to the service. Definitely had a lot of opinions on it when it 273 00:20:08.400 --> 00:20:15.359 first dropped, but now we have got a pretty substantial percentage of our of 274 00:20:15.359 --> 00:20:18.640 our cars and tracks on there. If Saunders can probably quote it off the 275 00:20:18.680 --> 00:20:26.279 top of his head, But what makes AI on Iye Racing different than maybe 276 00:20:26.279 --> 00:20:30.839 on other titles, and it's just a roundtable discussion. Maybe kick it off 277 00:20:30.839 --> 00:20:33.920 with Nigel what have what have you? Would have been some of your goals 278 00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:40.319 as you did the base programming with our AI. Sure, so, I 279 00:20:40.319 --> 00:20:45.920 guess um, you know it doesn't basic goals we do as bring up particulars 280 00:20:45.920 --> 00:20:48.599 talked about we want the cars that the II are driving to behave the same 281 00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:52.480 ways as the cars that you are driving. And that's the challenge in itself. 282 00:20:55.319 --> 00:21:00.119 And obviously we have a large variety of cars in eye Racing, you 283 00:21:00.200 --> 00:21:04.119 know, the range of capabilities. But I guess well, one thing that 284 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:10.519 I really wanted was for the AI do not act too much like kind of 285 00:21:11.640 --> 00:21:15.880 robots for a single thing that they're doing, you know, exactly the same 286 00:21:15.960 --> 00:21:22.920 lines lap after lap, So I kind of wanted them to have a bit 287 00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:27.759 of variety between them and also to make the odd mistake here and there, 288 00:21:27.799 --> 00:21:33.200 and for that not to be too kind of canned that they go too fast 289 00:21:33.279 --> 00:21:36.640 into a corner, and they were too too fast into the corner, then 290 00:21:36.680 --> 00:21:40.160 they would slide off things like that. So that's that's one of the things 291 00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:44.720 that I've aimed for I think one of the things that you've also accomplished better 292 00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:48.000 than a lot of titles, and that makes it more lifelike to play is 293 00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:55.519 I preferred our little Ai folk as cheeky little guys because they'll press you. 294 00:21:56.079 --> 00:21:59.359 They will not you know, and other other sims you can just you kind 295 00:21:59.400 --> 00:22:00.839 of can figure out what they where they will fight you and where they won't 296 00:22:00.880 --> 00:22:04.279 fight you. Ours pretty much will fight you all the time. I remember, 297 00:22:04.440 --> 00:22:08.039 Alex, you're building the defend lines and trying to figure out what was 298 00:22:08.119 --> 00:22:11.319 realistic and what made them, you know, want to fight almost too much. 299 00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:17.079 But what do you think, what do you think? I don't know 300 00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:21.000 separates our our aire the like one of the things that you've been proud to 301 00:22:21.039 --> 00:22:25.160 work up. Yeah, I mean I kind of would would echo what Nigel 302 00:22:25.240 --> 00:22:27.920 said. I like that they're they're less robotic in than in some of the 303 00:22:27.960 --> 00:22:32.759 other titles that I've played with. I don't have a ton of experience um 304 00:22:33.079 --> 00:22:37.559 on other racing games, but um, for sure, when you screw around 305 00:22:37.640 --> 00:22:41.640 with some of those, you see that, you know, the lap ones 306 00:22:41.759 --> 00:22:45.559 can be very robotic. Um, there can be you know, the other 307 00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:52.119 the other cars are basically all the same whereas we have a lot of a 308 00:22:52.200 --> 00:22:56.079 lot of customization you can do to the opponents to make them act differently. 309 00:22:56.839 --> 00:23:03.039 UM and we really we can make a fun experience for the user kind of 310 00:23:03.079 --> 00:23:06.920 regardless what kind of AI experience you want to have. UM. You know, 311 00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:10.720 if if you want to set them up to be like an official race 312 00:23:10.839 --> 00:23:15.720 where you're, um, you know, running something longer and you want the 313 00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:18.720 skill spread to be very tight, like it's you know, doing a real 314 00:23:18.839 --> 00:23:22.640 race, you can do that. UM And if you want to do the 315 00:23:22.720 --> 00:23:27.240 Greg Special where you slap a race together, you set the AI really low, 316 00:23:27.319 --> 00:23:30.640 you start at the back, you make like a three lap race and 317 00:23:30.720 --> 00:23:34.039 you play hero mode, it works too. Nothing wrong with that at all, 318 00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:37.960 No, And I think that's I think that's the point. Um. 319 00:23:37.559 --> 00:23:42.519 AI can be anything you want it to be, UM and it and it 320 00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:47.720 can do that. It can be more flexible than you know, like our 321 00:23:47.759 --> 00:23:53.839 official series racing. UM, You're you're gonna get kind of a very specific 322 00:23:55.039 --> 00:24:00.640 experience doing that, and AI can be more UM And I think I think 323 00:24:00.720 --> 00:24:07.000 that's what's what's the neatest to me. And also UM seeing how it's how 324 00:24:07.079 --> 00:24:11.160 it's grown over you know, the three years that I've been involved in it. 325 00:24:11.599 --> 00:24:15.039 Obviously, when we put out a build, the the new content gets 326 00:24:15.079 --> 00:24:18.799 a lot of attention, you know, new cars and new tracks going on 327 00:24:18.920 --> 00:24:22.960 AI. But behavior wise, like we're constantly tweaking on this, We're constantly 328 00:24:23.000 --> 00:24:27.839 working on making it better, um and that that may not be as obvious, 329 00:24:27.920 --> 00:24:33.880 it may not get as much attention. But yeah, I'm impressed at 330 00:24:33.960 --> 00:24:37.680 at how we've how far we've come um in the in the time that we've 331 00:24:37.720 --> 00:24:40.960 been doing it. Yeah, it's been interesting to see how it's grown as 332 00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:42.839 a whole. As is kind of an aside. When we started out, 333 00:24:42.960 --> 00:24:47.599 we almost didn't know what to do with it. Now it is a major 334 00:24:47.720 --> 00:24:51.240 function of vehicle development, and we do our best when we have new vehicles 335 00:24:51.319 --> 00:24:56.039 coming out to to make our new vehicles and tracks to make them AI available 336 00:24:56.200 --> 00:25:00.480 when it's appropriate when the dev cycle allow us for it. You know, 337 00:25:00.599 --> 00:25:04.160 sometimes, as we saw with like the Mercedes W thirteen, you know, 338 00:25:04.200 --> 00:25:08.440 like the car was was done so close to the to the release date, 339 00:25:08.480 --> 00:25:12.480 there was no way to build AI in a form that was up to the 340 00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:17.599 standard that you guys have developed and hashtag soon, hashtag soon. Yeah, 341 00:25:17.720 --> 00:25:21.799 burying the lead there did you check that in. It's in, it's being 342 00:25:21.880 --> 00:25:26.279 tested now confirmed from March, sure, yeah, I can. I'll confirm 343 00:25:26.319 --> 00:25:30.079 it from March. Just don't don't give out my address or oh number or 344 00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:33.519 anything like that in case something goes wrong. So, what are some of 345 00:25:33.559 --> 00:25:37.759 the things that let's go back to production on this and anybody can chime in, 346 00:25:37.960 --> 00:25:40.920 you know, what are some of the things that make developing AI on 347 00:25:41.079 --> 00:25:45.000 iRacing some challenges and what are some of those those improvements that you're talking about 348 00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:53.599 that we've made recently that has really just improved the overall experience. I'll chime 349 00:25:53.680 --> 00:25:59.799 in with a challenge. So, how's an eracing a very dynamic the you 350 00:25:59.839 --> 00:26:02.880 know, the tie is a dynamic. The track heats up, um, 351 00:26:03.160 --> 00:26:07.240 then the tires start wearing out and the cars slow down, and trying to 352 00:26:07.319 --> 00:26:12.519 get that to match across the AI is a huge challenge for the production guys. 353 00:26:12.720 --> 00:26:17.680 So maybe they want to try men on those since they spend so much 354 00:26:17.720 --> 00:26:22.000 time on it. Yeah, maybe maybe you'd like to talk about your recent 355 00:26:22.079 --> 00:26:29.960 project. Yeah, okay, um, yeah, making sure that the AI 356 00:26:30.079 --> 00:26:36.279 performs consistently, um, you know, relative to the car that they're driving 357 00:26:36.480 --> 00:26:41.160 or the tracks that they're driving on is definitely a big challenge, and recently 358 00:26:41.359 --> 00:26:48.559 I've been working through some of our most challenging tracks that we have. You 359 00:26:48.640 --> 00:26:53.359 can say Darlington, you can say Darlington, so yeah, Darlington is one 360 00:26:53.440 --> 00:26:59.640 of them. Um So, So for Darlington, I I've had to go 361 00:26:59.759 --> 00:27:07.039 through basically all of our big oval cars um so, so like um, 362 00:27:07.480 --> 00:27:12.480 the next Gen, the Gen six NASCAR, the eighty seven's, the Exfinity 363 00:27:12.559 --> 00:27:21.400 car, the trucks ARCA, and the IRA eighteen and tweak them so that 364 00:27:21.480 --> 00:27:27.839 they function properly at Darlington specifically. Um And fortunately I think I've been fairly 365 00:27:27.880 --> 00:27:33.519 successful with that, and I've gone on to work through a few of our 366 00:27:33.559 --> 00:27:38.799 other tracks that are causing us some issues. Well that's that's an interesting segue. 367 00:27:38.880 --> 00:27:44.440 So let's talk about what makes you know specifically? You know, whether 368 00:27:44.480 --> 00:27:47.920 it's the Cup cars you know, and they're running different maybe a different tire 369 00:27:47.920 --> 00:27:51.680 of different tracks, or on some of the open World cars that have track 370 00:27:51.759 --> 00:27:56.440 specific aero packages, that's stuff that all has to be accounted before. Yeah, 371 00:27:56.519 --> 00:28:02.200 for sure, um, particularly with some thing like a complex car like 372 00:28:02.279 --> 00:28:06.920 either the Next Gen or the IRA eighteen. Uh, there's a ton of 373 00:28:07.079 --> 00:28:11.720 different arrow packages that exist, different types of tracks will have different tires, 374 00:28:12.599 --> 00:28:17.000 um, So like obviously you won't run the same tire at Martinsville that you 375 00:28:17.079 --> 00:28:26.880 would add Daytona obviously, So those all those different sort of variables and need 376 00:28:26.920 --> 00:28:30.319 to be accounted for in the AI. That's a lot of what we do 377 00:28:30.720 --> 00:28:34.359 trying to get them to perform consistently across all the tracks. So what are 378 00:28:34.400 --> 00:28:38.319 some of these other incremental improvements other than you know, maybe it's just different 379 00:28:38.359 --> 00:28:42.839 tire and arrow packages. You know, Nigel, you have really you know, 380 00:28:42.960 --> 00:28:48.440 burnt the candle at both ends to improve some of the like I say, 381 00:28:48.480 --> 00:28:52.039 the cheeky behavior, the light. How do you bring AI to life 382 00:28:52.680 --> 00:28:56.799 rather than just playing fallow the leader? Um? Okay, So I mean 383 00:28:56.240 --> 00:29:02.319 obviously you want them to make passing attempts. So it's there's a lot of 384 00:29:03.559 --> 00:29:07.400 basically just hard slog and they're trying to see, you know what getting that 385 00:29:07.480 --> 00:29:12.039 ALI to identify is is this a viable kind of passing opportunity or they're not 386 00:29:12.279 --> 00:29:15.799 getting to dive down and time things right. And I'm sure they're still a 387 00:29:15.880 --> 00:29:21.880 long way off perfect and a lot of that, but it's it's better than 388 00:29:21.960 --> 00:29:23.759 it was when it started. And I think, you know, compared to 389 00:29:23.920 --> 00:29:30.759 other ALI and other games, it's probably pretty good. So it's just m 390 00:29:30.599 --> 00:29:34.519 Yeah, I wish there was a way to do it in some some simple 391 00:29:36.240 --> 00:29:38.079 way we had some deep insight and suddenly it would all work. But actually 392 00:29:38.119 --> 00:29:45.960 it's just a lot of hard slog going through endless situations trying to get them 393 00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:48.079 to do the right thing. But also it's also about the randomness. I 394 00:29:48.240 --> 00:29:52.839 like to have them, you know, in a given situation, maybe sometimes 395 00:29:52.920 --> 00:29:56.799 they'll attempt to move and other times they won't. They'll hang back and leave 396 00:29:56.799 --> 00:30:00.000 it for some other time. So I have a question and it has to 397 00:30:00.079 --> 00:30:03.920 do with so we talk about how we've been improving or you guys have been 398 00:30:03.960 --> 00:30:07.559 improving AI, not just by adding cars and tracks, but you know, 399 00:30:07.759 --> 00:30:14.319 improving the overall system. But what about when because I racing evolves, right, 400 00:30:14.440 --> 00:30:18.000 So cars will get an update, they'll get new tires, they'll get 401 00:30:18.759 --> 00:30:22.880 whatever, a new arrow package they'll get. You know, we just updated 402 00:30:22.119 --> 00:30:25.240 the cup car. We were talking about the nine one cup car, but 403 00:30:25.319 --> 00:30:27.039 we just did an update to the nine nine two cup car, for example, 404 00:30:27.119 --> 00:30:32.759 which isn't a it's a quality of life improvement. It's not a brand 405 00:30:32.799 --> 00:30:37.319 new car. But does that mean you guys have to redo everything on it? 406 00:30:37.559 --> 00:30:40.319 Or like, where's the line? How many? How much can we 407 00:30:40.519 --> 00:30:42.599 change on a car before you guys have to get in and go, oh, 408 00:30:42.839 --> 00:30:48.640 gotta do everything over again? It's an interesting question because it can vary 409 00:30:48.720 --> 00:30:53.200 widely, obviously, So we just put out a patch that had the update 410 00:30:53.240 --> 00:30:56.079 to the nine nine two cup like you mentioned, and also had a GT 411 00:30:56.240 --> 00:31:03.559 three BP update and in in this particular case, because it really depends on 412 00:31:03.720 --> 00:31:10.359 what the changes are. UM, the BOP update for the GT three's thankfully 413 00:31:10.559 --> 00:31:15.519 did not require any additional AI work. The update to the nine two cup 414 00:31:15.599 --> 00:31:19.759 car involved essentially doing the A for that car over again, lovely. So 415 00:31:21.359 --> 00:31:25.359 the short answer is it depends, which means you guys need to be intimately 416 00:31:25.440 --> 00:31:30.200 involved in any time somebody else is messing with one of your cars. Yeah, 417 00:31:30.559 --> 00:31:33.519 and I guess I mentioned before that. Um. You know, behavioral 418 00:31:33.640 --> 00:31:37.640 updates are a big part of what goes in and doesn't necessarily get the attention. 419 00:31:38.240 --> 00:31:41.599 Car updates are a huge part of it too, um and you know 420 00:31:41.880 --> 00:31:45.240 you'll you'll see those in the release notes that you know, the GT three 421 00:31:45.319 --> 00:31:52.000 class got an update to AI Driver training or however we phrase it, um, 422 00:31:52.920 --> 00:31:57.480 that can frequently be a really big deal. Um. Generally speaking, 423 00:31:57.519 --> 00:32:00.599 I would say, how many ever cars we put out in a season that 424 00:32:00.680 --> 00:32:07.599 are new, we've probably worked on at least that many, keeping up with 425 00:32:07.799 --> 00:32:13.599 updates or um just improving them if it's if it's something that that that's required 426 00:32:13.680 --> 00:32:17.759 on. So yeah, they As the catalog of AI content has grown, 427 00:32:19.240 --> 00:32:22.599 Um, you know, we do spend more and more time maintaining things and 428 00:32:23.039 --> 00:32:28.480 updating things for sure, right, So so the real visible stuff in release 429 00:32:28.599 --> 00:32:32.039 notes is, hey, we added this to aim. But to your point, 430 00:32:32.079 --> 00:32:37.559 it's it. You may have had to spend equally equalium kind of the 431 00:32:37.680 --> 00:32:40.880 same amount of time on other cars just to keep them where they were because 432 00:32:42.559 --> 00:32:45.519 a different engineer decided they were going to make that car better, which is 433 00:32:45.519 --> 00:32:46.920 a good thing, right, I mean, it's good that we're making product 434 00:32:46.960 --> 00:32:52.720 better. But at all it has this ripple effect, and I think members 435 00:32:52.799 --> 00:32:55.000 probably don't realize how much goes into that. It's not you just didn't do 436 00:32:55.079 --> 00:33:00.640 a car two years ago and I'll never look at it again. So yeah, 437 00:33:00.079 --> 00:33:04.440 as usual, tires tend to be the complicated thing. So if you're 438 00:33:04.480 --> 00:33:08.000 doing a if GT three goes through some bop and we add, I don't 439 00:33:08.039 --> 00:33:12.160 know, five kilos to one of the cars to bounce a bit. Well, 440 00:33:12.160 --> 00:33:15.880 the ao is probably going to react correctly to that five kilos and we'll 441 00:33:15.960 --> 00:33:19.200 check it, but we probably don't need to do anything. But at the 442 00:33:19.279 --> 00:33:22.400 very least you've got to run some laps to make sure that it is Yeah, 443 00:33:22.599 --> 00:33:29.039 yeah, you mispronounced that. Brent has to run some laps. Yeah, 444 00:33:29.200 --> 00:33:31.000 but if you change a tire, that's a it's a more complicated thing, 445 00:33:31.079 --> 00:33:35.759 and the the AOI will try and do the right thing, but there's 446 00:33:35.759 --> 00:33:37.960 a fair chance that it's going to need a little bit of tweaking. Brent. 447 00:33:38.039 --> 00:33:42.279 How many times have you been doing a tire run to measure falloff and 448 00:33:43.240 --> 00:33:45.400 and wadded it up two laps from the end and had to start all over? 449 00:33:46.000 --> 00:33:52.559 Oh more than Yeah, Yeah, that's right. We're professionals here, 450 00:33:52.640 --> 00:33:58.519 Greg, come on, Oh, that's That's one of the cool things about 451 00:33:58.680 --> 00:34:02.519 I think there's role and not just with Brandon Alex but with all the vpas 452 00:34:02.880 --> 00:34:07.320 is the level of detail that goes in to take you know, tire development, 453 00:34:07.360 --> 00:34:10.320 whether it's for the player car or whether it's for the AI. Is 454 00:34:12.079 --> 00:34:17.079 they do the long runs and and sometimes you waded up twenty nine laps into 455 00:34:17.119 --> 00:34:22.119 a thirty lap run and there is no close enough. It is step away, 456 00:34:22.639 --> 00:34:27.519 grab a drink, come back and start it over. Because our members 457 00:34:27.559 --> 00:34:30.400 are going to find this out. They're going to do the thirty lap run 458 00:34:30.639 --> 00:34:35.599 times ten thousand or you know more people on a nightly basis, So we 459 00:34:35.719 --> 00:34:38.599 have to do our due diligence or we will be found out. And we 460 00:34:38.880 --> 00:34:42.440 were not going to be found out. We're definitely going to put in the 461 00:34:42.480 --> 00:34:45.000 effort because our members deserve that. Whether it's on the player car, whether 462 00:34:45.039 --> 00:34:50.559 it's the AI, we want to provide the best experience possible for however you 463 00:34:50.719 --> 00:34:53.639 want to partake in eye racing. And I'm incredibly proud of the group that 464 00:34:53.719 --> 00:34:58.840 we have. Everybody's bought into that philosophy and truly believes it on a daily 465 00:34:58.920 --> 00:35:01.079 basis, and it's a it's a really cool group to work at because they 466 00:35:01.119 --> 00:35:05.920 bring the lunch pail every day to get the job done. Alex, you 467 00:35:05.960 --> 00:35:09.360 said you had you had another thing as far as behavior that that you think 468 00:35:09.480 --> 00:35:15.280 is it's definitely worth pointing out. Yeah, I mean, I think one 469 00:35:15.360 --> 00:35:20.639 of the things that's that's a really good example of how behaviorally we've improved over 470 00:35:20.760 --> 00:35:24.159 time. UM. When I first started working on AI, the I didn't 471 00:35:24.199 --> 00:35:28.920 defend at all. UM And if you've ever been in an official race, 472 00:35:29.039 --> 00:35:34.199 you know that's that's not realistic. UM. And over time we added kind 473 00:35:34.239 --> 00:35:40.719 of our first iteration of the the AI defensive behavior UM, where we added, 474 00:35:42.079 --> 00:35:44.920 you know, the ability for them to move over take a defensive line 475 00:35:44.960 --> 00:35:47.559 into corners. It was kind of rough. It was very you know, 476 00:35:47.639 --> 00:35:51.719 it is on or off. They they moved all the way over or they 477 00:35:51.760 --> 00:35:55.599 didn't move over at all, UM. And that's something that we looked at. 478 00:35:57.000 --> 00:35:59.840 UM. You know, we got community feedback. We do pay it 479 00:36:00.039 --> 00:36:04.960 tention to that. You know, we I saw some of the guys that 480 00:36:05.079 --> 00:36:10.239 create the videos on YouTube talking about reviews of our AI in particular and pointing 481 00:36:10.280 --> 00:36:15.920 out strengths and weaknesses. And so we we put in kind of our our 482 00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:20.960 second major iteration of AI defensive behavior in this this last build. And now 483 00:36:21.480 --> 00:36:27.280 AI defensive behavior is a lot more varied. They don't necessarily go all the 484 00:36:27.320 --> 00:36:30.400 way to the other side of the track. They'll be variation between what cars 485 00:36:30.440 --> 00:36:32.119 will do, how far they'll go over or even if they'll defend at all. 486 00:36:34.320 --> 00:36:37.960 And I think that's just a really nice example of the sort of behavioral 487 00:36:38.719 --> 00:36:44.639 improvements that we make over time. You know, AI is is still very 488 00:36:44.719 --> 00:36:46.639 much a work in progress where we're not looking at any part of it and 489 00:36:46.760 --> 00:36:51.480 saying this is it, this is good enough, this is as good as 490 00:36:51.519 --> 00:36:53.239 we can ever make it. We're always trying to make it better, and 491 00:36:53.719 --> 00:36:57.320 uh, yeah, I think I think that's a really nice example of it. 492 00:36:58.159 --> 00:37:00.000 Yeah, I mean think you you know, follow that up with what 493 00:37:00.159 --> 00:37:05.559 Nigel's talking about, even future improvements where they will they'll do sins on you 494 00:37:06.000 --> 00:37:08.559 will be a really nice touch, unless you're getting sent on and then you'll 495 00:37:08.599 --> 00:37:14.000 probably be annoyed. But you know, realism, that's what That's what that 496 00:37:14.119 --> 00:37:21.079 reset button for reset to previous session right there. I feel like it's a 497 00:37:21.199 --> 00:37:27.119 common misconception about our AI is that everything is completely line based in their slot 498 00:37:27.239 --> 00:37:30.800 cars. You know, that's something I see people talk about every so often, 499 00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:37.840 and our our AI is a lot more complicated than that. Um you 500 00:37:37.960 --> 00:37:40.239 can you know, if you just run an AI race and you look at 501 00:37:42.800 --> 00:37:46.039 the cars out there and where they're running, there's variations between them. It's 502 00:37:46.039 --> 00:37:52.199 something Nigel's done a great job on making them so that they're not just you 503 00:37:52.280 --> 00:37:55.480 know in that Congo line going through like I've I've seen in some other titles. 504 00:37:57.239 --> 00:37:59.679 Um, you know, they're not They're not going to take lines that 505 00:38:00.039 --> 00:38:05.559 that don't make sense. But you will see variations even when all they're doing 506 00:38:05.800 --> 00:38:08.400 is you know, cruising and circulating. I mean, obviously you'll see more 507 00:38:08.400 --> 00:38:13.159 when they're trying to pass each other defending, but there is always some variation. 508 00:38:13.239 --> 00:38:16.480 It's these are not lot cars. Yeah, I think that's you know, 509 00:38:16.519 --> 00:38:19.840 you hit the nail on the head. It's one of those one of 510 00:38:19.880 --> 00:38:22.599 the things that it makes us. It makes it so much more lifelike. 511 00:38:22.960 --> 00:38:24.760 I said, you can you can join an AI race and you if somebody 512 00:38:24.840 --> 00:38:29.239 was looking over your shoulder, there's they would not know for the most part, 513 00:38:29.280 --> 00:38:31.119 whether you were online or whether you're playing. It's the the AI. 514 00:38:31.239 --> 00:38:35.440 So that's that's a huge tip of the cap to you to the three of 515 00:38:35.480 --> 00:38:37.760 you on you know, the level of detail that you guys go into on 516 00:38:37.960 --> 00:38:43.239 on everything, whether it's tracker production, car production or or whatnot. It's 517 00:38:43.400 --> 00:38:47.000 uh, it's pretty cool. Yeah, the lines you can cool them guidelines 518 00:38:47.079 --> 00:38:51.239 really that's a bit more what they what they are. There's no line that 519 00:38:51.280 --> 00:38:57.079 they follow. It's a line that they think about. Oh well, what's 520 00:38:57.159 --> 00:39:00.400 some without giving away the farm here and if we have to, But what 521 00:39:00.519 --> 00:39:05.440 are some things that we're working on an AI and you know, to come 522 00:39:05.519 --> 00:39:08.280 for the future. I know I've bothered Nigel. I'm trying to get Nigel 523 00:39:08.320 --> 00:39:12.719 to code it so when the AI bumps you or you bump the AI that 524 00:39:12.840 --> 00:39:16.119 they flash their lights at you. But what are some other like cheeky improvements 525 00:39:16.199 --> 00:39:21.480 that you know we've talked about doing or dare I even say other forms of 526 00:39:21.599 --> 00:39:27.239 racing that we have thought about doing? Well, clearly, uh did racing 527 00:39:27.440 --> 00:39:31.039 is on the on the roadmap. It's it's been a challenge, to be 528 00:39:31.079 --> 00:39:35.480 honest, and that's that's the only reason that it's not out there yet as 529 00:39:35.519 --> 00:39:37.960 we haven't got it to a point where it can be released, but it's 530 00:39:38.199 --> 00:39:42.159 it'll be there at some point in time. I don't think we can say 531 00:39:42.199 --> 00:39:46.760 when. I guess Rallycross will probably come come with that too. Well. 532 00:39:46.800 --> 00:39:52.679 I know we've we've talked about UM getting more options available for AI racing that 533 00:39:52.800 --> 00:39:57.920 we have for other things. So UM support for heat racing. It's something 534 00:39:58.000 --> 00:40:00.719 that we're you know, we are working on. We did, we did 535 00:40:00.800 --> 00:40:05.119 not forget about it. We are actually working on that as well as things 536 00:40:05.239 --> 00:40:08.559 like, um, you know, putting in green, white, checkered m 537 00:40:08.719 --> 00:40:12.719 basically any of those options if if you can do it for hosted, the 538 00:40:13.079 --> 00:40:16.559 goal is to eventually let you be able to do that for AI. UM. 539 00:40:17.559 --> 00:40:21.559 We always have, you know, more content coming. Although that that 540 00:40:21.719 --> 00:40:24.679 list is getting getting smaller and smaller. I thought of one more thing in 541 00:40:24.800 --> 00:40:29.079 terms that's the cheekiness you're talking about. One thing I would there's not in 542 00:40:29.199 --> 00:40:30.199 there that I would like to do is if the car has been trying to 543 00:40:30.239 --> 00:40:35.000 pass you for like ten laps and just can't find his way past that, 544 00:40:35.079 --> 00:40:42.320 it gets increasingly bold, desperate, crazy dives down the ind So I take 545 00:40:42.360 --> 00:40:45.039 you out that kind of stuffs. Yes, realism, We're gonna make them 546 00:40:45.079 --> 00:40:52.920 wait ten laps or where I mean two seconds, depending on who you are. 547 00:40:53.559 --> 00:40:57.440 If it's can we code it so if it's Kevin Bobbitt, they just 548 00:40:57.480 --> 00:41:01.360 send it every lap they if then statement really and then if I ever get 549 00:41:01.400 --> 00:41:06.440 the lead, I automatically crashed like I do. I thought that the Kevin 550 00:41:06.599 --> 00:41:09.559 bobb at AI car was coded to only driving the gravel. No, No, 551 00:41:09.719 --> 00:41:15.119 that's his player car. Oh that's just hard to tell. Sometimes it's 552 00:41:15.199 --> 00:41:20.559 so real you just don't know. And I think we'd we'd be your miss. 553 00:41:20.840 --> 00:41:24.599 Uh. It's no secret that we're working on Rain on Eye Racing and 554 00:41:27.159 --> 00:41:30.679 I was in the rain meeting you know this week with Nigel in there. 555 00:41:30.760 --> 00:41:34.599 That's going to be going to be part of AIS. There's no way around 556 00:41:34.639 --> 00:41:38.880 it. I think the ability to to recreate scenarios you know, from races 557 00:41:38.960 --> 00:41:43.559 past or whatnot, or create your own scenario from your imagination, or do 558 00:41:43.639 --> 00:41:46.039 whatever you want. As Alex said, that's the great part about AI on 559 00:41:46.079 --> 00:41:52.920 Eye Racing is you can make it whatever you want, right Nigel, Yeah, 560 00:41:52.000 --> 00:41:55.119 yeah, for sure, Um yeah, we really do want to get 561 00:41:55.159 --> 00:42:00.360 to the point where anything you can do in a racing non you can do 562 00:42:00.559 --> 00:42:05.639 AI as well. So for sure that's the goal. All right, guys, 563 00:42:05.679 --> 00:42:07.079 Well, we appreciate you taking the time. I know some of you 564 00:42:07.199 --> 00:42:12.000 were more exuberant about joining the podcast than others, but we got you all 565 00:42:12.079 --> 00:42:14.840 here and that's all that counts, are all that matters. But yeah, 566 00:42:14.840 --> 00:42:17.079 thanks again for taking the time and uh yeah, Kevin, let's getting back 567 00:42:17.079 --> 00:42:22.039 to the show. All right, great, always great to sit down with 568 00:42:22.119 --> 00:42:27.920 staff and talk about all of the different layers that make I Racing what it 569 00:42:28.119 --> 00:42:30.880 is. AI a fairly recent edition, but as you can see from these 570 00:42:30.960 --> 00:42:35.119 three talking about it, there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes 571 00:42:35.159 --> 00:42:38.159 that you can't even imagine. Uh, it's it's pretty cool to be a 572 00:42:38.239 --> 00:42:44.000 small cog in in the production of that. That's yeah, it's it's pretty 573 00:42:44.039 --> 00:42:49.599 great. Moving forward, E Sports, Uh tis the season for free agency, 574 00:42:49.880 --> 00:42:52.440 Chris, for the E NASCAR Cocola I Racing Series, give me the 575 00:42:52.519 --> 00:42:58.159 ding somebody, somebody give me the dingan can you get the bell? Sence 576 00:42:58.159 --> 00:43:04.000 you're upstairs now, Kevin, sleeping right next to me. You're very upset, 577 00:43:05.480 --> 00:43:07.239 you know. Yeah. Post is fine. Yeah, I'll start doing 578 00:43:07.239 --> 00:43:09.920 the bell and post. We'll fix it in post. Oh great, wonderful. 579 00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:15.920 But NASCAR cocole I Racing Series free agency kicked off on Monday, Chris, 580 00:43:15.280 --> 00:43:21.199 what is free agency for NASCAR? Yep? So the way NASCAR free 581 00:43:21.239 --> 00:43:25.599 agency works is every year, all forty drivers that qualify for the series, 582 00:43:25.639 --> 00:43:29.880 whether you're returning, whether you're new, whether you fell out beforehand or go 583 00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:35.159 back in. Everybody's back in the pool. Um. You know, everybody 584 00:43:35.239 --> 00:43:38.320 has an opportunity to either resign with the team they were with or go talk 585 00:43:38.400 --> 00:43:42.519 to any of the teams, whether they're new or returning. And there will 586 00:43:42.599 --> 00:43:46.840 be definitely some new faces in the series that get announced a little closer to 587 00:43:46.960 --> 00:43:51.800 the opener at well, we got the clash at the end of the month, 588 00:43:51.880 --> 00:43:54.079 but then the first point paying race at Daytona in the middle of February. 589 00:43:54.840 --> 00:44:00.199 So the drivers try to get whatever they can get from the team owners. 590 00:44:00.199 --> 00:44:02.320 The team owners try to put together the best teams that they possibly can. 591 00:44:04.480 --> 00:44:08.480 It'll be really interesting this year to see which drivers end up changing teams, 592 00:44:08.639 --> 00:44:13.320 if there were any big names moving around, if we end up with 593 00:44:13.360 --> 00:44:16.760 a lot of some bigger names that just stay in place. But you know, 594 00:44:16.840 --> 00:44:22.920 there were always a handful of just total changeups in free agency. Last 595 00:44:22.039 --> 00:44:24.800 year we saw a handful of big names move around that we didn't expect. 596 00:44:24.840 --> 00:44:30.760 We saw Bobby Zelenski go back to Joe Gibbs, for example, who he 597 00:44:30.800 --> 00:44:32.920 had left a couple of years before, and then ended up paying that off 598 00:44:32.960 --> 00:44:37.239 with a Championship four appearance. Steven Wilson had left RFK and gone to Stuart 599 00:44:37.280 --> 00:44:42.320 Hawes. Same thing also made the Championship four. So it'll be interesting to 600 00:44:42.360 --> 00:44:45.119 see how it changes up, which drivers end up moving around, which ones 601 00:44:45.199 --> 00:44:49.639 end up staying in the same place, and with also a couple of top 602 00:44:49.760 --> 00:44:52.719 driver retirements in the offseason, who ends up filling those seats as well. 603 00:44:52.880 --> 00:45:00.119 So the r Racing socials will definitely have those announcements as they're coming out to 604 00:45:00.239 --> 00:45:04.239 Malillo. I'm sure will be in the entire NASCAR Press corps will be on 605 00:45:04.400 --> 00:45:07.039 the beat this entire week. By the time this show gets out, I'm 606 00:45:07.039 --> 00:45:10.639 sure a few of the first announcements are going to be made, but it'll 607 00:45:10.639 --> 00:45:15.360 be interesting to see who ends up where and how it changes the complexion of 608 00:45:15.440 --> 00:45:17.880 the series. Yeah, I think the free agency, but also just the 609 00:45:19.239 --> 00:45:22.800 sheer number of new drivers that are going to be into the series this year. 610 00:45:23.119 --> 00:45:27.199 You know, curious to see how that's gonna shake things up. Now, 611 00:45:27.320 --> 00:45:30.679 last year was really interesting, Chris, How many individual winners did we 612 00:45:30.840 --> 00:45:35.719 have during this series? Well, we definitely had more than we could fit 613 00:45:35.760 --> 00:45:38.480 in the playoffs because we had a couple of names that we're getting bounced out 614 00:45:38.559 --> 00:45:43.360 and even fell outside of the Top twenty. I mean the biggest one who 615 00:45:43.559 --> 00:45:46.679 if you're a life or your heartbreaks for is certainly ray Al Falla because Ray 616 00:45:46.840 --> 00:45:52.280 is not actually back at the coke level this year, didn't quite make that 617 00:45:52.360 --> 00:45:55.599 Top twenty cut and just had no luck at all in the Contender series. 618 00:45:55.639 --> 00:45:59.159 And for the first time he's going to have to go through the road to 619 00:45:59.199 --> 00:46:02.880 pro he has been in every series. And actually, when we were putting 620 00:46:02.920 --> 00:46:07.840 together the driver document for the teams to study before free agency, you know, 621 00:46:07.960 --> 00:46:12.719 he's the first name. And I've got this whole document lined up in 622 00:46:12.800 --> 00:46:15.480 in design, so it's twenty linked pages of text and everything, and so 623 00:46:15.920 --> 00:46:21.000 raise the Ray was the first name alphabetically had to delete it broke the whole 624 00:46:21.079 --> 00:46:23.639 document. So Ray get back in there so I can so I can fix 625 00:46:23.719 --> 00:46:29.559 it for twenty twenty four, please and thank you, and one other thing. 626 00:46:29.639 --> 00:46:31.079 On the e NASCAR Series, I wanted to mention this. So this 627 00:46:31.199 --> 00:46:36.159 weekend we have media Days. So we started doing this back in twenty twenty 628 00:46:36.280 --> 00:46:39.960 where we get all the drivers in the series together and basically we have some 629 00:46:40.079 --> 00:46:44.639 meetings, but we the main purpose is to gather some content so we can 630 00:46:44.719 --> 00:46:46.920 make the broadcast better. You know, you've seen it in our broadcast, 631 00:46:47.000 --> 00:46:50.639 you've seen it in the real world broadcast. You know, the driver intros 632 00:46:50.679 --> 00:46:54.719 and the drivers are coming out and doing whatever. Somebody gets a win. 633 00:46:54.880 --> 00:46:59.719 We'll have some things already already produced and ready to go, really kind of 634 00:46:59.800 --> 00:47:05.119 to elevate the broadcast quality, to bring it to the next level of professionalism. 635 00:47:05.199 --> 00:47:07.719 So nice that we can do that again. We started in twenty twenty 636 00:47:07.719 --> 00:47:09.840 and then COVID hits. It was hard to get everybody together, but we're 637 00:47:09.880 --> 00:47:13.880 back at it. So looking forward to that. Getting to see all the 638 00:47:14.000 --> 00:47:16.840 drivers down in Charlotte this weekend, and then I'll have some great stuff for 639 00:47:16.880 --> 00:47:22.679 the shows once I start. And a special shout out to AUTO for handling 640 00:47:22.840 --> 00:47:27.840 all of the booking on that I did it the first time that we did 641 00:47:27.920 --> 00:47:35.000 it and you almost quit. I do seem to recall we had a closed 642 00:47:35.039 --> 00:47:38.719 door meeting after we got Charlotte. Yes, it was. It was an 643 00:47:38.760 --> 00:47:45.280 adventure. It was I guess I timed my vacation well. Feel I feel 644 00:47:45.280 --> 00:47:47.559 for AUTO. It's it's a lot of logistics to manage. It is well 645 00:47:47.679 --> 00:47:51.719 worth it, though for the amount of content the last time we did it, 646 00:47:51.800 --> 00:47:53.960 obviously you know we were able to get three years out of that use. 647 00:47:54.039 --> 00:47:59.159 And it also speaks to the longevity of the drivers who make the Coke 648 00:47:59.239 --> 00:48:04.159 Series and their ability to keep qualifying back in, keep qualifying back in um 649 00:48:04.320 --> 00:48:07.800 that we were able to reuse so much for so long. But I'm sure 650 00:48:07.880 --> 00:48:12.719 that the broadcast team, Drew Cisco, Sean Cory will love to have some 651 00:48:13.000 --> 00:48:17.119 fresh headshots and videos and things like that for twenty twenty three. So the 652 00:48:17.199 --> 00:48:22.199 broadcast should look great this year. So if you're ANANASCAR driver, then talking 653 00:48:22.320 --> 00:48:24.000 just specifically for you too, when you do your head shot, are you 654 00:48:24.119 --> 00:48:30.519 mean mugging? Are you smiling? That's a good question. Yes, I 655 00:48:30.639 --> 00:48:34.960 think I smile. I think I smile. I think I think you'll get 656 00:48:35.159 --> 00:48:37.960 you You'll get more notices that way, right, because you'd be like one 657 00:48:37.960 --> 00:48:40.000 of the three, right, go against the grain. I don't know whatever 658 00:48:40.079 --> 00:48:44.599 works. We're at just happy to have some, you know, real real 659 00:48:44.679 --> 00:48:46.519 photos of them, things like that. So m however they want to present 660 00:48:46.599 --> 00:48:52.079 themselves, fine by me. I think you give me both and in my 661 00:48:52.199 --> 00:48:54.440 case, whichever one, my beard is less colicky and we go with that. 662 00:48:55.440 --> 00:49:00.679 Klicky. We really really scraped the bottom of websters today, haven't we 663 00:49:01.760 --> 00:49:06.039 Well, I just I remember my head shot from twenty twenty and I had 664 00:49:06.079 --> 00:49:08.639 a beard Colick that nobody told me about, and so I think, whenever 665 00:49:08.679 --> 00:49:14.280 I use that headshot, I have to photoshop it out. I hope we 666 00:49:14.320 --> 00:49:16.679 get to use the lightsaber things again. Those were cool. Those were really 667 00:49:16.760 --> 00:49:22.000 cool. I wasn't there, but I saw the videos, so those were 668 00:49:22.039 --> 00:49:28.960 pretty cool. But we also have World of Outlaws Sprint Cars still close series. 669 00:49:29.039 --> 00:49:34.760 Chris Mondays at nine yep Mondays at nine, I racing World of Outlaws 670 00:49:34.840 --> 00:49:39.280 car Quest Sprint Car Series. Sorry pause for the ding for the bell and 671 00:49:39.360 --> 00:49:50.440 post. I should leave that part in definitely deliberately. Timothy Smith has been 672 00:49:50.519 --> 00:49:54.039 on a tear this year, leading laps, leading laps, getting good finishes, 673 00:49:54.079 --> 00:50:00.000 getting good finishes. Took the points lead after Fairbury couldn't win a race. 674 00:50:00.679 --> 00:50:05.559 Finally got it done at Cedar Lake and held off Alex Berger on you 675 00:50:05.639 --> 00:50:08.880 know, the multi time champion, the guy who's face should basically be on 676 00:50:08.960 --> 00:50:13.360 the trophy as far as the series goes, held him off to do it. 677 00:50:13.519 --> 00:50:16.199 It's still close. They're still within single digit points with only a few 678 00:50:16.280 --> 00:50:22.440 races left, but they are bringing the action with apologies to Lee Diffy when 679 00:50:22.480 --> 00:50:25.320 it comes to that series and they are really making it a close fight. 680 00:50:25.400 --> 00:50:29.480 I can't wait to see what the last few races turn out to be, 681 00:50:29.599 --> 00:50:32.000 because I think it's gonna be I think it's going to be decided by single 682 00:50:32.039 --> 00:50:35.480 digit points. I think it's going to be decided by a couple of spots 683 00:50:35.519 --> 00:50:38.079 at the end. If you, even if you are not a dirt racing 684 00:50:38.119 --> 00:50:42.719 fan or a dirt oval fan, you should do yourself favor if you like 685 00:50:42.920 --> 00:50:46.519 racing and tune in, even for a few minutes and watch one of these 686 00:50:46.639 --> 00:50:52.800 races. It is some of the best elbows out wheel the wheel racing you 687 00:50:52.880 --> 00:50:57.719 can possibly imagine, and it's really a great showcase for you know, what 688 00:50:57.880 --> 00:51:00.079 we can do on I Racing. But it's just a ton of fun. 689 00:51:00.760 --> 00:51:04.400 So they do a really great job of it. So once again, Monday's 690 00:51:04.480 --> 00:51:09.360 nine pm, go and check that out. And I think that's that's about 691 00:51:09.480 --> 00:51:15.199 it. Yeah, I mean it's gonna be a big year, but we're 692 00:51:15.280 --> 00:51:20.679 still kind of easing back in first first couple of weeks of January, but 693 00:51:21.719 --> 00:51:23.519 it is going to be is going to be a heck of a busy year, 694 00:51:24.000 --> 00:51:29.119 you know, It's a lot of news coming out of the NASCAR Champions 695 00:51:29.159 --> 00:51:35.039 to Crown and World of Outlaws, big special events. We are going to 696 00:51:35.119 --> 00:51:37.440 have so much to talk about in the February show. We're gonna struggle to 697 00:51:37.559 --> 00:51:42.039 keep it to an hour and a half. Looking forward to it. Well, 698 00:51:42.079 --> 00:51:45.000 thanks for listening to this episode of the IRAS and Don Schiff, don't 699 00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:47.760 forget to rate, review, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere 700 00:51:47.800 --> 00:51:51.360 else Chris has put this thing, Bert, Kevin, Bobba, and Chris 701 00:51:51.480 --> 00:51:53.039 Leoni. I am Greg West and we'll see you at Daytona