GTPlanet

Unfortunately, most “journalists” who get the chance to interview Kazunori Yamauchi are largely clueless about the current state of the franchise. As a result, they ask the same questions to which the answers don’t really matter, delivered with the same rabid, impatient schoolboy mentality that seems to plague many people on the Internet these days. Needless to say, while this interview method can provide some sensational headlines, it does nothing to connect with the man or the company behind Gran Turismo. That’s what makes this interview with Xavier Ocampo, Japanese correspondent at MeriStation, so incredibly refreshing and insightful.

Xavier, who has a long history of friendship with Yamauchi-san, offers rare, personal impressions of his time at Polyphony Digital – all while providing us with much more information about the development status of Gran Turismo 5 than anyone who has gone before. Indeed, a quick skim of the article already revealed a “secret” GT5 trailer. The only problem, of course, is that MeriStation is a Spanish-language site, making Xavier’s full work inaccessible to many international GT fans unless they wanted to sift through an awkward machine translation. To help out, GTPlanet user Tenacious D smoothed out the rough edges, offering up the text in a much more accessible format. It’s long – 4,743 words, to be exact – but after reading it you’ll have a much better understanding of both and Gran Turismo 5 and Yamauchi-san. Thank you, Xavier, for this wonderful look inside Polyphony Digital.

You can start reading the translation below – I’ve highlighted the especially important parts in red.  For native Spanish speakers, of course, you can find the original version here.

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It’s always interesting to take a peek inside Polyphony Digital’s studios – a modern space packed full of computers, PS3’s, model cars, and Japanese toys. While we wait for the interviews from GamesBlog and GameSpot, take a look at some of the pictures from they’ve already started sharing. Be sure and watch for the iconic Ferrari 330 P4 getting its interior modeled, along with some interesting track-side elements, curiously blocky screens of Gran Turismo 5, and a talking George W. Bush figurine (?). What else can you find hiding in the background? Take a look at our full gallery of 111 images right here.

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Since Kazunori Yamauchi announced the Japanese release date on Thursday, the news has been met with a wide range of emotions, from elation, relief, to anger. The drama forming around Gran Turismo 5 is boiling over like never before, and all eyes will be on Yamauchi’s next interviews. Fortunately, we won’t have to wait long, as Polyphony Digital has welcomed several groups of journalists over to their studios for tours, taking questions along the way. One site, GameSpot, is taking a bold move by actually inviting their readers to recommendquestions for Yamauchi-san – you can take advantage of the opportunity by leaving a note in their comments right here.

GameSpot’s interview is expected to be published on Saturday (September 26), though other interviews will not be revealed until Monday. For now, here’s some of the latest pictures from inside Polyphony’s headquarters (don’t miss the Xbox 360 and a copy of NFS Pro Street) which are already making their way on to the web via GamesBlog. Keep checking back right here for analysis and evaluation of each interview as soon as they hit the wire. As always, thanks to everyone who let me know about these foreign interviews.

You might remember last year when Kazunori Yamauchi handed out the “Polyphony Digital Trophy” at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.  At the time, his selection of a Lamborghini raised eyebrows in our forums, and it did turn out to be a pleasant case of foreshadowing!  This year, the award goes to a 1965 Alfa Romeo TZ2 – the company’s “last purpose-built GT racer”, of which only 12 were produced.  Before you get too excited, though, we should mention that there is no indication this car will be included in any GT game. It would be great, however, to see Polyphony Digital Trophy recipients included, much like the annual winners of the SEMA Gran Turismo Award…

The Goodwood Festival of Speed is something that’s almost too good to be true – it’s the world’s largest gathering of the mostexotic, rare, and desirable cars you can imagine, and it takes place every summer in the beautiful English countryside.  Of course, it always attracts some of the biggest stars from motorsports, but Kazunori Yamauchi, GT Academy winner Lucas Ordonez, and the Citroen GT made this year’s show all the more special for GTPlanet members in attendance.

Yamauchi was particularly busy, spotted filming lots of material for what is assumed to be Gran Turismo TV.  He slipped behind the wheel of a 1966 Jaguar XJ13 – the only one ever produced, with an estimated value of $11 million (feel free to speculate about its inclusion in GT5).  He also sat down with F1 drivers David Coulthard and Mark Webber as “part of a documentary he’s making,” according to Red Bull Racing.  Lucas also got in on the action, hanging out with Yamauchi at the show and meeting current Formula 1 Championship points leader Jenson Button.  He also got the chance to drive the famous Goodwood Hillclimb himself, piloting a new Nissan 370Z.

A big thanks to RetroGlide for sharing these excellent pictures from the event with us!  Take a look at our full gallery after the jump for more…

UPDATE: Just added a new batch of photos TVR&Ferrari_Fan. Check out his full gallery on DeviantArt for even more!

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Now it’s time for something that’s strange, funny, and disturbing all at the same time!  In his weekly column for the Times Online, infamous Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has told a bizarre and hilarious tale on himself.  It all started when Clarkson’s wife purchased an offensive t-shirt for him, with a nasty word in big, bold letters on the front.  Of course, he couldn’t help but wear it to work for Top Gear rehearsals, providing lots of laughs until Kazunori Yamauchi and his team dropped in for a visit…

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Just when we thought this roller coaster ride was about to come to an end, we find there’s one more scary drop: Sony is reportedly telling everyone interviewing Kazunori Yamauchi “to not mention Gran Turismo 5“.  So…what does this mean?  Obviously, it’s not good – presuming that Gran Turismo 5 is announced at Sony’s big press conference tomorrow, why couldn’t he talk about it?  It may, ultimately, come down to Sony not wanting any GT5 announcements to dwarf GT Mobile and the new PSP Go hardware, in which case, we may be waiting several more months for news about the big game.

Of course, optimists in our forums have quickly called Sony out, speculating this may be some kind of trick – but it’s little more than gossip at this point.  GT Mobile overshadowing GT5 is just a tough pill to swallow.  Stay tuned…

Citroen continues to promote their popular Citroen GT with increasingly high-profile events.  Just last weekend, Polyphony Digital’s real-life concept car helped kick off the infamous 24 Hours of the Nurburgring, and was on public display during the entire event.  This is the first of several appearances for the car across Europe – coming up next, it will take part in the driver’s parade of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and will attend the UK’s Goodwood Festival of Speed in July.

It should also be noted that the Gran Turismo brand was featured prominently at the Nurburgring, on the windshield of each car.  Photos/videos of the Citroen GT on the Nordschleife have yet to pop up, though it’s only a matter of time…