Racemaker

How to open it

1. Enable Show Advanced Settings and Show Editor Tab in App Settings.
2. Open the Editor tab, then the Races sub-tab.

What a finished mission actually contains

Every mission you save is the same kind of object — the kind that the Race Campaigns tab consumes. It bundles five things:

• Player route. The full trajectory you drove for Racer 1, with timing. The tool uses this to measure lap distance, compute the player’s current place in the race, and validate finishes.
• AI racer lines. Each additional opponent was recorded by you driving their line. They are replayed, not AI-navigated; that is why opponents feel like real drivers rather than path-followers.
• Finish line. A position and radius. Crossing the radius ends the race.
• Traffic snapshot. The density and traffic feature set (police, race cars, car list) that were active during recording. When a player starts the mission, that snapshot is applied so the obstacles match. Weather and time of day are not part of this snapshot — those remain whatever the player has set at the time they start the mission.
• Metadata. Name, track ID, duration, opponent count — what the Race Campaigns card displays.

Why the player route is recorded, not designed

You could imagine an editor where you click out a path. Racemaker does not work that way for a specific reason: a recorded human drive carries pacing, braking zones, and cornering style that no clicked polyline conveys. Distance-along-route is computed against the recorded trajectory, which means when the tool says “you are in P2” it is comparing your current progress to a real driver’s progress at the equivalent time.

That also means you should drive the record at a pace you intend the player to match. A hot-lap recording produces a mission everyone loses; a casual-but-quick recording produces a mission most players can beat with effort.

How to record your mission step by step

The recording workflow has a fixed order. Skipping a step — especially the setup steps before you press Record — is the usual cause of missions that behave weirdly on playback. Walk through it top to bottom the first time.

Step 1 — create the mission file

Click New Mission. A blank mission is created for the currently loaded track. Type a name in the input field just below — this is the name that later appears on the Race Campaigns card. The track ID is filled in automatically; you cannot author a mission for a track you are not currently on.

Step 2 — set the world up before you record

The traffic-related state that is active when you press Record becomes part of the mission’s snapshot. Set those things now, before recording, not afterwards:

• Pick a Traffic Density (Light / Normal / Heavy) and a car count.
• Toggle Police Chases, Race Cars and Extra Cars to whatever fits the mission.
• Pick the car list that fits the vibe of the race — JDM, default, USA.

Weather and time of day are not part of the snapshot. They follow whatever the player has set when they later start the mission. If you want the race to always look like a specific moment, that has to be arranged outside the TrafficTool — by launching the session in Content Manager with the desired preset, or by building it into the track or session itself.

Traffic and police settings you change after recording will not retroactively affect the mission; those really are baked in. If you get the traffic side of the setup wrong, the cleanest fix is to delete the mission and start again with the right configuration.

Step 3 — drive to the intended start position

Position your car where the race should begin: the exact lane, the exact orientation, the exact speed. The recording starts the moment you press Record in Step 4, so a car sitting still at the start line will be played back sitting still at the start line. If you want a rolling start, be rolling when you press Record.

Step 4 — record Racer 1 (the player route)

Click Record (Racer 1). The status strip turns red and a live counter shows the frame number and the elapsed time in MM:SS.mmm. From this moment on every bit of input — steering, throttle, brake, lane choices, traffic interactions — is captured.

Drive the intended route at a realistic pace. Not a hot-lap. The player route is what the tool uses to measure a future player’s progress, so if you drive it at a super-human pace every future player will feel hopelessly behind.

Step 5 — set the finish radius

As you approach the finish location, glance at the Finish Radius slider and set it to a size that matches the place you want to finish at. A tight straight needs 5 – 8 m; a normal road 10 – 20 m; a wide junction or ambiguous end zone 30 – 50 m. You can re-mark the finish later if you pick the wrong size — do not stop the recording over this.

Step 6 — mark the finish line and stop recording

The moment you are physically at the intended finish position, click Mark Finish Line. The tool plants the finish sphere at your current location with the chosen radius. A toast confirms “Finish line marked”.

Then click Stop Recording. Racer 1 is now saved to the mission and the status strip turns green again. You are free to move the car anywhere — the player route is already locked in.

Step 7 — drive back to the start for the next racer

Teleport or drive back to the same starting area. Every AI racer you record will begin from wherever you press Record, so you want them all starting from roughly the same region (not necessarily the same exact pixel — slight differences give the field a natural staggered look).

Step 8 — record the first AI racer (Racer 2)

Click Record Racer 2. The status strip turns orange (a different colour from the red player-route state) and the frame counter restarts. Drive a complete line from start to finish. Pick a line that differs from Racer 1 — maybe you overtake a civilian car where you overtook nobody last time, or you take a slightly wider line through a corner. The variation is what makes the field feel alive during playback.

Click Stop Recording when you reach the finish. A toast confirms “Racer lane saved”. You do not need to re-mark the finish line; Racer 2 and all subsequent racers share Racer 1’s finish.

Step 9 — repeat for as many AI racers as you want

Racer 3, Racer 4, Racer 5, and so on. Each additional AI adds another opponent to the mission. A three-car field (Racer 1 + two AI) is plenty for most missions; a full grid of eight feels crowded but works on big tracks. The limit in practice is your own patience — every racer is a fresh drive from start to finish.

Step 10 — test the whole thing with Test Play

Click Test Play. The tool leaves editor mode, applies your mission’s traffic snapshot, runs a countdown, then starts the race. The AI racers drive their recorded lines, the HUD shows your place and timer, and crossing the finish ends the race. If something is wrong — an AI clips through scenery, the pacing feels off, the finish fails to trigger — note which element failed, return to the editor, fix only that element (re-record just that racer, or re-mark just the finish), and test again.

Step 11 — iterate or ship

When the test run feels right, you are done. The mission is already saved to disk — auto-save has been running quietly in the background during every step. It now appears in the Race Campaigns tab on this track and can be played like any built-in mission. Share the track folder and your mission travels with it.

How the finish radius actually behaves

The finish is a sphere, not a line. You can cross the same world point multiple times and only the first entry into the sphere counts. The radius you choose has consequences:

• A small radius (5 – 8 m) forces the player onto a specific line at the finish — cinematic, but punishing for mid-corner finishes.
• A medium radius (10 – 20 m) is the sweet spot for most missions.
• A large radius (30 – 50 m) is forgiving and suited to wide junctions or ambiguous finish zones.

If you are undecided, place a medium radius, test-play once, and adjust. Re-marking the finish simply overwrites the previous position and radius.

Why the traffic snapshot matters

Missions would feel random if civilian traffic was re-rolled on every attempt. The traffic snapshot freezes the density and traffic feature set (police on/off, race cars on/off, car list) at the moment you recorded. When a player opens the mission, the system applies the snapshot over the top of their current traffic settings, runs the race, then restores their settings afterwards.

Weather and time of day sit outside this snapshot. A player starting your mission at night in the rain gets your mission at night in the rain — even if you recorded it at noon in the sun. That is by design: the TrafficTool does not own the session clock or the weather system, and it does not try to override them. If you need specific weather, arrange it in Content Manager or in the session setup, not in Racemaker.

The traffic half of the snapshot is what gives missions their deterministic feel — the same obstacles appear in roughly the same places each attempt without the author hand-placing them. If you want a specific kind of traffic challenge (police active from the start, dense rush hour), set those features before pressing Record.

How to load and keep editing

Click Load Mission to browse missions saved for the current track, then Load Selected to bring one into the editor. Racer lines and the finish are all editable from there — you can re-record a single AI racer, change the finish radius, or add more opponents to a mission you already shipped.

Auto-save runs in the background so changes stick without an explicit save. The flip side: if you do something by mistake, there is no undo. Keep a backup of the missions folder for big edits.

Tips for missions that actually play well

• Drive the player route at the pace you want others to hit. A hot-lap recording is a frustrating mission.
• Stagger the AI start positions. Three racers sitting on the same inside line at the start corner looks artificial.
• Keep length under about five minutes for a first mission. Long missions are hard to record cleanly — a single mistake late in the run wastes the recording.
• Place the finish on a straight, not inside a corner. Corner finishes are ambiguous — the player often feels they crossed when the game says they did not.
• Test after every one or two AI recordings rather than only at the end. Problems found early are cheap to fix.

Interaction with other features

• Race Campaigns. Every saved mission shows up there, inherits the unlock rules, and is difficulty-scaled like built-in missions.
• Traffic Density / Police / Race Cars / Weather. Snapshotted at record time. Pre-set them for the mood you want.
• Stats. Finishing your own mission counts toward career like any other run.
• Traffic Editor. AI racer lines drive through the lane network you authored. A broken lane network (e.g. a missing intersection) will affect playback.

Troubleshooting

Test Play starts but AI racers do not move

One or more AI lines failed to record. Load the mission, delete those racers, re-record them with clear start and stop points.

Finish never triggers

Radius is too small or the finish position is wrong. Load the mission and re-mark the finish line.

Mission is missing in Race Campaigns

On the Races tab click Try to Fix to force a rescan. Confirm the mission save toast appeared when you stopped recording.

Traffic is different every run

Some features (police triggers, racer engagement) retain live randomness even inside a snapshot. Disable those features before recording for a more deterministic mission.

AI drives into walls

You drove into a wall during that racer’s recording. The AI plays it back exactly — re-record the racer.