Instead of racing in Backseat Champions you manage an AI driver like an auto-battling racer

Backseat Champions has a pretty clever idea, bringing the worlds of auto-battlers and roguelites to racing games with you managing an AI driver. You're not quite literally in the backseat but close enough.

The game will feature races that are basically a short burst around the track, that's hopefully good for people who don't have a lot of time. The developer says it will allow you to "quickly hop in and get straight to the action" across real races, with "nothing scripted" where each race is different. You can play alone, or with friends too. During the race you pick various random upgrades, in the hope of making the fastest car to win. Not just that but you'll be able to manipulate the car in a few other ways too, and you'll also be dealing with dynamic weather.

From what I've seen and read, this seems like a seriously cool idea. Love it. I'm truly awful at driving games, but still getting in on the action through managing a driver directly? That sounds fun.

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However, before you go jumping in worried about any generative AI, it's not that. It's the good old fashioned game AI. As the developer explains:

The drivers are powered by reinforcement learning using conventional, non-generative neural network models.

All training was done from scratch using self-made training environments built within the 50+ tracks of the game, and run from personal servers.

No copyrighted material, or third-party data, was used during the development of the game. All assets were created either by commissioned artists or myself.