Kazunori Yamauchi

[scope72]

I have to admit, I looked at my computer screen for 5 minutes before I started typing. Sitting there, just wondering and questioning myself. Should I start this thread? What should I say?

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I was asking the wrong question. The better question is, "Why do I feel I should start this thread?" The answer to that question is pretty simple.

Reading through interviews and forums it seems as though there are many different opinions of the man. While most consider him a legend, some consider his approach "out dated". I've seen people interview him and walk away in awe of him and his professionalism. Yet you also see some people blame him often, and sometimes go as far as stating they will "fly to Japan to slap him".

While certainly, comments such as that are made in jest. It is important to remember that someone who considers him a "legend" probably would not go that far. Not only that, but they will be "put off" by those who complain about the series. They see the series and Kaz as legendary and are less likely to question decisions from Kaz/PD.

For a moment, I did consider posting the man's work and what GT has meant for cars/video games. And then posting the issues people are having with certain decisions. However, I think that is not necessary. Especially considering there are people on this forum who know more than what I would find on Wikipedia. And could iterate better than I could demonstrate in a "list of common complaints".

So, what do you guys think? What is your opinion of Kazunori Yamauchi? Please guys keep it clean and calm...

p.s. I want to give a (pre) "thank you" to all of you who reply in an intelligent and calm manner and ask for everyone to not respond to those who just want to "stir the pot".

 

[RAVELLRON]

This person is my idol, Japanese person are very gently and professional with other people, this for me is the same kind of person...
million interview could explain this, he is professional really and i love him for what he did in his life...

 

[Vince_Fiero]

Wikipedia: Kazunori Yamauchi (山内 一典, Yamauchi Kazunori, born August 5, 1967) is a Japanese game designer who is the CEO of Polyphony Digital and creator and producer of the Gran Turismo series.

Clearly a legend from the above.

That he has been leading the Gran Turismo series for more then 10 years, proves that despite all opinions that contest his statements, he is not managing that badly that Sony believes he needs to be replaced.

It is easy to think to be able to do better, but he is doing it and is very respected in the field he is working in.

 

[Micxster]

Is he legend? of course he is

If it weren't for him and Gran Turismo, the racing genre would not be the same today
Before Gran Turismo came out, there were no serious and mature racing games at all (on consoles at least, I don't know about PC)

He and Gran Turismo are responsible not only for making the sim racing genre popular on consoles but any racing games that isn't arcade

If you want to compare, I'd say he is just like the Playstation in the sense that before it came out, games were considered something that only little kids like to play.
Playstation made gaming popular, if it wasn't for Playstation, the gaming world would be a lot different than it is today.

 

[Ardius]

He's become highly respected in not only the games industry but also in the car industry and even a little in motorsport. In fact, I'd probably go as far to say he is more respected in the car industry than in games!
Creating the most popular racing game in the world is no trivial feat and its nice to see a thread appreciating what he has done so far in particular contrast to the other threads here continually complaining.

The only shame is that because of the immense focus on his words of late, he's getting a lot more criticism than he would normally be it for a bad translation or just getting his facts wrong. The "price of fame" and all that.

 

[happycorey]

As much as I'd like to loathe the man, I couldn't help but to only dream of meeting him, and shake his hand and bring him in for a bro hug

 

[TokyoDrift]

Gran Turismo pretty much single-handedly cemented my love for racing games, and I've stuck with the series since day one. For that reason, I guess he is a legend in that he pioneered something that many have since copied, but never bettered IMO. He has clearly influenced a lot of gamers, race drivers, and manufacturers alike, gaining huge respect in the process.

There is absolutely no doubting his professionalism, but there is also no doubting that his quest for perfection and resulting "scope creep" gets in the way of things. His quest for perfection also seems a bit inconsistent; lack of skid marks being one major omission, yet he is happy to ensure that dandelions blow about by the side of the track. That's just part of the problem when you are too focussed on perfection - things that are not perfect, or not there at all, stick out like a sore thumb.

At the end of the day, PD make Gran Turismo to make money. It's a business, and that is something I feel Kaz loses sight of at times. Yes, he does it for the love of it, you can see that, but only because he is making money from it. The old, "I'd do this even if I didn't get paid for it" mentality does not wash with me, because the only people who say that are those who have already made lots of money from what they do.

So yeah, Kaz should be proud of what he has achieved with the GT franchise, but he also needs to understand that he would not be where he is without his fans, and of late, there are a lot of angry fans around who are desperate for some information. When information does arrive, there is ambiguity around it. I know this isn't entirely down to Kaz, but he is the one steering the ship, and his fame and respect that preceed him only makes things worse when things go a bit sour as they are now.

 

[Predwolf]

I still have the OPM from waaay back in '97-98 when they interviewed Kaz before GT1 dropped. He was rockin' an Evo...IV(maybe a V) back then, and it was already breaking his bank.

 

[bullie77]

He is obviously a respected person for is role in the game industry, specially on the racing games sub-genre. Obviously asking if he is a genius and perfect in a GT forum would have the same results as asking if Mourinho is the best coach the whole world as ever seen in an Inter fan forum, or at Chelsea's fan forum when he was there...

I find rather amusing however that many do make of him THE idol. THE most important man alive.

Did he create the most well known and succesful racing game series ever? Absolutely! Is he a perfectionist? That'll depend...

The visuals of the GT series had always been, each at their specific time, top-of-the-art. Since perfection is utopic, you might say that he reached the best visuals possible under the system limitations.

But the series lacks in other aspects. GT5P online for instance is primitive, as poor and weak as you can think of. Some other aspects of the game are also far from the possible best.

So to answer to your question - Kazonuri Yamauchi is a game developer and a succesful one. I don't have data to say if he is the best ever, but I can tell you that he could do better. A lot.

 

[FDM73]

He's a hero.

1. All racing games on a gameconsol are clones of Gran Turismo, that's a big achievement, Kaz changed the racinggerne.
2. The love for cars is in all the GT games.

 

[RedBaron]

This man has my humble respect, because he fulfilled everz car nut's dream into massively sold game, in fact into game for which we are hungry like pack of wolves in the winter.

While he creates wonderful game in one aspect (car graphics, physics, ammount of content) he neglects the others (track graphics, AI, engine sounds) and let them to be three classes under those preferred aspects. I can understand that, in his mind these things just got lower priority. But if they solved that, there will be no place for competition to shine against GT. Every man has weak spots and deadlines are surely the ones for Kazunori.

 

[Kryz11]

Even tho he is a professionalist, he should hire more people to work on the game and hurry the heck up. No offense Kaz, but sometimes it takes you too long to make something.

 

[GT4Ever]

Yeah he is a legend, but he seems a little lost lately And he should learn to speak English.

 

[Shinu]

Well he is the man, who made his dreams come true .

From his interviews he seems down to earth kind of guy. Maybe that's why the development is so slow? (he goes easy on his employees?)

Every man has its ideals and even tho a may do some things differentially, I understand why he sacrifices some things for HIS perfection.

From my point of view he seems like a good friend and a good boss.
It would be my dream come true to work in PD 3D department.

And yes I think he is doing it not for the money and not for the fans, hes doing it mainly for himself. If that wouldn't be the case things would been done quite different.

I think they would be making a lot of money now from upscaled version of GT4 (GT4 HD) with a **** load of DLC (and after couple of years there would be better version of it, like we saw it with forza 2 and forza3 imho). When you think about it, majority of GT fans would buy anything that has GT on it.

Yeah he is a legend, but he seems a little lost lately And he should learn to speak English.

As I noticed. I think he understands english quite well, but hes too shy to speak (I know lots of people that are shy to speak other languages, they think that if they make an error, they are also making fun of themselves) because of his japanese accent.

I noticed that japanese are quite shy, even to write in english. Usually they explane in perfect english, that they completely don't understand it

 

[Ibonibo]

Very good thread
personnaly my opinion about Kaz is divided in two:

1. I like his professionalism and respect that in a great manner.This behavior maybe comes from beeing japanense and all the culture, but i love precise, calm working and reflective people. And Kaz is that.(as are german cars) Clearly he is a legend, else we woudn't start a thread about it. His work is incredible and he achived a lot. And he surly isn't as a cocky handcock like greenberg,... greenhole...?? (Fm guy), and respect that also that after all he achieved in this market doesn't let hang out the wangman

2. The negative aspects are coming from his postive points ' cause when you exagerrate positive things, they easily turn into something negative. Perfectionism is good indeed, but it needs to has it's boundries. Otherwise in your search for perfection you get lost and will never find it (Kaz said this about himself). Second negative aspect is that Kaz makes too much at times at once and thus leads to faulty behavior (Too much interviews where he contradicts himself, ...)

This shows that i have a huge respect for this guy, but also try to see the critical points and not blindly follow him everywhere he goes and crediting him for decisions i personnaly can rely on. I think what i see as negative are in fact consequences of the positive things and of too much work.

Kaz I hope you take sometime off after Gt hits the shelves. His family surly didn't saw him a lot in this last years.

 

[TokyoDrift]

Yeah he is a legend, but he seems a little lost lately And he should learn to speak English.

Maybe you should learn to speak Japanese?

 

[Dan_]

Well, I would call him "The sensei", because this represents what he's really for racing game fans, a master and teacher. He's a racing driver, he loves automobiles and all environment in a racing event, also, you can see the guy actually playing his own game, he shares the enthusiasm for motoring with us and always develop the game in a way that you can get some lessons about racing a real car when playing.

Also, as the nice and kind japanese people, he's modest and patient, that's the type of people you want to work with or to talk with.

One of the things that Gran Turismo taught me, was about winning, when you play GT, you'll learn that winning isn't the most important part of a game, it's about enjoying it. How many times you lost the Gran Turismo championship and started all over again, just to feel the thrill and adrenaline of a close competition, no matter if you lost at the end because you just had a lot of fun, and that's what makes the game so incredible. People usually don't understand this, so that's why the game is often called "difficult".

The TT was an example, I was playing with a pad, and my times didn't go over the 1.39 mark for the tuned car, which puts me under the 1000th competitor, however, I enjoyed lapping that thing and trying to learn how to find a better racing line, what was the best braking technique to apply to each corner and how the weight of the car shifts and how can you use it in your own benefit. The license tests and demos released to the public should feature a true driving school, where you find techniques to improve your driving and better understand the vision of the sensei.

By looking at all perspectives, you can consider his work as a beautiful monument, because he makes people takes motoring so seriously, that you actually can take lessons for driving and for the life, just by playing the game.

Keep up the good work sensei. 👍

I would want to have beer and a barbecue with him, he must be a nice guy.

 

[phosphor112]

I want to work with the man, but I don't speak Japanese. I'm not wanting to rely on Translator-san and his notepad.

That said, his recent policy of being tight-lipped about GT5 is getting to me. =/

 

[Shinu]

I want to work with the man, but I don't speak Japanese. I'm not wanting to rely on Translator-san and his notepad.

That said, his recent policy of being tight-lipped about GT5 is getting to me. =/

But if you think about it, it will be really fun to explore the game. Well unless you are overhyped about it, then you'll probably be disappointed.

It will be my first full GT on home console, and I'm positive about it. Lets just hope online department (i know there is separate team working on it) will do its job.

 

[FishforRent]

In my opinion, Kaz needs to use english. Please don't label me a 'typical' westerner, and that I don't understand the Japanese culture (maybe I don't, but that is not my point). Sony and PD are International Business Enterprises. Kaz is an International Business man, regardless of his country of origin, and the International language of Business is English. As talented a man as he appears to be, he should use english and stop hiding (yes I said hiding) behind this layer of translation. I think he knows english, but chooses not to use it. Perhaps he is insecure or his 'perfectionism' will not allow him to use it, but he must. In my opinion he is being dishonest with his market share and with his investors.

 

[Watevaman]

I think he goes a little too far sometimes and needs to learn that we won't kill him for a sacrifice if it helps us in the long run, but I also see him as a man full of passion for his work, which is something that seems to be waning in modern game devs.

I don't blame him solely for anything, though. Most of the stuff people blame him for are actually things that should be blamed on Sony themselves or other parties.

 

[eSZee]

In my opinion, Kaz needs to use english. Please don't label me a 'typical' westerner, and that I don't understand the Japanese culture (maybe I don't, but that is not my point). Sony and PD are International Business Enterprises. Kaz is an International Business man, regardless of his country of origin, and the International language of Business is English. As talented a man as he appears to be, he should use english and stop hiding (yes I said hiding) behind this layer of translation. I think he knows english, but chooses not to use it. Perhaps he is insecure or his 'perfectionism' will not allow him to use it, but he must. In my opinion he is being dishonest with his market share and with his investors.

That is quite something.
He's a Japanese game maker. Japanese is all he needs to know.

 

[Stonemonkey]

In my opinion, Kaz needs to use english. Please don't label me a 'typical' westerner, and that I don't understand the Japanese culture (maybe I don't, but that is not my point). Sony and PD are International Business Enterprises. Kaz is an International Business man, regardless of his country of origin, and the International language of Business is English. As talented a man as he appears to be, he should use english and stop hiding (yes I said hiding) behind this layer of translation. I think he knows english, but chooses not to use it. Perhaps he is insecure or his 'perfectionism' will not allow him to use it, but he must. In my opinion he is being dishonest with his market share and with his investors.

You have some issues.

 

[FishforRent]

That is quite something.
He's a Japanese game maker. Japanese is all he needs to know.

He is much more than a Japanese game maker. And Sony/PD is much more than a Japanese company. Of that, I think, we can agree.

Perhaps I came a bit strong with my opinion, however it is true that every International Company does business in english.

If Kaz continues to be the spokesmen by default or decision, he needs to communicate in english.

 

[spats]

I have the utmost respect for the guy. Not many industry people have the motivation to drive (no pun intended) their vision forward like he does.

 

[Jump_Ace]

People tend to prefer speed over quality because most developers want to make more money by shoveling out installments each year (not that its bad, mind you I love MW2). So I think 90% of the 'rude people' are just impatient and don't understand the wait and think 'good enough' is good enough. This contradicts KY's philosophy and, there in, can't please everyone.

KY has a solid rep just like Miyamoto at Nintendo. Plus, there are so many details that we don't and will never know behind the scenes, again I think 90% of the 'rude people' simply ignore or are just spoiled by getting their games released on time, I can't blame them for that, just their lack of ability to try and put themselves in KY's shoes.

Jerome

 

[daan]

If Kaz continues to be the spokesmen by default or decision, he needs to communicate in english.

If you want to know what he says, you learn Japanese but, I bet you, he still would not explain exactly what GT5 is going to be like.

Take the "20 locations, 70 tracks" thing. He said that ages ago and we still don't know what it means. Consider also that he said that in Japanese, and it will have been translated accurately, and it's still unclear what he meant. I think it would still be unclear no matter what language he said it in. He designed it to be unclear.

I think he's doing a great job by keeping us all talking about it, and wanting it. If he tells us exactly what 20 locations and 70 tracks meant, we'd be, "excellent, that's good"/"oh noes, we need more" and we'd move onto the next thing. How long ago did he say that? We're still talking about it and creating his own publicity for him.

 

[JAGUAR1977]

By all means PD and KY, continue with your aloof ways, continue ignoring the competion, continuing ignoring the obvious failings in each of your releases, the market will eventually tell you all you need to know.

Sony have already dropped behind Nintendo and MS on the console front, it would be arrogant to suggest GT couldn't 't also lose it's crown.

 

[chepe371]

He is an artist and visionary.
He took cars in games and games about cars and made them respectable and humble, in 1999 what other game offered you the chance to drive a 1983 RX7 on Laguna Seca?

He is the reason i understood what Understeer, Drivetrain and Apexes were.

His meticulous attention to absolutely everything about his GT world has made the entire racing\driving genre step their game up, these days largely due to GT nothing goes unnoticed, whether graphically or physically.

You cannot tell an artist to paint sad clowns because thats what the people want, they have to be passionate and totally behind the work they are putting out and can only hope the public will interpret it right.

I've played almost about every racing game there is out there on many platforms and i always go back to GT, always, its not the selection of cars or graphics or sound or physics its the entire experience that cant be matched in my eyes.

 

[Seismica]

The amount of games designers and games made and sold in Japan is quite amazing, they're a big gaming nation because of how advanced they are technologically.

Now, KY, under instruction from Sony had to create a game for a mass audience, outside Japan. That is a difficult thing to do for somebody who doesn't speak English and probably knew little of culture outside Japan (I know nothing of the guy, i'm just making assumptions here).

He has succeeded in that. But he still sticks to the Japanese way of doing things. From our point of view that would be;
-Taking time with games, perfecting them etc.
-Being secretive about their work. When it is ready, they will release it.
-Do it to their own criteria (i.e. the development is not consumer led, or rather was not before GT5)

Now thats the Japanese way of doing it. The American way would be like:
-Create as much hype as possible.
-Create the game to a set deadline. Release it when that deadline reaches, finished or not.
-Create what the customer wants. If needs be, copy ideas from other popular titles.
-Watch the money roll in. Take a look at ways you can improve the game, announce a sequel and then do the same thing again.

SCEA and SCEE and all customers from the US and EU are expecting the "Create as much hype as possible approach". What we are getting is a "Being secretive about their work approach". In these regions people simply don't have the patience and struggle to see it from the designers point of view. Sony also puts pressure on them, but I would imagine only SCEA and SCEE, not SCEJ.

I release most of this post came out of my arse. Thats hard, some of the words/letters are pointy.