Gran Turismo 7: What is GT Sophy?

gamerant.com:

Since its release nearly 12 months ago on PS4 and PS5, Gran Turismo 7 has made headlines for both good and bad reasons. Even though Polyphony Digital’s racer earned praise from critics before it launched, fan backlash dominated its opening months due to how the studio initially implemented microtransactions. However, following several patches, free car additions, and Esports events, the situation has improved significantly.

Now that Gran Turismo 7’s teething problems have been largely solved, Polyphony has turned its attention to implementing new features. In addition to adding PS VR2 support, several new cars, and the returning Grand Valley racetrack, GT7's 1.29 update also features the arrival of GT Sophy to the game. While the aforementioned additions will likely soak up a lot of attention, fans should be keeping an eye on the latter and what it means for the series going forward.

The PS5 Cleared the Path for a Successful PS VR2 Launch

Designed in collaboration between Polyphony Digital, Sony Interactive Entertainment, and Sony’s Artificial Intelligence division, GT Sophy represents the next stage of video game AI. When the technology was publicly announced during the run-up to Gran Turismo 7‘s release last year, the trio promised that Sophy would revolutionize what was possible for an AI to achieve within a game. Thanks to its ability to learn and adapt to the player while racing, it’s easy to see where the trio’s bullish attitude came from.

Having been tested behind the scenes against some of the world’s best Esports racers in Gran Turismo: Sport since 2021, GT Sophy has already learned a lot. On Sony’s website, the partners involved point out that Sophy’s ‘Novel Reinforcement Learning’ ability means it can already