A new artificial intelligence agent that is capable of racing at a level comparable to that of world champions was developed by Sony AI and Polyphony Digital, the companies responsible for developing Gran Turismo.
The experiment was described at the time in a paper that was published in Nature. In the paper, the researchers demonstrated that not only was this artificial intelligence capable of driving very quickly—something that other AI have done in the past—but that it also learned strategies, tactics, and even proper etiquette for racing.
The artificial intelligence was known as GT Sophy, and at the time, it wasn't quite ready for prime time.
For instance, it would frequently pass competitors at the first available chance on a straight, so leaving itself vulnerable to being overhauled in the subsequent braking zone.
And in contrast to human players, GT Sophy would attempt to pass players who were about to receive time penalties, whereas humans would just wait for the car receiving the penalty to slow down before passing it.
But, in the interim year, Sony AI and Polyphony Digital have been working on GT Sophy. GT Sophy is scheduled to roll out to Gran Turismo 7 as part of update 1.29, at least for a limited period, on February 21.
In the GT Sophy Race Together option, which will be available to players until the end of March, they will compete against Sophy in a series of races that progressively increase in level of difficulty.
You can also compete against Sophy in a one-on-one battle in which you both drive the same automobile. This allows you to gauge how much faster the computer is than you.
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Players have their choice between four distinct GT Sophy challenges to take on.
View larger There are four unique GT Sophy challenges that players can take on at any one time.
Sony
'This evolution of AI is a symbolic moment across the 25-year history of Gran Turismo, and it's as important as the evolution of the automotive physics simulation, which is at the heart and core of a racing game,' said Kazunori Yamauchi, president of Polyphony Digital. "This evolution of AI is as important as the evolution of the automotive physics simulation, which is at the heart and core of a racing game," he added.
"Users are able to experience the thrill of a close battle as if they were competing against a professional racing driver because GT Sophy drives with continuity in a wide variety of situations, in contrast to the traditional built-in AI. This is because GT Sophy drives with continuity in a large number of different situations.
Even when viewed through the lens of the history of racing games, this is a significant advancement.
We plan to continue developing GT Sophy in order to bring our idea of "Race Together" to life. With this idea, we hope to provide players with a challenging yet enjoyable opponent that they can both learn from and compete against "Yamauchi added.
Although if this particular iteration of Sophy will only be available for a limited amount of time within the game, the AI won't be something we never see again.
Sony has stated that it will collect feedback on this first functionality and use that feedback to improve the AI for next releases.
I don't know how you feel, but I can't wait to see how hard I get schooled. I hope you feel the same way.
I don't think things are going to end up looking very lovely...