Kazunori Wanted “Another 2 Years” for GT5 Development
This interview conducted with Kazunori Yamauchi shortly after the release of Gran Turismo 5 has been flying under the radar since it was published back in February. It was just recently brought to my attention and, though there’s obviously no bombshells, it provides a few interesting details worth highlighting here:
- The FIA GT and DTM racing series were both planned for GT5, but eventually had to be taken out.
- When asked if GT5 is so big that it will be released in “stages”, Kazunori responded “The effect of complexity and size to the development time is very big. Practically speaking I would have wanted another two years of development time.”
- One frequent criticism of many GT games – including GT5 – is the large number of Japanese cars with slight variations in trim (the various GT-Rs, Mitsubishi Evos, Miatas, etc. all come to mind). This is one of the first interviews which Kazunori has acknowledged the criticism, saying “…it’s true that there is a lot of variations depending on the model, and that’s probably because we’ve been affected strongly by the automotive culture in Japan from the 1990′s. [...] Back then there was meaning to each of the fine differences, and the selection of which model variation to drive was important to a user. Looking at it now I also think that there’s too many.”
- Kazunori also confirmed the PlayStation 3′s lack of memory was “a serious concern” during the development of GT5, saying that “we just have to do our best” to get what performance they can out of the hardware.
- He also re-confirmed that “We [Polyphony Digital] are still continuing to work on creating premium models and new tracks, but whether it will be DLC or will become something like GT6, hasn’t been decided yet.” (Keep in mind this interview was conducted last year.)
The full interview is available in the PlayStation Chronicle, an online magazine assembled by PlayStation Forum community members in cooperation with SCEA. It’s available for free on Issuu – you’ll find Kazunori’s interview on pages 15-17. Thanks, Tesla, for the tip!
You should follow GTPlanet on Facebook, and on Twitter @GTPlanetNews. You can also get GTPlanet's news by full-text RSS feed, or delivered via email, straight to your inbox every day.
Newest comments are displayed first.
-
-
April 21st, 2011 at 3:37 pm - #Sexy Tony
Sony decided GT5 had to be released no one else…and after the money PD took to make the game who could blame them?
-
April 22nd, 2011 at 3:58 am - #Just cause
What other choice did they have? There was people cancelling preorders really fast after the last delay. They were losing sales and it was getting worse the longer the game got delayed.
-
-
April 21st, 2011 at 12:11 pm - #Zuel
Leaving out FIA GT and DTM was a costly mistake. With both Motor Sport Bodies coming to the United States, ( DTM 2013, FIA GT 2014 )it would have helped build a lager fan base in the states currently now. There are only a few cars than representing these Motor Sport Bodies. Hopefully we’ll see updates soon for this. I looking forward to the Endurance saves.
-
April 21st, 2011 at 12:29 pm - #AnPrionsaBeag
Not just that: not a single group B car is a premium. They have a WRC licence but all the good tracks and races GT4 had were scrapped. Kaz is going in so many directions at the same time Gran Turismo is heading nowhere at all. B-Spec should be sold as a different game altogether or added as DLC: that would free a lot of space for a much better A-Spec experience. Not to mention museum cards and horns… And now he’s talking about some sort of C-Spec? I want Gran Turismo back!
-
April 21st, 2011 at 3:19 pm - #Skiddy
@ AnPrionsaBeag
What do you think how much space does B-spec take up on the Blue ray disc? Or Horns or Museum cards? I’ll tell you a little secret- not that much.. -
April 21st, 2011 at 11:25 pm - #AnPrionsaBeag
I’ll tell you another: not that much is already too much. Is B-Spec what the vast majority of GT fans bought GT5 for? I seriously doubt it. And how long do you think it took PD to develop Bob’s GT5? Way too long, if you can afford one last little secret. Play B-Spec and collect museum cards all you want, I don’t know anyone who actually enjoys it: they all do it for cash and prize cars. Who buys a console for the sheer fun of watching dumb AI pilots crash into walls?
-
April 22nd, 2011 at 10:15 pm - #stoney71
Well said, AnPrionsaBeag ! !
-
-
April 21st, 2011 at 11:59 am - #praggia
GT5 is a joke. And this article just proves it. It is not the finished product and a further two years? Its already taken 3 years longer than it should have taken. And as for Sony pushing for a release?? well Sony is a business and at the end of the day this proves that the bottom line is more important than the consumer no matter what they say…..
-
April 21st, 2011 at 12:32 pm - #AnPrionsaBeag
Take GT5′s physics and graphics and all the rest from S2U and you’ve got the perfect racing game! It pains me to admit it but for the first time in my life, a GT title got me bored…
-
April 21st, 2011 at 1:19 pm - #Just cause
GT5 isnt the joke. The joke is the impatient babies that couldnt wait for the game.
-
April 22nd, 2011 at 10:13 pm - #stoney71
The real joke is Kaz and PD and their unrealistic development time frame. You can’t expect Sony or the fans to wait 10 years before they release the next version of GT. It shouldn’t take that long to make a game. If they need a bigger team, then they should hire more people or fix whatever the problem may be.
-
-
April 21st, 2011 at 11:32 am - #MitsuStigi
*cough* Feature creep! */cough*
-
April 21st, 2011 at 11:08 am - #picoltrey
GT5: Mimesis of PS3 in suspended development
GT6: Mimesis of GTP for a suspected decade
-
April 21st, 2011 at 10:57 am - #Normalaatsra
This could’ve been combatted if PD expands their workforce by offering 2x their population of devs.
Such shame my favourite company (Sony) had to push them. They could’ve expanded PD. After all, they own it (I think).If I were in his situation, I could’ve suffered gland problems from all this stress. Amazing how he manages to stay strong.
-
April 21st, 2011 at 9:43 am - #Nerf22
Like most artist, they never seem to be satisfied with their finished result. The thought of “it could be better…” tends to replay over and over in their head. Kaz was [seemingly] looking to make the end-all racing game. I admire his ambitions and drive, but the reality of it is for now, it’s a dream. But man, when…not “if” that becomes reality…
-
April 21st, 2011 at 8:05 am - #TurboProp
It is really ashamed that Kaz didn’t have another two years. He could have probably added another track or two, more horns, museum cards and 400-500 STANDARD Nissans and Mazdas. Maybe some Japanese bicycles and some rickshaws…
-
April 21st, 2011 at 12:41 pm - #infamousDee
It’s hilarious that some people still don’t understand what standard cars are. They’re models from GT4 and GTPSP; no new standard cars have been or will be created for GT5.
-
-
April 21st, 2011 at 6:24 am - #Cornelyus
Why everyone talk about GT6, GT5 doesn’t have a year!! thats reveal the type of game is, i like a lot, but talking right now about the next inhiteration shows the shortcomings.
-
April 21st, 2011 at 5:13 am - #SA
No more Standard car please ! It is god damn awful !
-
April 20th, 2011 at 11:04 pm - #Ryan
Whiners of the Gran Turismo Community, Before & After:
Before: “OMFG they need to just release the game already! I’m sick of waiting! If it doesn’t come out soon, I’m not going to buy it! They need to release it NOW.”
After: “WTF?! Why would they release an incomplete game like this?”
-
April 21st, 2011 at 5:05 am - #Imari
I seem to remember comments from Kaz in 2009 to the effect of “we can release the game whenever we want”. When someone in Kaz says that, it’s fairly natural to assume that he’s talking about a finished product, not just whatever they’ve managed to hack together so far. Otherwise, everyone would be ready to release whenever they wanted.
Given that, the “whiners” as you call them decided that they’d rather have a game with limited features rather than wait for extra stuff. DTM and FIA would be a good example of that.
What we didn’t expect, was that Kaz was actually lying when he said they were ready to release any time. They weren’t ready to release a year later when they finally got around to it.
So you can see why those comments were made at the time. Kaz provided false information. Had people known it still wasn’t ready, it would have been hard to justify pushing for an incomplete game to be released. I’m not sure anyone in their right mind would do that, because it would be pointless.
-
April 21st, 2011 at 6:28 am - #Cornelyus
After GT4 what you espect? this GT5 or THE GT5?
Just answer that. -
April 21st, 2011 at 4:30 pm - #MoLieG
“we can release the game whenever we want”… thats what he said… he was lying…
-
April 21st, 2011 at 10:47 pm - #Ryan
I’m not talking about the built up expectations that the game was ready. I’m talking about the people who cried that the game was taking too long and threatened to abandon the series if the game got pushed back any more. Which I knew many people who weren’t going to wait much longer without cancelling their pre-order.
Whether or not the game took too long to make aside, I’m merely pointing out the irony of spending so much energy complaining about PD taking a long time with the game, and then later complaining that they should have taken more time and finished it before release.
This comment had nothing to do with Kaz’s comments regarding the game coming out whenever they wanted. Long story short: I was saying that people will whine if you take too long, and people will whine if you don’t take enough time. The folks on the internet who like to whine are never happy.
-
-
April 20th, 2011 at 10:32 pm - #Colonelcool
I would have waited for premium DTM and GT cars, but those are the sorts of things you say as you’re telling us you need a delay. If you say, we need a delay to put the DTM in the game, I’m cool with it. But just saying, out of the blue, GT5 will now come six months later, is lame.
-
April 20th, 2011 at 6:55 pm - #DawgCCCP
All I have to say is that the SONY is the reason we all are bragging about the “how bad actually GT5 is then we expected”. The only thing Sony cared about is the money, they needed the GT5 to make a new bundel of PS3 with a great gaming title to crank the sales and get more money.
Problem of Kaz, as what I learned doing my course of game design in a year, Limits are quite important. He forgot about them. I really would be glad if GT5 was the GT4 reworked with some new high end modeled models and new engine.
Time is not an excuse for not getting more then 200 models ready for the game! Since there are always a modeling team and team of programmers. At least thats what I learned from a teacher that gave me 3D lessons. You will have a team doing enviroment, a team doing cars, a team doing graphical parts of game such as menu and all u see when you are not racing. And then there is a team of programmers that is working on the engine, others on how the menu will work etc. So I think the people doing car models were slacking and thats the reason Kaz did not want to release the game yet, and get few more years to get a better optimized end product to all of us.But I am still happy that game is out, I do enjoy it although I still haven’t played it with the wheel, since I don’t had the money for it yet, and now I do, I will get that freaking T500rs and enjoy GT5 even more!
I think DLC’s are a bad idea he should go with free patches as he is doing now, but more like, this is how GT5 should be, and we are making it complete now! Or just get a DLC for all, for a small price, that include like 100 “new” premium cars and few tracks, I would pay for it!
my $0.02
-
April 20th, 2011 at 6:05 pm - #ubergill
IMO, all the game needs is the online mode re-worked and new tracks and cars introduced periodically – that would do me just fine!
-
April 21st, 2011 at 2:42 am - #mobiletone
i can’t see why they dropped the match making online mode of Prologue… that worked, now you haven’t a clue who’s driving what when you enter a lobby.
-
April 21st, 2011 at 2:45 am - #mobiletone
one of the best laughs i’ve had in GT5 so far is getting half a dozen people together with tuned Volvo 240 Estates racing 20 laps of the ‘ring GP track.
-
-
April 20th, 2011 at 3:52 pm - #Gturob5
Yeah !!!
DLC:
100 cars premium every months! =] -
April 20th, 2011 at 3:07 pm - #JasonMann
man, if they did get 2 years they’d make a hell of a game, but who wants to wait that long for a game? I could make an entire kit car in that time!
-
April 20th, 2011 at 2:08 pm - #BWX
The problem with GT5 is not the amount of content, it is the lack of game play and depth of gameplay. GT4 had 522 A-Spec races, it was a great game but crappy resolution, even in “HD” it had no antialiasing. The physics were ok, but not great. Stupid Kaz/PD spend 5 years making INSANELY detailed premium car models, 3D TV compatibility, STUPID RETARDED B-SPEC Driver AI.. but not enough tracks.. Then they make A-Spec F’ing TINY with 127 races compared to 522 in GT4. 2 more years? WTFPD? You could give us a more in depth A-Spec right now. You would have waited 2 years for what? 50 more premiums, 8,000 more teaser vids and 2 more tracks? You made GT5 FOUR TIMES SMALLER/SHORTER than GT4 and you need 2 more years? You’e FIRED old man. WTFPD WTFKAZ Expand A-Spec 4 times, or STFU about time limits. Copy GT4 events over to GT5, done. Give us endurance race save points and 3 setup save files per car, per track, Done. No, we get 3DTV and retarded B-SPEC Drivers. Thank you Kaz, you fading old man.
-
April 20th, 2011 at 2:20 pm - #mobiletone
you forgot to add, change to a b-spec driver during a-spec endurance pit stops. a-la GT4. damn i miss that very useful feature.
GT5 is all looks and no substance. GT4 was tougher by a mile.
-
April 20th, 2011 at 8:16 pm - #BWX
Mobiletone.. yeah there are a lot of things like that.. Some big, some small.
-
-
April 20th, 2011 at 12:38 pm - #GeekCred
I think the interview offers some confirmation that the man is clearly stuck in the past: Inordinately long dev cycles, walled garden development with no interaction with other studios or the community that supports them, and obsessive detail into things that simply don’t matter to anyone, like mileage, washing cars, a museum, and oil changes.
I’m sure if he could get away with it, he would want a decade long dev cycle.
The future is in iterative and agile development, keeping engaged with the end user and dev communities, and a sharp focus on the overall gaming experience.
It’s sad to see the franchise sink deeper into irrelevance while other franchises evolve, and inevitably pass them by.
-
April 20th, 2011 at 12:37 pm - #AnPrionsaBeag
Think of those who can’t afford an internet connection or just live out of the network. It’s a friend of mine’s case. You wouldn’t think of buying a half-finished car: why would you a game?
-
April 20th, 2011 at 11:32 am - #CDJW
Even though there are frustrating aspects to GT5 and it shouldn’t have taken as long as it did I can totally see where he’s coming from. People scream about GT5′s unfinished feel but they would have complained even more if there was another 2 year delay. Really puts the developers in a tough spot. I actually like the idea of releasing a game gradually, patching it and adding more as it’s created. This way people can enjoy what has been done sooner and the developers don’t have this pressure to have some sort of finality to the release. I think it would be great if GT5 was it for the PS3 rather than always worrying about the “next game” but it could be constantly renewed and updated as an ongoing project that we could pay for as it was available. Hopefully we’ll see more updates and paid dlc in the form of cars, tracks, events etc. Either way GT will always be a fun experience despite any drawbacks.
GTPlanet on Google+
They had to bring out GT5 unfinished because the impatient children couldnt wait and the bigger cry babies were cancelling their preorders. I can immagine those with no patience will start complaining GT6 isnt out yet soon.