NEWS | Gran Turismo Sophy Race Together Mode Arrives in GT7, Unlocking Access to Sony AI's Breakthrough AI Racing Agent
SONY AI and Polyphony Digital have announced the global release of Gran Turismo Sophy (GT Sophy), an AI racing agent, in Gran Turismo 7 (GT7) PlayStation racing simulation game. The game offers players of all levels the opportunity to race against GT Sophy in the "Gran Turismo Sophy Race Together" mode. This is a major milestone in the unique partnership between Sony AI and Polyphony Digital, which has transformed a research project into a commercial product in just one year.
In GT Sophy Race Together mode, players can race against GT Sophy in four circuits of increasing difficulty, as a Beginner / Intermediate / Expert driver. Players can also challenge GT Sophy in 1VS1 mode, where GT Sophy and the player race one-on-one with identical car configurations and settings. The excitement of GT Sophy Race Together mode is enhanced with GT7's new emoticon feature, which displays emoticons on the GT Sophy cars throughout the race to react to the in-game action.
The GT Sophy Race Together mode is part of the 1.29 update (internet required) for GT7 and will be available until the end of March. The mode can be accessed directly from the top right panel on the GT7 World Map, and the player can start a race against GT Sophy once the player has reached Collector Level 6.
"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.
Kazunori Yamauchi, President of Polyphony Digital Inc, also added that the 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. Unlike the conventional built-in AI, GT Sophy drives with continuity in a large variety of situations, which allows users to enjoy the excitement of a close battle as if they are playing against a professional racing driver.
Unveiled in February 2022, GT Sophy is the first superhuman AI agent to outrace the world's best drivers of the highly realistic racing simulation game, GT Sport. The AI breakthrough, featured in the February 10th, 2022 issue of Nature, demonstrates how AI can deliver new gaming experiences to players.
Sony AI aims to combine cutting-edge research and development of artificial intelligence with Sony Group's imaging and sensing technology, robotics technology, and entertainment assets such as movies, music, and games to accelerate Sony's transformation into an AI-powered company and to create new business opportunities.
This is just the first of an ongoing series of GT Sophy features that will appear in GT7. — Geeks Republika
