MartyAI -- Putting Intelligence back into AI!

Okay, you've spent enough time in the garage and you feel you have a 
pretty good setup.  You qualified in the top 10 (Yes!  Track position.)

The green flag drops and you are trying to keep the car down along the
curb in the turns.  As you approach turn 1 and dive toward the curb,
the spotter comes and says, "Car down low".  You hold your line and as
soon as the spotter says, "Clear, clear low", you are moving closer to
the curb to protect your line.  But, before your spotter has uttered the
2nd "Clear", the rearend is coming around to meet you.  Damn, spun out
again!

--Or--

Going into turn 3, the car ahead is drifting up the track abit, so you
head down deep. You are keeping your front well under the car through
the turn and are ready to exit out of 4 and drag down the straight.
Carefully, you hold your line down low and the car you're following
suddenly decides it likes your groove better. He slides down on you,
ending your day! "We had a real good car today, the guys did a great job
getting it ready. It's a shame! We had a top 5 car. But, to be taken out
by such a bonehead move! I really feel sorry for the team, they worked
real hard all week."

Enter MartyAI!  

We have taken all of the AI drivers and sent them to Buddy Baker school
and learned them a lesson or two that they won't soon forget! Imagine,
running lap after lap with Dale Jarrett threatening to get under you as
you head into the turns. The spotter calls, "Car Low", so you hold your
line, just straddling the low and middle grooves. All the way through
the turn your spotter warns of a car down low. Exiting the turn you can
see the nose of the #88 in the left panel of your mirrors. Time to nail
it and see if you can beat him to the next turn. This ain't just a 1 lap
deal, he's there lap after lap until you've made him heat up his tires
and someone else takes his place. 

--Or--

You car is setup to run the low line all around the turns. The only way
they are gonna pass is on the outside. Lap after lap, Jeff Gordon is
hounding your tail, trying to force a mistake. He finally gives up and
tries to pass you on the outside. "Good luck, kid", you say. "Car high"
is your spotter's cry. Gordon's coming in hard on the outside. You hold
your line and start accelerating away just at the apex, Gordon's hanging
on, but you are able to keep slightly ahead of him while you drag down
the straight. You out-brake him into the turn, but he's coming up hard
again on the outside. Again this goes on for laps until his tires are
too hot and he drops back for a few laps to let them cool and tries
again.

--Or--

You've been hounding Mark Martin for laps, just trying to get around
him. But he seems to have the right setup. Lap after lap you try to get
to the corner first, but he's always a few feet ahead of you. You try
the outside, but he's back on the gas before you can make the apex.
Finally, he slips just a hair going into turn 1 and you get your nose
down under him. You're so close to the yellow line the left front rides
up on the curb, but you're not backing off. And neither is Mark, he is
going through the corner side by side. You're neck and neck going down
the straight! He heads into turn 3 hard, but high and you go down low.
He's trying to pinch you down low so you can't get on the gas exiting
the turn. "Hold your line!"

Well, folks I am glad to say, that you can experience this type of
racing at Martinsivlle in NASCAR Racing 2. It won't be a fluke when any
of the above happens! It can happen lap after lap for 500 laps! Just
unzip the MARTY04.ZIP package and copy the race.lp, pass1.lp and
pass2.lp files into your TRACKS\MRTNSVIL directory and head out to the
track.

If you are looking for the ultimate challenge, substitute race_x.lp for
race.lp and pass1_x.lp for pass1.lp!

Please send all feedback, positive and negative, to
mcarver@teleport.com. 


The MartyAI team: 
Rob Camp (snowdog@whidbey.com) 
Jon Guest (jon_guest@pegasus.meganet.co.uk) 
Michael E. Carver (mcarver@teleport.com) 

We would like to extend a special thanks to:
Christopher D. Lund (Author of TLMetry) 
Gerhard Lingenberg