Gran Turismo devs partner with Sony to work on 'racing driver' AI

By Kes Eylers-Stephenson,

Gran Turismo 7 developers Polyphony Digital announced a partnership with Sony, and it has now been revealed exactly what the pair were working on: a racing AI known as Sophy.

Sony AI and Polyphony are working on an AI known as Sophy, who can beat the lap times of professional racers. Though it won't be available at launch in GT7, the team is trying to work out just how to implement such a feature in the future. Outside of video games, it is hoped that Sophy will be used as a part of the self-driving car tech that Sony has recently pushed into the market with.

Sophy spent many moons racing in Gran Turismo Sport. In a Wired article, GT world champion Takuma Miyazono stated: "Sophy is very fast, with lap times better than expected for the best drivers. But watching Sophy, there were certain moves that I only believed were possible afterwards."

Indeed, it seems one of the more incredible elements is Sophy's ability to avoid penalties for dirty racing and cutting corners. With this tech, which the creators believe will rewrite driving textbooks, the aim for "future versions" of the GT series will be to try and get novice drivers to the level of veterans faster and more efficiently. Exciting!

What do you think of this reveal? Fun or scary? Let us know in the comments.

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Written by Kes Eylers-Stephenson

Editor Kes is our resident expert in PlayStation and other gaming news. He writes about exclusives like The Last of Us and Horizon, PS Plus news, and his favourite games — The Witcher, Assassin’s Creed, and God of War — before an evening swim.