When Gran Turismo 7 launched, players and critics were impressed by the visuals, the driving physics, and the handling (especially on the PS5 with the capabilities of the DualSense). But it is with the regular updates that have graced the game since launch that has arguably made the title come into its own. The recent 1.29 update is one of the biggest yet; adding PS VR2 functionality, a new track, five new cars, and racing against the superhuman AI known as Gran Turismo Sophy.

It is this AI that is currently generating some intriguing feedback amongst GT7 players. Sophy was introduced about a year ago and came with some fanfare. A product of Sony's AI division and Polyphony Digital, Sophy has been featured in science journals such as Nature, and has been shown to be a seriously impressive driver, beating out top Gran Turismo esports competitors. And now, for a limited time, GT7 players everywhere can have a go at competing against the AI, and it's throwing up very interesting races.

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Over on the Gran Turismo subreddit, multiple posts regarding Sophy has been watched, studied, and commented on. The titles of these threads include, "Sophie is quite intense", to the self-effacing, "How I feel after 30 min playing 1v1 against Sophy..."; and the incredulous, "Sophie [sic] is insane; she drifts the same way each time to be efficient". One user was impressed with the aggressive and intense driving of Sophy but they also impressed others with their superb driving skills, managing to keep Sophy at bay (watch for yourself below).

Players have noticed that Sophy will attack relentlessly, can be highly aggressive, and uses certain maneuvres and racing lines that can be as educative as they can be frustrating to race against. This is not the first time that players have taken note of the latter point with esports competitors having remarked that Sophy can take racing lines very different to the ones they use.

GT Sophy could be a good tool for those looking to seriously improve their racing times, if we observe her driving, and on replays. "Seriously I can imagine this being excellent, with you being able to tune it so it's just faster than you, allowing you to learn where to be quick while adapting as you get quicker," one user remarked. It is intriguing to watch Sophy's braking times and the way she turns into corners, although it can be tough to emulate.

Some feel Sophy is simply too good and hope that the AI can have more adaptive difficulty in the future, one that scales to the player's performance. Now that would be another innovation. For those interested in the more technical side of how Sony developed Gran Turismo Sophy, and the AI advancements the company made, GTPlanet has a deep dive on the details here, while those looking to get even deeper there is also the full scientific paper here.

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