You are totally right there. It’s probably just tough to program the A.I. in any for it to ignore half of the other programming that makes the A.I. function.
As for the A.I. missing checkpoints, that definitely needs to be addressed because that isn’t a degree of difficulty, that’s plain unfair. Especially on the tougher difficulties - if any racer can miss a checkpoint without penalty, they should all be able to.
I don’t like that they’re allowed to miss checkpoints. In one off road course, heading north into the airport, there’s a checkpoint that requires players to bear left off a span of pavement while half the AI drivers continue striaght along road, saving them easily 3-4 seconds where missing the checkpoint would incur a 10-12 secongpd penalty for the player. That’s just cheap, lame, and inexcusable.
Yup, that’s my main complaint with the game. It’s not like they just miss the checkpoints sometimes, either - as you say, they just ignore them completely and get a huge straight-line advantage. Massively frustrating.
I’ve seen them miss checkpoints many times in cross country , but when I miss them i get a warning ( not that i miss many and have to rewind back ^^ )
I’m finding cross country harder to the point its becoming a chore. Now I just turn the drivatar difficulty all the way down just to get this race over with. There is something wrong when stop enjoying something and it becomes a chore. The rest of the game is awesome.
The Drivatars missing checkpoints has had me thinking. I’m wondering if late in development some of the checkpoints were moved due to player/tester feedback, and either someone forgot to modify the Drivatars routes to accomodate that fact, or they just haven’t learned it as they were run on the other layout of the course so many times?
That could explain why they’re doing it and getting away with it. They should be penalised the same as everyone though. Miss a checkpoint, and go back or lose the race.
Is it just me who thinks that AI is a lot faster first half of the race?
I think they are a lot faster cross country, or maybe I’m a lot slower, still trying to work it out
@Gemma, when you’re offroad, you can lose a lot of time if you mess up. It’s better to brake a little earlier, and definitely turn in early as you have less grip, and will be sliding around most bends. But you need to do everything earlier than you would on the tarmac. 
Hey thanks, and yes i do mess up a bit, thank the gods for rewind !
I have never really noticed a difference in the AI difficulty in offroad races to be honest.
It’s easier to mess up and it’s more difficult to keep grip in offroad (obviously) and that could be the problem. If you come into a big wide corner with a massive e-brake power slide then it’ll slow you down significantly. I have noticed many players seem to do that online trying to rack up more XP but that is not how to take these corners.
I usually end up flying past them and catching up to anyone in front quickly.
Try to take the corners slow and tight with out sliding and keep as much grip as possible then you should be able to pull away much quicker.
Also don’t use the suggested racing line as this is way off on the offroad races. Practice the rivals mode and you will see the best lines that the faster players are taking.
Like FM5 they’re probably tuned for more speed than handling, not sure if they’ve fixed that though.
Switch to far chase view for cross country events, then you can see where you’re going.
Yeah, but where’s the fun in that?
What some gamers call “fun”, I call masochism.
I’ve also noticed on cross country races, the AI doesn’t always go through the checkpoints and can get away with it which is totally wrong. I try to go the same way they have a few times and it completely bi passes the checkpoint. It’s really unfair when it happens, but I usually end up passing them again anyway. But I do think the drivatars drive better offroad than they do on the streets as well.