Youtube was recently suggesting to me videos of people training NEAT neural networks for video games. I've noticed that often the training process was quite slow (for example in this Trackmania example).
Is there a way (algorithmic approach or an idea) to easily simulate video games, without actually rendering the pixels on screen and making the training much quicker? In addition to that, if you also know of a tool that does that, please, share it with me.
Update:
Following the Trackmania example, I found out the youtuber uses a standard tool called "TMInterface", and the webpage of the tool states it is a "TAS tool" - Tool-assisted speedrun.
I'll investigate how such tools work and whats the idea behind them (and if indeed they do what I think they do). Will update!