Developers from Sony AI, Sony Interactive Entertainment and gaming studio Polyphony Digital have unveiled Gran Turismo Sophy, an artificial intelligence for car racing that can outrun the best players in the Gran Turismo racing simulation world. The researchers hope that their development will help improve the behavior of artificial intelligence in computer games.

Experts from three companies combined their knowledge from different fields to create an intelligent agent trained using a deep reinforcement learning platform. The groups took into account the fundamental methods of working with AI and the design of hyper-realistic racing simulators.

As a result, GT Sophy has mastered the following skills:

driving a racing car with a deep understanding of vehicle dynamics and race track design, which allows you to make precise maneuvers and overcome difficult sections;

the system is able to quickly make decisions and build race tactics. The GT Sophy has shown to be good at spotting the best moment to re-form, overtake and block opponents;

artificial intelligence respects the unspoken racing etiquette: it takes into account the trajectory of opponents, avoids collisions and does not block players without a chance to get out.

The developers used reinforcement learning (RL) for training - an AI agent interacted with the game world and received a reward or a penalty for his actions, which helped him build a strategy for future races. The researchers also used the Quantile-Regression Soft Actor-Critic (QR-SAC) system. The agent was provided with the rules of the race that he understood, which clearly regulated the norms of his behavior on the track.

GT Sophy has already been tested in real-world conditions during the Race Together 2021 Challenge, which took place in the summer and fall of 2021. The AI ​​competed against the best Gran Turismo drivers and beat them both in time trials and in the FIA-certified racing format. “I even forgot that I was playing against artificial intelligence. It was very funny. In the future, I would like to race more with an AI agent,” said FIA Gran Turismo Championships 2020 champion Takuma Miyazono.

Researchers plan to continue to explore the possibilities of AI and how to integrate them into game projects. The developers also believe that GT Sophy can be useful for improving autopilots in real vehicles.

bbabo.Net