After decades of fans complaining that the AI on most Gran Turismo games is about as competent at driving as Pastor Maldonado, finally Sony decided to take matters into their own hands. The Result, GT Sophy, is an AI that is, quite simply, able to beat Anyone in Gran Turismo.
In a rather astounding demonstration, Gran Turismo Sophy handily beat Toyota Gazoo Racing GT Cup Tomoaki Yamanaka. Crucially, it did this not by religiously following the most ideal racing line, but instead by acting in what they say is a “hard and aggressive driving that still plays fair and observes the spirit of rules as much, if not more than, the letter of what is legally allowed.” In short. It behaves like a better version of a normal racing driver, but still a racing driver.
So, that’s it then? It won’t make it to the first release of Gran Turismo 7, but it’ll surely be dumped into the next update. Now you have to play the game certain in the realization that no matter how much you practice, the computer can drive faster and better than you. It’s letting you win.
No. Absolutely not imaginary person being used as a strawman to support my argument, that we now have the technology to ensure that a computer will behave like a better human racing driver doesn’t mean there’s no point to playing against it. Anymore than playing a chess against a computer would be a futile effort. Sure, we no longer have giant crowds to see such a spectacle nor is it such a big deal because, unless set up not to, it’s just going to win. But there’s a reason GrandMasters still use them in practice, and why they remain valid in to teach yourself how to play the game. It can now play exactly how you would prefer it to be.
In the case of GT, where AI mostly follows the ideal racing line at various degrees of speed, only diverting when something is in the way (and honestly, oftentimes not even in that), it means you can actually have interesting AI races when you are finally done dealing with the only worse thing than dumb AI opponents, dumb RL opponents. Endurance events can have the reserved drivers, driving slowly to preserve their fuel and tires. Shorter events can actually have drivers who push without “pushing” meaning hitting the same dirt trap lap after lap after lap. And there’s a whole spectrum of these. From the driver in first place who will close all of your gaps to the one that will “make a mistake“ and leave you wide open. If lucky, you can even get them infighting, which would leave you a nice moment of “distraction” where you can seize an additional spot or three.
Sophy is bound to make the average Singleplayer Gran Turismo run a lot more exciting and vibrant to do. Now it only remains to be seen if the good people of Sony and Polyphony Digital have solved the biggest problem of the franchise. The expenditure of thousands of hours and the use of the planet’s most comprehensive audio recording equipment; all of which results on vehicles that sound like vacuum cleaners.
