Gran Turismo 7 had its biggest update yet this month, and that includes the arrival of GT Sophy as a limited-time event for the PS5 version of the game.
For the uninitiated, GT Sophy is a project developed by Sony AI with the help of Gran Turismo developers Polyphony Digital and Sony Interactive Entertainment. The goal is to create an AI that can drive not only as fast as human players, but can surpass them.
Since the project was revealed in 2021, through various exhibition races, GT Sophy has been tested against the top GT players in the world, and somehow even the fastest ‘aliens’ of Gran Turismo can still be beaten by some margin. But not to say GT Sophy is impervious, the AI agents come at various skill levels, and some of them can still be beaten by mere mortals.
And here it is in GT7- albeit limited to PS5 players only. The “Race Together” limited-time event allows players to take on a field of four cars. The way it’s set up is that three of the GT Sophy drivers – Bleue, Rouge and Verte- will line up in front of the grid with a slower car, and then the player, and then the fastest of the AI Agents Violette at the back. The three at the front use slower cars, while you and Violette get faster ones.
This setup means that in each of the four races- with three difficulty levels that determine how overpowered your provided car is- you’ll have to engage in GT Sophy offensively and defensively. It’s a brilliant way to showcase its prowess in full.
The first thing I notice racing against GT Sophy is how aggressively they attack each corner. How aggressive? They hug each apex tightly, going into turns with massive speeds and intentionally powerslides through them. The wheels will usually be smoking out of each turn.
And they commit in turns- you won’t see them suddenly brake mid-apex or brake on turns that could easily be taken flat or with a gentle lift of the throttle.
It’s a good thing all the races have no tyre wear and fuel consumption on. It seems GT Sophy has effectively learned how to push to the max, going goblin mode all the time. Which I don’t think is the way to go when it comes to endurance racing. No doubt this style of driving is fast in GT7, I feel vindicated that turning while braking- which is usually a no-no as it can lead to loss of control but also let you powerslide- is the best way to keep up with the AI. But it would be interesting to see how GT Sophy adapts to managing a car dynamic that changes over time.
Besides that, GT Sophy has much better awareness compared to the standard AI racers in GT7. In the Beginner difficulty level where you get to drive a ridiculously tuned car, I can easily pass them on straight lines. And if they know there’s no way to defend from a fast-charging opponent they just give way and move aside, just enough to let me pass, and then head back to the racing line.
That awareness is something I wish the standard AI is capable of. There were so many instances where I found a gap to pass an AI only for them to not give space and pretend I wasn’t even there, collide, and left me for the worse.
GT Sophy isn’t like that. Instead, it’s the opposite. There were instances where GT Sophy found a gap (because I left the door open- not clipping the apex of a turn as I should) and decides to send it, only to see me not giving room which blunders them into a spin.
GT Sophy races hard but is usually fair. There were bumps here and there but judging by replays it’s mostly me not giving enough space. If they race this fair, there’s now an incentive to return the favour and treat these AI racers like the ones you see online. Plus, clean racing is rewarding (literally, due to the game’s clean racing bonus).
Though after trying the races a bit more, especially the Expert difficulty levels, GT Sophy is too good at punishing mistakes. Leave the door open just a bit and they’ll go elbows out to get the overtake done. It’s good fun when you expect tough racing, but if GT Sophy is to be implemented as a standard AI for GT, maybe have them be a bit lenient and not as sharp in all races. Racing stops being fun when you have to go all sweaty and give it your all every time, especially for more casual fans.
The other interesting bit with GT Sophy during the Race Together events is the emojis. For whatever reason, the developers decided to have the drivers emote throughout the race by displaying various emojis accompanied by adorable boops and beeps.
They react in context. If you drive close and within overtaking range they’ll get serious. If they’re the ones attacking you they smirk devilishly. If you got the pass done they’ll be bummed out, but if they got your number they’ll smile as you eat their dust. Also, should you lose control, go off track or crash, and GT Sophy see that, they’ll laugh at you. Not all of them, just the ones that are close enough and were behind you that could see you fumble.
Having GT Sophy display emotions like it’s the Toyota Pod in GT Concept may be weird at face value, but it reinforces the notion that the AI has some on-track awareness. Or at least, was taught to react to the many things happening on track. GT Sophy has been fed countless amounts of racing footage, and there’s a system where the programmers can effectively praise and scold the habits they picked up to further refine their learning.
It got me wondering, can GT Sophy hold grudges? Can the tech be used to bring another take on the nemesis system where rival racers race against you particularly hard should you mess with them on track too much? If we can get the AI drivers to be less of a mobile chicane when they are slow and not absurdly fast to the point that players think they’re cheating or accusing rubber-banding is at work, I think that’s going to be a remarkable improvement for racing games, especially for folks who don’t want to experience multiplayer.
There’s also an option to 1v1 against GT Sophy Violette, on equal cars starting at front of the grid together. In this mode, you can see how superhuman the AI is, easily beating me- a terrible D-ranked driver- by a whopping five whole seconds. That bit is for the top players to prove themselves, that’s out of my league.
GT Sophy sure is fast, that’s something expected. But what I think the conversation should go when it comes to AI in video games is how can they portray themselves as believable peers or rivals. The part that really impresses me the most of GT Sophy is how reactive it is to the player, which in turn made me not treat it as the usual mindless drone AI. I genuinely felt that it deserves respect, and try to race them fairly as a result. Except during the bits where they teased me when I missed a corner- that’s an offence that deserves a send into the shadow realm.
Still, if GT7’s AI racers can have the sophistication of GT Sophy when it comes to awareness, that’s already a major step forward. Sure, have a harder difficulty option for the aliens out there. But if the AI racers can drive and behave more human-like like how GT Sophy can do without dramatically making them faster and unbeatable by the masses, that would seriously be a game-changer.
It’s rare to see a video game utilising AI like this. And when the whole conversation about the use of AI in the general world has gone about (it’s worrying stuff), having good ones in a safe space like video games should turn the general perception of this tech a bit. So long as we avoid going full Westworld, let’s welcome smarter AI in games. Hopefully, GT Sophy will return to GT7 in a more permanent form.