A Chat with Kazunori Yamauchi, Creator of Gran Turismo

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With a November 2nd release date now on the horizon for Gran Turismo 5, our dashing European counterpart James Gallagher sat down with Polyphony Digital‘s Kazunori Yamauchi yesterday.

Take it away, James!

While the new Gran Turismo 5 trailer at the SCEA E3 press conference was still fresh in the mind, a select few journalists were invited to a behind closed doors presentation from the father of GT, Kazunori Yamauchi, at the Los Angeles Conference Centre.

Yamauchisan 1

We were shown the Lounge feature, which gives every player a dedicated area to host their car collection and results, and the online lobbies where you and a group of friends can race, perform test laps, chat and watch other people driving. The floor then opened for questions with my favourite being when someone asked if Kazunori had visited every location used in the game.

“I have to be moved by something in one of my games so I have visited every location used in the game, either personally or for work” he replied.

When the room was clear he sat down with just me to answer a few more questions, starting with what he was trying to put across with the new trailer.

“I think first and foremost it’s the quality of the visuals and that cool style that Gran Turismo is known for. There was also a part showing some of work we have been doing with the Red Bull racing team. We wanted to show people that we are communicating with the real [racing] world on a lot of different things.”

I then asked how much community feedback had shaped the game’s development.

“The Gran Turismo community gives us a great deal of courage and we have already had a lot of positive feedback from them on our new trailer. That gives our staff the drive to keep getting better.

The playable build here at E3 is designed to show people as many of the game’s features as possible in a short space of time. It’s made so that you can see the tracks, the new physics and some of the new visual effects that we’ve been working hard on. The tracks include Rome, Madrid and the Top Gear Test Track, which many of our fans have been asking for.”

We then moved onto stereoscopic 3D, which Gran Turismo 5 will support, it was announced on Tuesday. I wanted to know at which point in the game’s development he had decided to include the feature.

“The 3D feature was almost complete two years ago, actually. We could see that it was in that natural flow of technology and where things were heading. Discussions with Sony regarding 3D technology began more than three years ago. More recently we have spoken with Evolution Studios, who have put a lot of work into stereoscopic 3D, about things like video formats.

Because Gran Turismo 5 is built to run at 60 frames per second it was easy for us to implement 3D. It’s quite difficult to convert a game that runs at 30 frames per second to 3D.”

There ended our short conversation and we parted ways. As always when I meet Kazunori, I left wondering which car he drove back to the hotel.

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91 Comments

1 Author Reply

  • @47 jhd_1, it’s also Election Day, when many rotten people will finally have to go find real jobs.

    It will be a GOOD day, all in all!

  • How did the hacks at IGN give Need 4 Speed the best racing game title at E3?? Are they crazy?

  • Good to hear from kaz again. :D

  • Seriously, this thing with leaving out the interiors is a deal-breaker for me.. I’ll just keep playing GT5P which at least has interiors for all the cars. And of course NFS shift which has customizeable interiors, and DiRT2 which has interiors that are also customizeable (sorta). For that matter, Ferrari Challenge has decent interiors which is of course, way better than none.

    I am just totally stunned by this, if in fact there are no interiors as is looking to be the case. I didn’t want NASCAR, I don’t want MOVE, and I don’t want 3D. You know what I did want? INTERIORS!

  • @38 MastrGT, I do acknowledge and appreciate the amount of time and effort you and others put into the PS forums about GT, but it’s not exactly a full and unbiased information source.

    We’re not allowed even to type, much less discuss, the “Box-word” and the “F-word” (and here I mean the products, not obscenities, of course), draw comparisons and provide competitive feature analysis.

    Additionally, everything is lumped into one GT section under “Racing”, so we’re always faced with the endless list of race organizing, discussion of obsolete versions, PSP version and other things I don’t care about. All this and more sort of burned me out on the PS forum quite some time ago, although I scan it now and then.

    You have done a heck of a job with it, though; where you find the time is a mystery to me.

    Cheers!

  • I see alot of fast ppl here, hello FatLeadFoot, MastrGT, we got a dae, see if it holds true.

  • You guys… these devs worked so hard to create something like this as close to perfection as possible, and all you guys do is complain? Honestly

  • Wha? 80% of the cars with no interiors? You call that ‘close to perfection’? No. Not even close.

    I get it now, they have dumped the cars from GT5-PSP in there (800 cars sounded familiar).

  • @shark301

    hey dude if you want to complain about the interiors, dont buy the game and go get another game that gives you 1000+ cars, awesome graphics, realistic physics. And while your at it let me know what game that is…..its ok i’ll wait.

  • never been a big fan of the GT series, but after reading about GT5 & seeing some E3 vids I going to get it now, especially after seeing the collectors edition

  • oh and one more thing if you want interiors on all cars you better be willing to wait some more years. You have no idea what PD goes through on a daily basis. Geeze some people are just dumb and inconsiderate.

  • lol the top gear track is on there?

    now i can finally have a reason to justify dressing up like The Stig and sitting around my living room.

  • @ THE_SILENCE

    I apologize if I come across as inconsiderate, this is not my intent. I do empathize with hard-working developers.

    But 80% of cars having no interior view? Really? I can’t say I don’t like that? That’s how I race. It’s the view I use. I don’t like the other views. I understand and agree that 200 full cars is awesome, and I’ll most likely buy GT5 anyway but I am very unhappy about this.

  • OK, wondering about something here.

    On the offical GT web page, updated on 6/16/2010, it clearly states “20 environments with over 70 layouts.” In an earlier reply to a comment, Jeff Rubenstein says “40 tracks with over 100 layouts”.

    Which is it? Did the website update a couple of days ago miscount the number of tracks by one-half? Are “environments” and “tracks” not the same? What’s an environment, what’s a track, and what’s a layout? A little clarification on that would be appreciated.

  • @ scrutinizer

    40 and 100 dude

  • @63

    Layouts means different ways to run each of those tracks, i’m assuming that 80 of them (if there are actually 40 tracks) are the track in one direction and then reversed. and then some other ways to account for the next 20, like how some tracks in GT5:Prologue had a F1 and GT version. So basically the same general track with slight alterations, to change difficulty. As for environments, that could just be the different way of saying track (you know, the “this game is my masterpiece” way) or it could mean different environmental conditions, not really sure on that one.

    and with how the information has been coming along on this game i really wouldn’t be surprised if they shortchanged their game by half the tracks just for a bigger E3 announcement. But still maybe i’m crazy, i guess we’ll have to wait and see for more official info.

  • Have they reached 1000 cars yet?

  • @ Scrutinizer

    “A little clarification on that would be appreciated.”

    There are a number of things that still need clarifying.
    PD said to keep listening over the next few months.

  • @ JimInPT

    Thanks!

    The GT forum is no more biased than any other GT site, probably less, and every site has its own restrictions, but it is the official GT forum for North America, too, and that’s one reason why I support it. Another reason is the great members.

    The more interested fans, such as yourself, that participate in creating GT documentation, keeping the facts straight and participating in our racing, the better it will become, too.

    Please, GT fans, come and visit _your_ GT forum here.

  • Logitech G25 wheel or bust. You guys are missing out if you’ve never tried one. Can’t wait to get mine out of storage.

  • Jeff Rubenstein | June 18th, 2010 at 9:56 am
    More than 40 tracks with over 100 layouts (including all versions of Nurburgring – which nobody’s ever done before). That enough for you? :)

    40 tracks? i thought GT5 had 80 tracks WTF

  • I heard that only 200 cars will have cockpit view… Can some PLEASE tell me that I’ve heard it wrong! :O

  • this trailer made me trade in my 360 and give up on forza lol….

  • All I wana know is, are all the NASCAR tracks gonna be available, is theyre gonna be a point system… Will I be able to chase for the Sprint Cup..

  • Can standard cars do rollover?

  • @76 Ultemo, post-E3 reporting has said that yes, all cars can do rollover but only the premium cars have detailed underbodies, so standard cars may look “blacked out” or very plain underneath.

    As time passes, it would seem logical for PD to update car models via DLC to upgrade “standard” to “premium” perhaps at an extra cost – that builds the high-def library in preparation for GT6 and the PS4.

    And don’t be surprised if rollover is locked out in some race circumstances; this might be a user-settable option when setting up private races. (Just speculation on my part.)

  • I have a simple Question for KAZ and polyphony digital…

    Are there “Interior view” (with steering and respective dashboard) in all cars or just the premium cars?

    Can some one please please please answer this……

    BTW I m a veteran gt fan….as i am sure there are more with the same question

    Thanks

  • LOL this is too funny. The big letdown is already shaping months before what is probably yet another fictitional release date. The handful of fanboys will be camped out yet again on a cold fall night hoping it finally appears. 5 years of development and a handful of tracks and some 200 of the 1000 cars being “new” and fully detailed the novelty will wear off very quickly. At least give prologue owners a discount or trade allowance on this if it does manage to come out so they wont feel so completely ripped off…….again.

  • GT5.. the biggest misinformation plan ever implemented by a company.. way to go PD… keep your fans guessing.. :/

  • gt5 lookes cool
    but they need to make racing games like need for speed
    they r fun when cops chase you and cool off the track

  • all i have to ask is how many gigs is this going to take up on the ps3 to install??? is it like 5 gigs like gran turismo prologue? or is it going to be something much bigger and longer to install?? someone please answer this.

  • @FatLeadFoot. a little condecending but thats expected. Regardless, thank you for the phone #. btw #40 was MastrGT, I was 42

  • Hey, Rubie (if I can Call you that), Three questions for ya:

    1. WTF is up with the whole “standard-/+Interior View” bullcrap that you guys have given us? That whole situation is the reason why I’ve stayed away for the GTPlanet.net forums. I have one question to ask you, though; I’ve never really gotten the allure of Gran Turismo replays until GT5, so I have to ask you this question; Will all cars have cockpit view (as I call it) during replays?

    2. do you guys know at this point what your plans are for DLC at this point? because I would love it to death if you guys brought back some of the great track from GT’s past like Red Rock Valley, SSR11 (both Versions), old school Rome and Seattle (Both Long and short), Grindelwald, Pikes Peak, Tahiti Road, Maze, Dirt Route 3, & Dirt Circuit, Green Forest, Complex String, Special Stage Route 5 Wet, Super Speedway, Smokey Mountain North, South and GT3 version, and Rome Night

    3. Will GT5 Have Both Player and Sony/PD created Online Tournaments? Because it would be really sweet if it did!

    Thanks!

  • luftproject_1946

    Mister Kazunori Yamauchi

    You can add in the numbered collector’s edition or Gran Turismo 5

    As in Gran Turismo 3 Has – spec

    He(It) has am going to add him(it) the report(relationship) weight / couple there

    And you can classify color of the mark(brand) of the model of the same year

    Why by what that helps to buy the good color which differentiates 3 kilooctet

    On the same photo the courleur lowers(dims) the size(cutting) of 3 kilooctet

    Made donque that réve devien to re-confine to bed in the gran turismo 5!
    Or can be 2012 for Gran Turismo 6 prologue and
    Gran Turismo 6

  • Oh, Forgot one thing;

    Will There be 16 car grid lineups in both Arcade and GT/Career Mode? Because all the videos I’ve seen so far has only up to 10.

    Thanks!

  • nice i cant wait for this game

  • I just have one question that cant seem to get a straight forward answer, so here it goes, of the 800 standard vehicles in the game, can we drive in the interior view, IE: seeing the dashboard, steering wheel, vents, stereo etc.?

  • @Raddius:

    I did ask that question eariler but my main concern is can we see it in replays? The reason why is because, like I said before, I never really cared about the replays in GT because you can’t see inside the cockpit, which is the reason why I was really excited about GT5, until now.

  • will there be GT TV? i never actually understood it.

  • what lvl are yall in mw2???

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