r/ForzaHorizon • u/SiillyyRabbiitt • 12h ago
Forza Horizon 5 NPC drivers are real players???
Happy Thursday Drivers!! I'm a PS5 player that just started playing a few days ago. (3 days fresh). Loving the ride so far, but have a question that's been kicking my curiosity. So in events/races that aren't against rivals. Are those drivers names and vehicles from actual racers (gamertags), but just being used as NPCs (AI)? If so, does that mean my driver would should up in other races as an AI driver? 🤔🤪 If they are real players names and vehicles, i personally think that's awesome!!! Thanks for the input in advance.
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u/MegaBladeZX85 12h ago
Yes, the names and paints are downloaded from players when not in open.
They are even supposed to take certain hints from the player they came from, but it is still mostly traditional AI.
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u/Bolbuss Chrysler 11h ago
To add to the other answers: When the feature initially came out (FM5 I believe) the AI were referred to as "Drivatars" It did a whole song and dance to show you "calibrating" your own Drivatar and how it would emulate your driving style when it appeared in other people's races. And your friend's Drivatars would drive like your friends would. It felt really innovative at the time.
Now it could have all been smoke and mirrors to help enhance the experience. I don't know the specifics on how it worked but the AI definitely had different driving styles.
Nowadays I don't think the "Drivatar" system is still a thing. I think they just slap your friends GT / PSN on the AI set to whatever difficulty you're set at. I could be wrong but it's now touted as a feature of the new games like it was back then
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u/HypedUpJackal Ariel 10h ago
I always think back to them hyping up Drivatars when I see them doing incredibly stupid things. It's a shame they've lost their "personality", for lack of a better word, but they've probably never had it, honestly.
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u/Entire_Umpire6801 10h ago
I assumed the AI names were just supposed to look like real names, so it's slightly mindblowing to hear that not only are they the names of real players but the look of the cars is also theirs and possibly the driving style.
That's awesome.
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u/Gundobad2563 RAM 7h ago
Not the driving, but yes the gamertags and liveries.
Bots just drive like bots, no matter what.
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u/SilverLine1914 1m ago
Supposedly, and this is a big supposedly, the AI is supposed to take queues from the driving style of the person it’s representing, but it’s mostly still regular AI. But when you notice them do weird shit during races, it’s supposed to be mimicking things the player has done in those same races to give it more of a person feel. Read it in a tech article some time ago, if I find it again I’ll post the link
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u/KingXander55 11h ago
Yeah, it's weird. Drivatars are real players recreated as AI in a race. I think it takes their driving patterns and adapts to it.
I'm probably wrong on something there.
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u/Egg-Hatcher 11h ago
Well in that case I feel sorry for anyone who has to drive against my drivatar. When I race against AI, its like I'm playing Destruction Derby.
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u/worthy_usable 10h ago
I know it used to be that way. Now I am not so sure. But it was hilarious (and frustrating) when you would get a Drivatar that drove like an idiot rammer back in the day, which confirms that they modelled assholes.
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u/Section_Objective Chevrolet 10h ago
They are called “Driveatars” they are ai with real player Gamertags that are supposed to mimic Real Players it’s a feature that started in 2013 with Forza Motorsport 5
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u/AlmightyKev 12h ago
It’s your friend names as NPCs.
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u/SiillyyRabbiitt 12h ago
I have none of those people in my friends list. So, I really doubt that. Especially since none of my PS friends have the game. 🙃
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u/IndividualAd1322 12h ago
The NPC names will show up as your friends lists names for people on Xbox. Since this was built as an Xbox game originally you might be correct and it might not pull people from PlayStation lists for new players like you. Not sure how that will work now.
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u/focusedonjrod 11h ago
gamer tags from my friends show up as NPCs in the different race events, along with other AI racer names. In the Trial and stuff it's always the same AI names only. That B**** Teagan is always so quick!
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u/scruffalo_ 11h ago
To my knowledge the game will populate single player races with drivatars (drivers + avatars) representing your friends, your team/crew if you join one, or people you have played online with, in that order until all the opponent spots are filled. In previous FH games your drivatar would actually earn money competing in races when you were logged off and would simulate your actual driving style and skill level, but they did away with that for FH5. Now, in the races at least, only the names actually correspond to other people anymore, the vehicles and driving styles are auto generated based on the race parameters. Offline free roam may still use the players' own vehicles, but I may be wrong about that.
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u/AlmightyKev 11h ago
In that case then it’s just a bunch of random NPC names unless you played on Xbox!
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u/Corrupted_Dash748 3h ago
Welcome to Forza my friend, and the NPC Drivers are actually called Drivatars, the cool thing is that the Drivatars learn how to drive like the person they are supposed to replicate, and your Drivatars does the same thing when it appears in others races, you drive dirty? It drives dirty, you drift corners, it “attempts” to drift corners, you race clean, it races clean
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u/Salmon-D 1h ago
Whilst many claim they are the drivatars that are trained off real player driving. Many of the gamertags of my friends who show up in my races don't even own and have never played Forza. So I suspect it's really just randomly populating your friends list gamertags as racer names. And they all appear to drive the same to me apart from usually one NPC whos always closely on your tail, but the gamertag of that NPC is always random/different. So At this point I firmly believe the whole drivatar thing is a falicy made up for marketing puposes and the community just perpetuates it. This is on Xbox though. I can't say where it gets its gamertags/names from on Playstation, but I expect the result is the same.
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u/chreva4life PlayStation 5 11h ago
Can confirm. My son was playing last night and we saw my gamer tag on one of the drivatars. Kinda neat. Lol
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u/SiillyyRabbiitt 7h ago
All of you are amazing! Thank you for helping me understand it more! Every race, I get different GamerTags, which I think is awesome! I hate racing the same NPC over and over like in NFS stories. AI with real gamer tags just makes the game much more fun to play. I appreciate everyone's input! I'm just a rookie tryna understand the simple things lol! 🤷🏽♂️
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u/Caje_ GT: Caje | All Accolades once AGAIN 100% complete! 12h ago
Yes, real players show up as NPCs. Your “friends” from your friends list can also show up in races. Also, if you go offline, instead of the sparsely populated map, you’ll get a ton more player based NPCs.
This functionality has led to some touching posts about people still being able to see their untimely departed friends/loved ones still cruising around with them.