upcoming sci-fi driving exploration game - with the most believable NPC driving of all time!

Hey there, I'd love to get some opinions about NPC's driving abilities in games.

I'm working on a new driving exploration game and one of the top priorities is to create believable NPC behavior. Here's a brand new gameplay trailer showcasing the car-chase part of the game:

Had a tough time recording this because the NPC's, while maintaining a drunk-aggressive and risky driving style, are starting to drive better than me. Hooray!

Personally, I find it disappointing, how easy it is to escape NPC's (cops, villains) in most open-world "driving games" (GTA, Mafia, TDU..). Although those games do compensate with quantity over quality, and cheating on the physics, the car chases don't feel genuine at all.

Anyone feels the same?

Here's more details about the game:

Based on my upcoming short animation film, where the night devours the day after an experiment gone wrong, the game is a driving exploration adventure where the player is set to discover what happened to all lifeforms when sunlight disappeared. One of the core gameplay elements is "driving survival", where the player is implicated in intense car-chases.

One of my biggest priorities was to achieve a believable, human-like behavior of the NPC drivers. For me and other gamers with whom I've discussed this, one thing that is disappointing and immersion-braking in open-world driving games is bad AI. It's either too dumb or strongly cheating the physics, or both. Take Driver:SF for example. You can drive like a god but the cop cars chasing you will have extraterrestrial acceleration capabilities, coupled with a car mass of a locomotive and tires covered with suction cups. It just feels too unfair, and although a subjective notion: not fun.

I guess one of the reasons why I posted the video above is because I've never seen such a believable, non-cheating, driving AI in any open-world games so far, and I'd be very interested in what other players think about this.

Made a video of me racing against an AI-controlled car:

Which car is player-controlled? Yellow or blue?

Looks interesting. The handling physics look pretty realistic, engine sounds could be a bit better but that AI does seem quite competent. Wish Forza or Gran Turismo or GTA had AI like that!

Looks sweet. Vehicle damage due to road or other vehicle is always nice.

I love the atmosphere. Looking good! Please keep us updated.

i'd guess the yellow car.

your game looks nice. and i agree driver ai is definitely something that can be improved in gaming. i can't really think of one good example of it done right. with most games, as you say, no matter how well you seem to drive, ai controlled cars nearly always, amazingly, manage to stay right on your tail, and even if they hit some obstruction they somehow manage to recover and catch up with you. it's neither fun nor realistic to me. definitely an aspect of gaming that can be improved. the tough thing for you is getting the balance right

@soulchallenger: Two points here:

1) Please do not use the forums for free advertising for your game.

2) Don't bump old threads or your own threads to keep them alive.

-Byshop