but I plan to add AI players to my 3d racing game. I have very little ai knowledge apart from stuff on linear/partial planners, best/breadth/depth first search and the idea of ai as a state space search. In my game I''d like the ai to have access to the heightmap and track/waypoints, and work it out from there. I want to avoid racing lines, plus they may not always be possible. I''d like the ai to store knowledge about the track, so it maybe only can see a short distance ahead (for speed purposes), but remembers on the next lap the major features e.g ''sharp bend here'', etc. What general methods/algorithms should I use, I presume a scripting system for ai would be a worthwhile addition? Thanks very much. Read about my game, project #1 John 3:16

check out this website about Steering Behavior for Autonomous Characters... it has all sorts of stuff about avoiding walls/track boundaries, chasing, racing along a track, etc... and there are neat little applets to let you see them in action!