The Secret History of Gran Turismo’s Most Obscure Tuning Shop

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This is the discussion thread for an article on GTPlanet:

The Secret History of Gran Turismo’s Most Obscure Tuning Shop​

If you spent any time in older Gran Turismo games, you may have noticed a small, relatively obscure name among the roster of Japanese tuning houses called Opera Performance. What you probably didn’t realize is that Opera Performance and Polyphony Digital share a connection that goes far deeper than a simple licensing deal...
 
It's somewhat crazy how much sway Gran Turismo has on the way these things are percieved. I was always under the impression Opera was a much bigger operation than it actually is/was, just because it had such a strong prescense in those early games.

I always wonder if PD are aware of that. They've had an unbelievable impact on car culture but I feel like they've never truly capitalised on the fact they open so many people's minds to things they'd otherwise not know about.

JGTC/Super GT is an obvious example of that. I don't think that would have a modicrum of the international popularity it does if not for GT, but I've never felt like that's something that was cared about past 2010.
 
“When a commenter on Instagram pointed out the visual similarity between the two logos, Yamamoto confirmed it was intentional, part of expressing what he called “a unified philosophy and identity”.

That was me lol
I deeply admire Opera Performance
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Thank You Jordan for bringing this up !

Was a tiny bird on the inside tipped you of this topic ? Why suddenly the article about it ? (Other than what has appeared on social media)

Is there any intention to have this brand brought back into GT7 or the next title at some point ?
20th anniversary celebration this year ? June Update ?

Is this a subtle way to remind the community, and so not to panic anyone if it were to "suddenly" appear as a "brand new" brAnd ?!

Controlled narrative?

If Opera were to come back, would it be any or all of the cars that were in previous titles or brand new car ? Or both ?!

Have you talked to Kaz about it ? I guess if you have not, that you will ask him at the next opportunity....


With the pull Kaz is having in the industrIES, I believe anything Kaz does in the future is very intentional, no empty effort... Is Opera going racing again?

I really love and find the light purple used here on both logos to be very calming, peaceful and yet confident And strong (impactful).

This is exciting... Oh the possibilities....
 
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PD’s move to Fukuoka makes even more sense now. S2000 are amazing cars, also choice of picking r33 to modify next. I’m a former s2k owner and always wondered what it would’ve been like to buy a Z instead. Looks like Yamauchi san did the best move and bought both!
 
I always thought the Opera branding was iust a Polyphony fictional thing until I saw the KAZ documentary a few years back.

Guess I should have paid more attention to the car info pages and a bit less time hotlapping the little pocket rocket.

Great article!
 
I remember beating a similar silver 350Z right down to the wire in the Polyphony Cup and winning that Opera S2000 afterwards.

Delicious irony.
 
Nakano219
The PD typeface/same purple logo style especially is the kind of obvious parallel you miss as a teenager playing GT4, and then when you look back on it now think "how did I not notice that?".
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I was thinking that same thing. I want to say Sport Compact Car magazine did a whole spread on Opera performance back around 2005 or so. I really wish I kept those old magazines sometimes. I recall Yamamoto being so secretive about their unique designs for the S2000’s suspension that he covered up certain parts of it for the underbody pictures they took!
 
Great article and interesting read! I wish I knew all of this history before I had the pleasure of meeting Yamamoto-san in Fukuoka at the GTWS World Finals, where I was lucky enough to catch one of the show cars, this Ford GT, being rolled off a truck.

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He was super friendly and told us about the car and showed us inside. A roll cage has been integrated into the body of the car of which you can see more photos of on their Facebook page. Apparently this car is actually Kaz's and is running 1000bhp. I don't think it was a translation issue as his English was very good and I was not the only one to hear this! :lol:

He also gave me a sticker. :D

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It's interesting how much tuners have been in the GT news cycle as a whole recently.

The Mine's was in Spec III, then there was the HPA Motorsports website thing, then everyone thought the new Camaro was the Stielow Engineering, and now there's this. Four completely unrelated tuner-adjacent stories in six months is about as high as it's gotten since GT6.
 
Nakano219
It's interesting how much tuners have been in the GT news cycle as a whole recently.

The Mine's was in Spec III, then there was the HPA Motorsports website thing, then everyone thought the new Camaro was the Stielow Engineering, and now there's this. Four completely unrelated tuner-adjacent stories in six months is about as high as it's gotten since GT6.
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Don't forget the recent Ruf(officially a manufacturer) collab as well.

I miss the Opera S2K, that car was so good too drive in GT4, possibly a bit OPd🙄
 
The Opera S2000 was too fast! Loved it as a benchmark to base my Falcon GT, of all cars, against. :lol:

Just to add, within this six months, even the Amuse GT1 was in an online TT. ;)
 
Auditore
Opera was always a one man company?That's crazy
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You'd be surprised how there are quite a few of them in Japan. Mom and pop type of businesses. Even the great Watanabe wheel company is in a small old shop in the middle of a residential area.
 
Adam41
Great article and interesting read! I wish I knew all of this history before I had the pleasure of meeting Yamamoto-san in Fukuoka at the GTWS World Finals, where I was lucky enough to catch one of the show cars, this Ford GT, being rolled off a truck.

View attachment 1529797

He was super friendly and told us about the car and showed us inside. A roll cage has been integrated into the body of the car of which you can see more photos of on their Facebook page. Apparently this car is actually Kaz's and is running 1000bhp. I don't think it was a translation issue as his English was very good and I was not the only one to hear this! :lol:

He also gave me a sticker. :D

View attachment 1529813
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1000HP? With bits made by Opera Performance? Really? Wow wee! I'd love to know what that's like to drive.
 

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