During the latest official Gran Turismo 7 esports event in Amsterdam, a new demonstration of Sony's now famous racing AI was performed. It took everyone by surprise: Sophy was not just going super fast on an ideal racing line, it was drifting.
Image credit: Polyphony Digital
Some observers may have caught a glimpse of the demo before, but now, an official video is out. Sophy is producing rubber trails and smoke clouds on GT's iconic Trial Mountain track in a car you would definitely not expect to see in a Formula Drift competition - an old Lamborghini Countach.
Not content of doing it extremely well, managing to get great angle through a challenging high speed section, it also manages to look organic and take some artistic liberties by performing 360s in the middle of the run. More than the spectacular display of skill, it's the fact that what Sophy is doing in the video is not the optimal way of driving in any scenario in GT7. It is certainly not the fastest way around the track, but it's also not the best method to score points in drift mode either.
Even in "free" drifting mode that excludes sections, you still need to properly settle the car to validate your current streak, and can lose those points if you 360 or let the back of the car overtake the front for just a fraction of a second.
We are hoping for a more detailed explanation from Sony AI later on. Sophy managed to demonstrate its ability to tackle another complex task and impress pro players, so it did its job rather well. The fact that drifting is being explored in itself is also a good thing for the community, as drifting is often ignored in sim racing despite being a popular discipline, as numerous Assetto Corsa drifting communities can attest to.
What are you thoughts about this demo? Would you like to see more drifting content in more serious racing simulations? Let us know in the comments below!
Image credit: Polyphony Digital
Some observers may have caught a glimpse of the demo before, but now, an official video is out. Sophy is producing rubber trails and smoke clouds on GT's iconic Trial Mountain track in a car you would definitely not expect to see in a Formula Drift competition - an old Lamborghini Countach.
Not content of doing it extremely well, managing to get great angle through a challenging high speed section, it also manages to look organic and take some artistic liberties by performing 360s in the middle of the run. More than the spectacular display of skill, it's the fact that what Sophy is doing in the video is not the optimal way of driving in any scenario in GT7. It is certainly not the fastest way around the track, but it's also not the best method to score points in drift mode either.
GT Sophy Drifts Explained
The way to earn drift points is pretty straightforward in GT7: Basically, drivers want to combine angle, speed, and a good line, without going off track or touching a wall. But their section score will be null if they go above an angle of 90 degrees at any point, meaning the game will punish reverse entries or 360s to link two corners together.Even in "free" drifting mode that excludes sections, you still need to properly settle the car to validate your current streak, and can lose those points if you 360 or let the back of the car overtake the front for just a fraction of a second.
No Background Info Yet
What is really interesting in this regard is the AI's not bound by the regular rules of the game. It just does what it wants - or at least it looks like it. Surely, Sophy had to learn with incentives, albeit different ones than usual, but as interesting to know how this was done in deeper details, this part was ommitted in the video.We are hoping for a more detailed explanation from Sony AI later on. Sophy managed to demonstrate its ability to tackle another complex task and impress pro players, so it did its job rather well. The fact that drifting is being explored in itself is also a good thing for the community, as drifting is often ignored in sim racing despite being a popular discipline, as numerous Assetto Corsa drifting communities can attest to.
What are you thoughts about this demo? Would you like to see more drifting content in more serious racing simulations? Let us know in the comments below!
