3-and-a-half Minutes with Polyphony Digital’s Kazunori Yamauchi

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Towards the end of E3, at the end of the next-to-last day, I got a call from SCEA San Diego colleague Scott Goryl. “Wanna talk to Kazunori?” he asked. Chris and I ran from the LA Convention Center to the hotel suite, where I was able to jump in at the end of a long day of interviews with the producer of the Gran Turismo series. How much time did I get? Enough to ask 4 questions.

Now I’ve been sitting on this interview for about a month because I wanted you to be able to get some questions answered as well. So now that you’ve seen the trailer and you know a few details (800+ cars!), what do you want to know about Gran Turismo PSP? The game’s US producers will reply in a future post.

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143 Comments

2 Author Replies

  • GT5:

    Real time Weather?
    How Extensive is the Car Damage and will it affect racing/will you have to pit?
    Will the online be improved over GT5P?
    Will you fill up the entire Blu Ray 50gb disc?

  • @51 the blog renders terrible on the ps3 here too :( Needs fixing.

  • Why did it take so long to bring us GT for PSP
    ?

  • Jeff I think you should send me an Uncharted 2 Shirt, it makes me sad every time I see it and I didn’t win that contest even though I answered within the first hour. *cries*

  • I’m wasting my time watching this, I WANT GRAN TURISMO 5 INFORMATION. We have enough of PSP Gran Turismo, even a release date, and yes I want it and will buy it. Now, moving on…let’s talk about a little about SONY’S BIGGEST FRANCHISE AND STILL ABSENT ON THE PS3 AFTER LOOOONG YEARS OF DEVELOPMENT!!

  • When will we hear of a GT5 release date?

  • 3 in one day,not bad, not bad at all.

  • Please Translator San reply this message i’m your #1 fan!!!

  • Thanks a lot!

  • Question about GT5.

    Will GT5 have XMB custom soundtracks?

    Will damage be for all cars or just race/rally cars?

    We know the Top gear test rack will make a appearance but will The Stig? :-)

    Hos the localization for the US and Europe release? Will GT5 be out Worldwide day and date like GTpsp?

    and will gt5/gtpsp have the Bugatti Veyron

  • I want this game already, just tell us when it is coming

  • Grand Turismo 5 Release Date please!!!

  • I bought my PS3…

    PLAYSTATION 3

    for Gran Turismo 5…

    Can we please have information on GRAN TURISMO 5.

    Not a PSP game.

  • lot of it has been said, but to reiterate the importance of these questions:

    GT5:
    – release year
    – car damage (we already know about it, how far does it go?)
    – online garage/trade cars
    – car customization
    – PSN support

    GTPSP:
    – expand upon successes and failures in bringing GT to the PSP
    – game was announced alongside original PSP-1000…what’s been happening since then?
    – GTPSP: enhanced version of GT1/GT2 or strong enough to stand on it’s own?
    – stat tracking
    – photo mode

  • sorry for the double post but….

    GTPSP:
    -Game Share (1 PSP for multi-PSP play)?

  • No doubt Gran Turismo will always be the greatest Racing game franchise of all time!!!

    Jeff can you ask them about if there some kind of connectivity between GT PSP and GT5?

    Thanks.

  • Top Gear shoutout! Nice work, Jeff.
    My favorite TV show ever.

  • GT5 is bigger than all games on x360 and wii combined

    GT PSP alone kills all other crap racers out there , not to even mention GT5

  • Kazunori Yamauchi himself , Great interview Jeff , 1 question is there going to be any sort of connectivity between GT PSP and GT5 ??? im getting both by the way lol , hope Motorstorm Arctic Edge doesnt get a released date close to GT PSP because it will suffer the same fate as Pacific Rift did with all the other big playstation franchises releasing close to it , didnt have the attention it deserved

  • this guy is a legend gt ftw. gt5 release date plz

  • Great interview with The Man, Yamauchi san. The world awaits Gran Turismo 5. I admire Polyphony Digital’s passion and dedication to their craft, as well as Sony’s patience for supporting truly good product vs. pumping out a game before they are ready. I have a feeling the launch of GT5 is going to be as big, if not bigger than the Metal Gear Solid 4 launch. I also have a feeling it’s going to be later this year or early 2010. In either case, we can’t wait!!!

  • Okay I have 2 questions.
    #1: It appears that the AI car count is 3 cars on track. Counting you there would be 4 cars in the race. Wouldn’t it have been better to drop the framerate of the game from 60 to 30 and increased the car count?
    #2 Easier one. Will there be a downloadable demo of Gran Turismo for the PSP

  • I have a lot to ask about GT PSP.

    But … when will GT5 come out?

  • I’ll find out all I need to know about GT PSP when I get it on October 1st.

    What I really want to know is when will GT5 be released?! Or at least tell us how far along the game’s development is.. like 70-80% or whatever. I really hope that game comes out by the end of this year, not just for the sake of GT fans all around the world but also for the sake of the PS3, coz if there is any game that can sell PS3s it’s GT.

  • Three and a half minutes? Three and a half minutes!?!? That didn’t answer anything!! I’ve been patiently waitin for 5 to come out. We’ve been left in the dark for sooo long. This wasn’t even a flashlight to get a glimpse. I hope yah actually get Polyphony to get in here to answer these questions.
    Ok. #1. Will there be any customization besides the old tuning the car? I know the hardcore doesn’t want this in GT, but this game is running out of fresh ideas and the competition is just steppin it up so fast. I would like to customize my racer’s outfit. Also, I don’t want my car lookin like the other guy. Cause our cars look the same, he makes my R34 look bad by losin. Don’t want no confusion. Also the competition lets you tune your car in more ways now. Thats something to look at. Cause yah know that most people just go and buy the most expensive parts for their car. Its like its a default thing to do. I don’t do that, but I’m gettin tired of tuning the same things. There’s soo much more to a car.

  • #2. Will the online portion of GT be more robust and deep compared to prologue? Customizable races with exact specifications is a must, and voice chat. Also they need to make the online part faster, for both videos and connectin to a race. Make it compelling and interactive. Instead of just leaderboards, Give us a way to interact and create rivalries. Hmm, racing clans sounds nice.

    #3. Will there be more tracks? I know WRC is in it and Daytona, so they will have tracks for those, but what I mean is more tracks for the normal cars or traditional GT cars. Not reversed tracks!

    #4. Will there be home support? Personal spaces, public spaces, gear, and lots of other goodies? Please don’t charge us. What happened to unlocking home stuff from the game itself??????? No one does this anymore?

  • We have many thoughts, comments and questions in the Gran Turismo Forum regarding GT Mobile and GT5. Does anyone from PD actually monitor what is posted there?

  • Why did it take GT4 Portable forever to finally release? Polyphony stretched too thin with the amount of different versions of the game they pump out?

    Also: Top Gear track soon, plz? I want to be a “star in a reasonably priced car.” :(

  • #5. Will there be more variety in cars to choose from? There has always been more japanese cars in each GT. My fav are the Japanese cars, but I need more competition to race against. More cars from all over the world will please everyone else. But, don’t make that stop you from puttin in loads more of Japanese cars :).

    #6. How bout askin Logitech to lower the price on the G25? Heh heh?

    #7. Better, more detailed interface for the offline 2 player races. GT4’s was horrible.

    #8. I loved the videos yah did for the track information in prologue. I miss, reading info and learning on all of the cars and the manufacturers. It was one of the best things in the older GT’s, for us car nuts. Will they give us something new to learn, love and see cars again?

    #9. Yamauchi san didn’t give a good answer, when you asked him what are they doin to make this better than the competitors. That was the same answer he always gives. That worked 10 years ago and everyone has stepped up their game by now. Make him answer that question again!

  • YES I see Translator-San’s Pen. Translator-San FTW :D

    Anyway Here’s my question for GT PSP

    -Will GT PSP have PS3 connectivity say with GT5 or GT5 prologue
    -Will GT5 psp be bundled with the PSP Go?

  • #10. It seems like Sony doesn’t have the F1 license anymore. When they were makin those games, how come yah never asked, “hey can we use the license too?”. Despite that, yah got the ferrari car, now we need the rest of F1 and its tracks. How does the FIA GT feel bout yah? Do they like yah? Do they hate Simbin? Maybe you should say bad things bout simbin.

    #11. Lookin at the E3 video, it looked like there will be damage. Is that right? If so, I think that you should have to pay for damages to be fixed. Not everyone will like this, but for online, it will teach a person to think twice before hittin us if they choose to join our room. So join a room that allows it. If we get to have rooms.

  • #12. Ok last one. Please help to make the seperation between noobs and the rest of us. Make the penalties more strict. Wheres the yellow flag with cautions? I know not everyone wants this, thats why there needs to be more customization. To keep everyone happy and within their own boundaries. They wanna hit, crash and cheat, thats fine, let them make a room specifically for just them. We wanna race an even, full rules race, let us make one for ourselves. This is a game that can appeal to everyone. But, everyone needs to be segregated in this game. Too many different tastes.

    I have alot more, but I’ll save it for later. Need to think. Thank you if yah read this and take it into consideration. Please just don’t say you will.

  • Oh yeah, all of my questions and suggestions were for GT5.

  • I just hope that GT5 comes out in 2009. For the fans sake and for Sony’s sake too. Releasing it 2010 is a mistake.

  • my idol.. more GT5 news please..

  • Oh wait one more question can we get Translator-San in the blog post. Or maybe an “Eye to Eye” Chat

  • YEA BABY, PSP GO!!!!!!!!!

  • I have a couple of questions for the US Producers:

    1) Could we expect any compatibility of Gran Turismo PSP with Gran Turismo 5 (like Resistance: Retribution with Resistance 2)?

    2) Is GT PSP going to have DLCs (such as new cars, tracks, etc..)?

    3) Will cars get damaged on GT PSP?

  • YEA BABY, PSP GO!!!!!!!!

  • Thank you for the interview, finally something GT releated on the blog, it has been a long time.

    As with others GT PSP is great (and I will buy it) but everyone is longing for some GT5 news, look forward to some :)

  • @83
    That’s why I don’t even play online, maybe the car damage will correct this

  • “Jeff Rubenstein replied on July 6, 2009 at 4:37 pm

    We’ll have the Producers on the blog looking at these questions and composing a new post with answers in the coming weeks.”

    All hail jeff!

  • What is the difference with Gran Turismo portable and Gran Turismo 5.

  • Unless they are going to announce GT5 they can goto hell

  • Will Gran Turismo and Gran Turismo 5 have any connectivity? Swapping cars? Tracks? Ect.

  • Would really like to know 4 things the next time you get a chance to talk to Polyphany Digital.

    1. Will the Cars in GT5 have car damage (i know we saw it hinted in the E3 trailer but would really like to hear it from them).
    2. Will we be able to fully customize the look of our cars? I mean more then just adding a different coat of paint.
    3. What is the expected release date for GT5? (i know you probably can’t ask this)
    4. What exactly with GT TV have to do with enhancing the GT experience?

  • Hey guys I’m here to tell you guys about granturismos releases. First gt5 will be released on october 1st 2009 in the us, the same day we receive our psp go’s and also for 2010 we will get gt5 full for ps3 on may 1st to the 3rd, on what I know. Something new is the sharing of cars between the both, you can get a car for the psp version and then transfer it to your ps3 game, that simple, which means there are over 800 cars in the psp version, so there has to be around the same amount For the ps3. So when I receive more info ill let you guys know so ill even add some pics of the game when I go to japan next month and check the data out for you guys. Later everyone…….. go granturismo the real driving simulator

  • Ah! I have the same shirt as Jeff! Got it last week!

    Also, lol, Translator Guy. Hehe. I love him.

  • That would be totally awesome if they had 32-player online multiplayer for Gran Turismo 5!!!

  • It’s great to see all of the GT fans popping in here, but remember there is an active GT forum waiting for you, too.

    Check it out in the Racing Section.

    Cheers,

    MasterGT

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