After a brief stint in testing earlier this year, the Gran Turismo Sophy AI makes its return to Gran Turismo 7 today. The AI tool is now a permanent part of the racing game and comes with expanded functionality.
While all CPU racers in Gran Turismo 7 technically use some form of artificial intelligence, GT Sophy 2.0 is a much more autonomous and smart AI agent that has learned from player data and can match the skill level of top Gran Turismo players. Essentially, a race with GT Sophy 2.0 should feel like a race with another player. Sony AI tested GT Sophy across four cars and tracks in Gran Turismo 7 earlier this year, but that was only a limited-time mode. Now, GT Sophy is a permanent game feature in Gran Turismo 7.
Sony AI and developer Polyphony Digital revealed the news Wednesday morning, elaborating on the expanded functionality that comes as part of its reintroduction to the game through Gran Turismo 7 patch 1.40. Now going by the moniker GT Sophy 2.0, this advanced AI can now be used with 340 different cars across nine different tracks in Gran Turismo 7’s Quick Race mode. While players can choose which track they want to race GT Sophy 2.0 on, the car will be chosen automatically “based on the car chosen from the player’s garage,” according to Sony AI.
In a press release, Sony says the test earlier this year “allowed the team to evaluate how well the neural network performed when embedded in the game and guided the engineering tasks involved in making the AI agent fully integrated.” Those learnings allowed them to refine the AI further and expand its functionality, which any Gran Turismo 7 player on PlayStation 5 can now see after updating the game.
Gran Turismo 7 is available now on PlayStation 4 and PS5, although GT Sophy 2.0 only works on PS5.
