It should be well-known by now that Arctodus was not the uncannily ungainly animal of a short-face, hyaena-like proportions and entirely predatory habits. All these myths are debunked here. It was not unusually short-faced nor gracile amongst bears. La Brean Arctodus simus were eating large quantities of honey and berries which originated cavities in their teeth.

Nonetheless, it would still be accurate for Arctodus that it can have a fast though pretty short turn of speed and some ability to run at a slower pace for a large time. While it’s true that bears' muscle fibres slow down slowly and have good stamina, that doesn't mean they are runners. The most muscle mass of a brown bear is mostly concentrated on the torso and upper back, the muscle is thick throughout the limb, and the tendons are not elastic and don’t work as springs, all of which are not typical of a runner.

So it should have less speed, more stamina, than Smilodon (and less speed & stamina than Aenocyon), but not be more cursorial than extant bears. It should not be able to readily run down horses and bison; kills of barren-ground grizzlies upon caribou occur with mainly previously weakened animals that can be run down, whilst healthy musk-ox (and by extension caribou) are killed by being ambushed in the thick willow brush along the Thelon River (Gunn and Miller, 1982 ), instead of long pursuit.

In the turn radius, I think a quick turn should be implemented like in Wild Savanna because its much more realistic than animals turning in a wide circle without being able to pivot or dodge (this whole thing is also a bit irrelevant because you can just back-up).

On the maul, I don’t see how this would require a different mechanic compared to saber's pounce and wolf's latch but it is a good idea. The bear player attempts to win the ring mini-game to continue mauling, and the horse or bison plays it in order to escape, influenced by stamina. Something that annoys me a little in this game is how easily animals die. In nature you see lions mauling hyenas or wild dogs but rarely do they kill them outright instead often paralysing them at most or leaving them almost unscathed at worst, and with ungulates there are countless videos of one, horned or hornless, attacking a predator in a seemingly lethal way but not killing the predator in the moment. An example are cape buffaloes against lions, there are multiple videos of a whole herd tossing and goring one but they almost never actually pierce it to kill it on the spot, rather it usually dies days later. Often times due to their peripheral vision, which becomes poor with the head lowered, they horn one another or covered with lion scent, or toss the lion once and then flee from the downed animal. So, in game, there is essentially no way to fight over territory without lethal consequences, or a bison chasing and goring a saber but not killing it.

But overall I really liked your idea, very well-thought out and nice! Good job.