Engadget Logo The future of the game in which the AI driver "GRAN TURISMO SOPHY" changes the Top GT driver of the Japanese version of the Japanese version (Masaichi Honda)

Sony established a new company Sony AI in 2020 for AI's research and development.Sony AI has been conducting research on deep learning that utilizes neural network processing, but who expected that the first announcement would be a mock race by the popular driving simulator of the Play Series Series?

The AI, developed by the company, named Gran Turismo Sophy, showed off his ability to defeat the world's top drivers in a virtual race with a drive simulator.

Nevertheless, from the generation of the old generation "computer -racing game", you might think, "Is the system slipping anyway?"But her (Sophy) is real.Looking at the race, it was obvious that SOPHY was really racing.

Driving skills that lead to top F1 drivers

The mock race was a car (Porsche 911 RSR) driving (Porsche 911 RSR) with four different racing experiences running with four GRAN TURISMO top drivers, but one of the Sophy operation vehicles runs alone.He escaped while battle with the player vehicle, and ran alone and won the championship and best lap.But what was interesting was the struggle from 2nd to 4th.

Tae Yamanaka, who finished second, initially followed SOPHY, a top red vehicle, but the blue Sophy, who runs fourth behind, attacks Yamanaka.While defending this blue SOPHY attack, the red Sophye begins to escape alone.

Blue Sophye pokes the last minute, saying that humans will not do that.You probably know that it is okay to put it on a curb.This is because while using the termac (paved) area, which seems to be an entrance for work vehicles, etc., it was a very detailed drive, such as entering the inn and avoiding the grass area.

On the other hand, although the race is allowed to be tolerated (contact), it will never be crashed.As Takuma Miyazono, who had caught up with such a battle, began to attack the blue SOPHY, the attack on Yamanaka was relieved, but I could see a tingling battle in the simulated race of only three laps.

How this AI driver Sophy has polished his skills will be described later, but the interesting thing was that Kazunori Yamauchi, the polyphony digital representative who has developed Gran Turismo, says, "Sophy will not do it if you are ordinary people.However, the data analysis knows that the top F1 drivers are performing driving. "

Human drivers first begin to bend the front wheels after the brakes are left, but the brakes are left, but after the brakes are slightly reduced, the front wheel load is increasing.When the car starts to turn the turning, he feels the increase to the front outer wheel and determines whether the car is facing in the direction of the escape in the corner, and this time he accelerates while feeling the load change in the accelerator operation.

However, SOPHY goes into the corner while leaving the brakes "quite", and when you grab the turning trigger, you will turn in while using the grip of the rear ring.In terms of image, it is an image that controls cornering with "front wheels + rear outer wheels".

There may be some misunderstanding in the detailed part, but Mr. Yamauchi evaluated Sophy's driving style, saying, "I may rewrite the textbook for race driving."

Repeated experience of virtual racing parallel in the cloud

Now, how was Sophy trained?

It was used by GRAN TURISMO SPORT.Because it is a simulator, the course status and car information can be completely quantified.SOPHY learns a lot of information surrounding the car as a numerical value, and learns in trial and error how to run a little faster, and how to run fast without a major accident with the other party.

Actually, run in SOPHY in the Gran Turismo Sport, which runs in parallel on the cloud, and evaluate and compare the results of the drive operation there, and how to do it.Learn whether you are not pulled out by the other party or whether you can pull out the opponent.

Looking at the mock race, there were behaviors that dared to enter the inn from a non -ideal line, and in response to it, checked the other party to confirm that the in was not closed, and then tried to accelerate, but this aggressive.It is probably the result of the above -mentioned learning to try driving frequently.

According to Sony AI, SOPHY will grow to the point where the circuit is rapped in the first day.After that, if you have a virtual race in the cloud for another two days, you will have the ability to put it in the top 10%of all players, and if you are learning for 10 to 14 days, you will be learning.It will grow to the ability comparable to a top driver used in this demo.SOPHY runs about 300,000 kilometers before becoming a top driver.

SOPHY, who grew into a top driver, learned with the top GT driver for two days with a human battle with humans.

If you check the situation in another video of the two days (there was a three -month learning and an improvement period), the racing on the first day failed to take the line out of the line and went out of the course.He made a mistake in being too aggressive to overrun, but on the second day he was not only faster and was a "strong" racer.

However, there were doubts about the strong Fairness, and I had the impression that I would pass myself to the amfair without regard to danger.But that must have been learned.As a result, in the mock race on the announcement date, it seemed to be a very human race.

The game changes as AI evolves

At the beginning, I wrote that AI driving was an unfair, even if the AI driving was strong.Certainly, the driving style of AI was different, but on the other hand, it was not an amfair, but a strategy and driving technology.

Polyphony Digital is planning to incorporate SOPHY with an update of Gran Turismo 7.It may be difficult for ordinary players to enjoy racing with SOPHY, which has a perfect reaction speed and technique, but he is considering a mechanism to adjust the difficulty of Sophy as it is.

In the future, you may be able to add advice to get advice to achieve faster driving while comparing and analyzing Sophy driving and your own driving, but the final goal is simply a fast and strong driver.Not to do it, but to create AI rivals that players can enjoy more.

In the future, Sony AI will continue to collaborate with other game developers and develop game AI.Many games are online, but humans must be more fun.However, if AI evolves, the common sense of the game may change.

It is also interesting that Sony is trying to launch an EV business company as well as the game.How does this AI affect future autonomous driving and not?

SOPHY's research and development results will be announced in magazine Nature.

Source: Sony AI