Gran Turismo’s GT Sophy AI competed against the best human players in the world, combining race-winning speed with human-like weaknesses.
There was an interesting sideshow to the main thing Gran Turismo 7 World Series Nations Cup recently aired as the Sony AI and Polyphony Digital (PD) collaborative artificial intelligence system – codenamed Gran Turismo Sophy – demonstrated its capabilities.
GT Sophy is a project by Sony AI and PD that aims to help create an in-game AI opponent that learns and reacts to its opponents organically in terms of etiquette, racing technique, and strategy. There is hope that the technology could also be applied to self-driving cars in the future – possibly a link to Sony’s Vision-S concept vehicle.
Four GT Sophy AI cars competed in two races against four of GT7’s leading human advocates – Valerio Gallo, Igor Fraga, Emily Jones and Tomoaki Yamanaka.
The first race was held at the Sardegna Windmills off-road track and it proved a Sophy whitewash at the front as ‘Sophy Rouge’ and ‘Sophy Violette’ came out first and second respectively over four laps of intense action.
The other AI vehicles finished sixth and seventh, giving the participants a small glimmer of hope. Gallo, who was at the bottom of the table, wanted to turn things around, especially in the next race…
With identical Mercedes-Benz AMG GT3 cars at the Autodromo Lago Maggiore, Gallo made amends for the first race by finishing just 0.2 seconds clear of Sophy Rouge at the checkered flag. On the other hand, Sophy Bleue endured a hot time, losing control on the exit of turn four before being caught by Fraga on lap one.
Throughout the event, GT Sophy had above all shown its ability to race and beat the best human GT opponents in the world, but most importantly it had also shown a very vulnerable and human ability to make mistakes under pressure.
Michael Spranger, Chief Operating Officer, Sony AI, stated: “Up until now, only select members of the Gran Turismo racing community have had the opportunity to compete against GT Sophy. This demonstration race is another step in making the GT Sophy AI available to everyone.”
This aligns with GT founder Kazunori Yamauchi’s claim that Sophy AI could eventually be used in the GT series. Earlier this year (February 18, 2022), the GT guru said: “I think this AI will eventually be added to Gran Turismo. I think Gran Turismo Sophy will be something that all players develop together.”
At this show, GT Sophy appears to be both impressively fast, yet capable of human-like misjudgments. Possibly it could be a game changer for Gran Turismo 7’s offline mode.
Are you excited to take on GT Sophy in GT7? Let us know in the comments below.
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