Sony Challenges Gran Turismo 7 Players to Race Against GT Sophy AI

The next update for Gran Turismo 7 on PS5 won’t just add support for PlayStation VR2, it will also unlock access to a very capable new AI opponent called Gran Turismo Sophy (GT Sophy).

Sony AI, Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), and Polyphony Digital announced GT Sophy in February last year as the ultimate AI racer that used deep reinforcement learning to learn to drive from scratch. Three years on from when it first started learning to drive, GT Sophy is ready to take on all comers(Opens in a new window) when Update 1.29 is released for Gran Turismo 7 tomorrow.

A new Gran Turismo Sophy ‘Race Together’ time-limited in-game event will be available for any players who have reached Collector Level 6. Four races (Tsukuba Circuit, Alsace Village, Trial Mountain Circuit, and Suzuka Circuit) will be offered with increasing difficulty (Beginner/Intermediate/Expert) and will feature four versions of GT Sophy cars setup with different levels of performance. That way, the challenge should remain varied throughout the race.

A second 1VS1 mode will also be available where the player can race against GT Sophy in identical cars. That way you can get a true sense of how good GT Sophy is as a racer, or receive a reality check on how bad you are.

“From the beginning, Gran Turismo Sophy was always about more than just being superhuman; we aspired to create an AI agent that would enhance the experience of players of all levels, and to make this experience available to everyone. We have now accomplished this with GT Sophy ‘Race Together’ mode,” said Michael Spranger, Chief Operating Officer, Sony AI. “This signifies a major milestone for our organization and our mission to unleash human imagination and creativity with AI. We look forward to continuing our work on GT Sophy and other gaming AI projects in the future.”

GT Sophy will be available to race against until the end of March, but Sony and Polyphony Digital are planning an “ongoing series of GT Sophy features that will appear in GT7.” So enjoy trying to beat the AI while you can and then look forward to the next challenge, hopefully in the near future.

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