The infamous AI developped by a joint effort of Sony and Polyphony Digital comes back under the spotlight today.
A video was just posted today on the official Sony Ai youtube channel, showcasing the virtual driver beat the world record previously established by Igor Fraga on the most difficult of the Lewis Hamilton Time Trial Challenges: a lap of the Nürburgring Norschleife with the Sauber C9 on GT Sport.
While Lewis Hamilton's time was a very respectable 5:40.622, Igor Fraga, FIA GTC World Champion and Formula 3 driver, achieved the best time ever recorded by a human player with an incredible 5:26.682 lap. But that time is now good for the 2nd step of the podium only, as Sophy improved on it by a whopping 3.7 seconds margin, with only 5:22.975 to complete the lap.
The lap is quite spectacular to watch, although some of the lines taken will fuel up controversy: Sophy doesn't hesitate to use all the space the game allows before disqualifying the challenger, even if that means having most of the car on the grass. To clarify, the game takes the "2 wheels on track" rule to an extreme, so as long as 2 wheels still touch the tarmac, you're all good.
Is this the only reason why Sophy is so fast ? According to high level Gran Turismo Esports players, the AI seems to still be stuck with the automatic gearbox as it uses 1st gear through Wehrseifen, the slowest corner of the track. This is still believed to be inefficient in that situation, which means Sophy could still unlock more potential if taught how to use a manual gearbox and shift at ideal points.
Kazunori Yamauchi has previously affirmed in an interview that the addition of Sophy in GT7 was planned for a future update, although no date estimation was given. More than just being an impossible to beat opponent, the goal is to make Sophy a true partner which would act as a teacher and a friend to players. Apparently, the AI can also be saved into different images at different states through its learning process, and provide opponent behaviors reflective of a wide variety of driver archetypes, from unsecure beginners and amateurs to experienced high split racers. If these things end up being inplemented to GT7, it should not only provide a new 3 chilis level of difficulty, but also improve the general behavior of the AI through the lower difficulty levels. But with the high amount of content in the game, we can wonder how much time will be needed to make Sophy truly ready to tackle all the cars / tracks / weather combinations possible.
A video was just posted today on the official Sony Ai youtube channel, showcasing the virtual driver beat the world record previously established by Igor Fraga on the most difficult of the Lewis Hamilton Time Trial Challenges: a lap of the Nürburgring Norschleife with the Sauber C9 on GT Sport.
While Lewis Hamilton's time was a very respectable 5:40.622, Igor Fraga, FIA GTC World Champion and Formula 3 driver, achieved the best time ever recorded by a human player with an incredible 5:26.682 lap. But that time is now good for the 2nd step of the podium only, as Sophy improved on it by a whopping 3.7 seconds margin, with only 5:22.975 to complete the lap.
The lap is quite spectacular to watch, although some of the lines taken will fuel up controversy: Sophy doesn't hesitate to use all the space the game allows before disqualifying the challenger, even if that means having most of the car on the grass. To clarify, the game takes the "2 wheels on track" rule to an extreme, so as long as 2 wheels still touch the tarmac, you're all good.
Is this the only reason why Sophy is so fast ? According to high level Gran Turismo Esports players, the AI seems to still be stuck with the automatic gearbox as it uses 1st gear through Wehrseifen, the slowest corner of the track. This is still believed to be inefficient in that situation, which means Sophy could still unlock more potential if taught how to use a manual gearbox and shift at ideal points.
Kazunori Yamauchi has previously affirmed in an interview that the addition of Sophy in GT7 was planned for a future update, although no date estimation was given. More than just being an impossible to beat opponent, the goal is to make Sophy a true partner which would act as a teacher and a friend to players. Apparently, the AI can also be saved into different images at different states through its learning process, and provide opponent behaviors reflective of a wide variety of driver archetypes, from unsecure beginners and amateurs to experienced high split racers. If these things end up being inplemented to GT7, it should not only provide a new 3 chilis level of difficulty, but also improve the general behavior of the AI through the lower difficulty levels. But with the high amount of content in the game, we can wonder how much time will be needed to make Sophy truly ready to tackle all the cars / tracks / weather combinations possible.
