This AI beat the world’s best Gran Turismo players

Enlarge / Sony AI has trained a new AI called GT Sophy to be extremely good at Gran Turismo. (credit: Clive Rose - Gran Turismo/Gran Turismo via Getty Images)

A team of researchers at Sony AI have used deep reinforcement learning to teach an artificial intelligence to play Gran Turismo at a world-class level. While previous experiments have taught AI how to drive very fast, this is the first time that one has learned to actually race. And to prove it, the AI beat some of the world's best GT players in head-to-head competition, as described in a new paper published in Nature this week.

Racing is not easy, and it involves more than just knowing how to drive a car really fast. Car control is obviously important, but so too are tactics, strategy, and the somewhat nebulous concept of etiquette.

Or, as the authors put it, "[a]utomobile racing is a domain that poses exactly these challenges; it requires real-time control of vehicles with complex, non-linear dynamics while operating within inches of opponents." Some drivers might have limited success through aggression and going for every overtaking opportunity they see. But knowing where to pass and when to wait for a better opportunity-so you don't get re-passed at the end of the next straight, for instance-is at least as important, as is knowing when to cede to a rival so you don't end up in the wall or a gravel trap.

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