Gran Turismo 7's AI could be the most realistic we've ever seen

As much as we love Gran Turismo, the series is often criticised for its robotic AI opponents that rigidly stick to the racing line. As a result, opponents are oblivious to your track position and often blindly barge into you, breaking the immersion.

That could all change in Gran Turismo 7.

Gran Turismo 7 will have improved AI

Happily, Gran Turismo 7 will have improved AI. In a recent interview with Spanish website MeriStation, series creator Kazunori Yamauchi promised that GT7’s AI will be "faster" and “drive in a more human way.”

With less than one month until GT7’s release, Sony is teasing a “breakthrough project in AI” created in collaboration with Polyphony Digital. What could this mean for GT7 and racing games?

Sony teases “breakthrough project in AI” with Polyphony Digital  

For now, details about the AI project are slim, with a full reveal planned for tomorrow on 9 February. A post on the official Gran Turismo Twitter page teases that the mystery AI project will “change the game.”

The official Sony AI account also refers to the new "Gaming Flagship” technology as a “breakthrough project in AI created through a collab with Polyphony Digital and Sony Interactive Entertainment.”

Accompanying the announcement is a short 25-second teaser video. It’s not clear if Sony's AI project is connected to GT7. But as noted by GTPlanet, the video shows the same light traces used in the Gran Turismo “Find Your Line” marketing videos.

Double-World Tour champions Igor Fraga and Takuma Miyazono and World Tour finalist Emily Jones also make brief appearances. The video then ends with a peek inside Polyphony Digital’s studio in Tokyo.  

We know Polyphony is involved with the project. And with GT7’s release getting closer, it’s likely that Sony’s AI project has something to do with Gran Turismo. Not only could the technology improve GT7’s offline racing, but it could revolutionise AI in other racing games.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG_pecVKq_Y

Sony AI has already researched how visual learning techniques can make AI drivers behave like humans. In the previous study, the visual learning AI achieved lap times within the top ten per cent of players.

If findings from the study are implemented in GT7, it would support Kazunori’s comments that GT7’s AI “drives in a more human way.”

This new project could bring everything Sony has learned from previous studies into fruition. We’ll find out if Sony will revolutionise AI in gaming when the project is revealed tomorrow.

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