Oh, I get it. It looks like the rival is using the turbo more often. Usually, when easy or intermediate is chosen, the rival only activates the turbo on the long straights after passing a checkpoint. Now they’re also using it just before the end of a corner. Not sure why. That's something I’ll look into tomorrow.
I’m also experimenting with a new type of rubberbanding. I already had a rubberband mechanic that adjusts the rival’s max speed through corners: the farther ahead they are, the slower they go through corners, and vice versa. Now, I’ve added a rubberband that adjusts throttle. The farther ahead the rival is, the less throttle they use. When set to zero, they won’t get much more than 200 meters ahead of you.
Once I fix the turbo usage, I’ll upload the new version.