While there’s a lot to look forward to in Gran Turismo 7’s free Spec II patch, available on PS5 later today, it’s the introduction of Polyphony Digital’s innovative GT Sophy technology that could prove to be a true game changer. This ground-breaking code uses machine learning in order to imitate the actions of human drivers, and it’ll be available in the full game across nine tracks and 340 cars from today.
Following a beta trial earlier in the year, one of the features that the developer has added is the option to scale the difficulty, ensuring an authentic experience for all abilities. The Japanese studio was previously concerned that the AI may be too difficulty to beat, but this scalability should provide a competitive experience for everyone to enjoy.
For decades now, one of the chief criticisms aimed at the Gran Turismo franchise has been its simplistic AI; many felt that rival cars simply followed the racing line in previous releases, resulting in dreary races. This new technology, however, will transform that, as the computer-controlled drivers will now behave with real emotion, making races much more engaging overall.
Will you be testing this feature out once it becomes available? Follow the racing line diligently into the comments section below.
[source youtube.com]
Comments 41
Look forward to hearing how players feel this works in reality. Not just the first knee-jerk responses which are often negative - humans often don't like change - but over time.
AI in driving games always feels pretty bad to me, never feels human. I know Forza has their 'Drivatar' feature that was meant to learn the driving styles of your friends and replicate it. While I haven't followed that closely, I do hear a lot of problems with Forza's AI. Hopefully this is the next step forwards.
Great news, a welcome upgrade as mentioned in the article, driver AI is pretty terrible just brake a bit later and you are through as the AI keep to the driving line too rigidly. Amazing game, can't wait for Xmas to play it in VR
From my experience with the AI in GT 5 and GT Sport is that they're horrifically terrible. If this new AI can actually improve the race experience, it'll be a great boost for the series.
@Mostik
I must say playing GT7 with PSVR2 is quite jaw droppingly good.
You will have a great Christmas!
@Mostik Prepare to not see any family this xmad if you're starting it in VR! It is truly a game changer!!
@Mostik yes you will be spending your time in Gran Turismo VR or else in the bathroom throwing up from motion sickness . It gives me motion sickness. Luckily the are other games in VR that I can play. Absolutely love PSVR2. 😀😀😀
@Mostik Been playing VR games for a few years now and I thought I knew what to expect from GT7 in VR.
Nothing prepares you for it. One of my most memorable experiences in 36 years of gaming.
Can they share this tech with Turn 10 please? Forza's AI is dumber than Jedward.
@Futureshark @EnragedGibbon @Dobbos @Shepherd_Tallon
Thanks folks, I was hyped already but even more so now
I quite enjoyed the limited VR experience we got in the last one on the PSVR, it was clearly just a taster though!
@Mostik your in for a treat when you experience gt7 in VR for the first time! I can't drive flat anymore, I've 180 hours in this game in VR and it still blows me away every time!
I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into this update, sophy looks like it's going to be a real challenge.
@Markatron84 Yes I was never a massive fan of GT7 AI last year but playing Forza has given me a fresh appreciation of it. At the very least the GT7 AI doesn’t ram into you, take suspiciously weird racing lines and just plain give up once you have passed them.
If GT7 just added a competitive time trial system like Forza has in Rivals it would be the near perfect racing sim.
@Mostik is it your first experience with vr ? If so , prepare for your mind to be blown ,I remember my first time,it was resident evil 7 ,my god I swear I could smell the rot 😂
I have been crying out for this since GT2 in the 90s … finally!!!
@Mephisto2869 Hi buddy, I have got the first PSVR and loved it although I haven't popped it back on for a few months now with the release calendar being stacked this year.
Absolutely adored Astro & Moss but my favourite so far is possibly Ace Combat or SW Squadrons, just everything I had dreamed of as a child - flying Tie Fighters and X-wings.
To think the PSVR2 is so much better I really can not wait!!!
@TrickyDicky99 I mean, I’m sure they’re going to continue working on it. Give them a bit more time.
I late to the news,
does that mean GT Sophy gonna replace current difficulty or a new option?
@TrickyDicky99 i understand that but wouldn't implementing in the whole single player mean changing how the whole campaign progresses, since it's all built around the old ai. Also this a cross gen game, so maybe they might not be comfortable with revamping the whole sp just for the current gen players. I feel like this will properly be implemented only in the next game.
@adit365 it's a new option available in Quick Race - you can still use the "regular" AI if you wish to
@Dobbos totally agree looks amazing, but i felt sick as a dog after about 20 mins lol 😆
@Bingoboyop tbf, it is ps5 only so no need to think about cross gen
Polyphony Digital just rubbing salt into Turn 10's wounds now! 😂
The difference in quality between Gran Turismo and Forza has never been greater.
I hate scalability, rubber banding and all such rubbish. Just give each driver their own characteristics, including aggression, speed through turns, how prone they are to errors etc, then the cars their specs, and leave it there.
Not sure that I’d like it if it were too difficulty.
@Mostik so ,so much better mate ,hopefully we will see more support from Sony and third party next year,biggest change for me is those god awful move controllers have now gone,love vr
Sophy laughing or getting angry really makes me want to win even even more. 😁
@Dobbos I bought PSVR2 mainly for GT7 but, being new to VR and very prone do motion sickness, I was deeply disappointed when I first tried it. I felt so awfully sick so quickly that I thought I would never even had the interest to give it another go.
But then I fell in love with VR and slowly built my VR legs through other games until I felt confident enough to go back to Gran Turismo. Long story short, GT7 in VR is now my favorite gaming experience by a mile and I play it often, no problem.
So, it's definitely possible to overcome motion sickness. Reddit has a few good threads on strategies to accomplish that, and it's very much worth it.
@TrickyDicky99 But, but... I thought that was not even possible!
@GuyInDirtyShirt yeah I know but overhauling the whole ps5 gt7 campaign would mean different campaigns on ps4 and ps5. Effectively two different single player experiences. I am sure if pd wants to have that kind of differentiation because so far all the ps5 only stuff is additive.
I don’t understand why Gt7 is just so much better than the new Forza.
A really big and great update ,so many races for me to do in single player that doing them would last me well into next year as I mostly play sport mode but there is so much to do even before this update and now its on an enormous scale lol,I will spend some of this weekend looking through sophy a.i and doing some single player races among some dailies in sport oh and new license as well and new track to try ,list goes on ha 😀
@Jay767 i really think it comes down to the fact that Forza is just so sterile. And GT 7 feels like it has a soul and the people who make it actually care about car culture.
One thing AI has to do is make mistakes, otherwise you’ll never have a truly great offline racing experience. I like what I’m seeing with the AI having ‘emotions’. If you close the gap on a driver they should feel pressure and make errors. The same goes for when they are pushing to catch up. It even happens at the pinnacle of the sport in F1.
@Art_Vandelay thanks for sharing. Wow the possibilities in VR ....just WOW.
@Axelay71 well I hope you have found games that you can play in VR. Such a fantastic luv. PSVR2.😀😀
We will see. I'm interested but is Sophy any good even? Drivavatars from Forza even changing?
As much as don't mind the old AI some are bad. Even the GT5/6 AI they tried to make them more a bit more but they still were behind. Sport I think it was fine but Sport/7 don't have that great AI still. Improvements are needed. Whether reactions to players, other AI opponents, some pit, brake, overtake, defend or what.
I mean we haven't gotten a defend option for B Spec once which always baffled me players can and the AI struggles when were good enough to block them. They don't really do that themselves. Maybe rarely but still it's more getting in the way then intentional blocking strategies the AI go for. Or crowding not F1 or others bad but still awkward.
Never liked more than 6-8 opponents anyways. Too crowded, too awkward to path find the track, go off and such (see on occasion in old games with tyre wear). But the stopping start barely exists either anymore (realism/safety, etc.) which is so boring being behind and running already it's just boring. I play TOCA games with tons on PS2 and stopping starts and it worked it out fairly well I think. Some craziness, some good enough, some aggression even to Grid Legends.
I don't expect an aggression/nemesis system but even still just some responses, they don't have to be stand outs but still just a bit more response to players.
@Voltan Glad to hear that.
Ohh i see. "Polyphony Digital’s innovative GT Sophy technology". And forza on xbox that have this a years on his game is what? A copy? Ok sony. Try again. You copy this from forza. Admit!
@TrickyDicky99 Imagine a kid buying the PS4 version and the whole game is stuck at a terrible 1080p resolution, no 120 Hz option or VRR, no Sophy at all, no 4-player split screen. The horror!
Just admit it, Polyphony and Herman supported the PS4 where and while it made sense. Now it's time to gradually move on.
@Vladspartan Lol sometimes a comment is so absurd that I have a hard time telling if the person is being sarcastic.
Oh, I get it now. You are one of those. No point in arguing then, but here is a farewell note: the business side of PlayStation is far and wide the reason it exists in the first place. Maybe that is hard for you to understand, but I'll try to convey it in another way to make it clearer: defending good business decisions is ultimately defending the very existence of the product you love.
I've been around long enough to witness bad business decisions run videogame companies to the ground. And I'll be the first to criticize Sony for making bad business moves such as investing so much capital and energy into GaaS.
But I get it. Most people can't see beyond their immediate needs and desires. They'll happily jeopardize their future self in the name of immediate satisfaction. This is true especially these days.
Have a good one.
Human 1 does a race. Human 1 saves and uploads the replay of their race to the GT servers. GT servers download that result into Human 2's race as an AI driver. Human 2 now races a really good AI. Repeat process 1000s and 1000s of times.
Perhaps I'm naive to think that's a simple and effective solution? It took hours to download the game before I could play it... a few more hours to have some decent AI loaded ahead of each race is fine with me.
In fact, I'm fine with downloading Human races ahead of all the races. It's a far better experience to wait and enjoy ONE high quality race versus ploughing my way through dozens of rubbish races in a row.
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