What has Kazunori Yamauchi done for the car industry?

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Vincent Viceroy

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cooldawn | GTP_Vincent_Vice
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cooldawn
I know the man is well know within the car industry and he has established many different collaborations in the last few years as a result of Gran Turismo's extraordinary attention to detail and his passion for cars.

So, the question is, what is the overall extent of his involvement?

MANUFACTURERS
- Nissan GT-R's computer system display (free GT-R)
- Volkswagen marketing (free R32)
- Ferrari California marketing video
- GT by Citroen
- Toyota Pod

EVENTS
- 2009 & 2010 GT Academy in partnership with Nissan
- 2010 Gran Turismo Trophy at Pebble Beach Concourse d’Elegance

RACES
- 2010 Nuburgring 24H with Team World Car Awards in Lexus IS-F
 
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His series has been credited by Nissan, Subaru, Mitsubishi, BMW and others for increasing brand awareness in the United States. Mitsubishi and Subaru specifically siting the game for increasing demand of the Evo and WRX/Sti and that it helped influence the decision to bring those cars states side. Nissan mentioned heightened awareness of the Skyline and BMW mentioned increased sales after they were added to the series. Id imagine other companies saw similar effects but have been more quite about it. IMO I think the series is a big reason the sports car/sedan market is alive after the mid 90's die off.
 
I'd say they also increased awareness of Top Gear. I had NEVER watched Top Gear until I saw an episode on GT5: P. I'm addicted to it now! haha. Also, You could include the Toyota FT-86 coupes, The NIKE One, I remember he was involved in an F3 team too.

Also, Kaz was involved in the Pebble Beach awards since 2004 I think.

I think Gran Turismo was what REALLY helped me "broaden my horizons" about racing... I used to only watch NASCAR; now I'm a fan of all types :). Well, I still am not too into drag racing though, but I am warming up to it.

There's also the 25 hours of Thunderhill (which I am STILL hoping is in GT5) with spoon sports.

That's all I can think of off of the top of my head :P
 
Not clear how many teams drive with Gran Turismo sponsoring, but I saw during GT4 Cup races a lot more GT adverts then F:censored:.

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Also Kazunori Yamauchi, the race driver is important for car industry. Although maybe less then for other things.
 
This isn't based on any kind of research, but I think Gran Turismo introduced a lot of young people to Japanese performance cars (Impreza,Evo,Skyline,Supra etc.) simply because of their presence and performance in GT.

These young people that grew up playing GT and driving a myriad of fairly uncommon (at least in the UK at the time) performance cars are now old enough to buy cars of their own, and are arguably seeking out the 200SXs, 300ZXs, Supras etc. because they played them on GT.

You could say that that's because of Fast & The Furious and NFS etc. but I'd say it's possible the original GT created that initial interest in Japanese tuner cars / drifting that NFS et al then expanded on.

So for the Japanese car industry, you could argue he's done a fair bit.
 
letdown427
This isn't based on any kind of research, but I think Gran Turismo introduced a lot of young people to Japanese performance cars (Impreza,Evo,Skyline,Supra etc.) simply because of their presence and performance in GT.

These young people that grew up playing GT and driving a myriad of fairly uncommon (at least in the UK at the time) performance cars are now old enough to buy cars of their own, and are arguably seeking out the 200SXs, 300ZXs, Supras etc. because they played them on GT.

You could say that that's because of Fast & The Furious and NFS etc. but I'd say it's possible the original GT created that initial interest in Japanese tuner cars / drifting that NFS et al then expanded on.

So for the Japanese car industry, you could argue he's done a fair bit.
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Depends where you live mate. That junk (subjective) has been landing on Australia's shores for yonks.
 
I have to find the quote, but Nissan said that Gran Turismo was one of the driving factors for the increase in popularity for the GTR in the United States. Even though the car was not sold in the US its imports have skyrocketed since GT has come out. Like others have said GT also helped bring awareness to the Evo/STi.

GT was the first mature mass market racing game. NFS was popular but it was mostly played by kids (the demographic for video games back in the 90's was far younger than it is today. I would be willing to bet it also helped the tuner and aftermarket scene in the US as well.

Hopefully PD includes some cars that are still unknown to help boost their appeal.
 
Regarding that, I wonder if NASCAR will be popularized outside the USA by GT5.
Maybe many people that think that ovals are boring will change idea.

Speaking of the Gran Turismo franchise in general, has the Nurburgring Nordschleife been popularized by it too?
It's only in the last 10 years or so that it has become really popular as a circuit and "racing temple".
I definitely remember it had a much lower profile before the 2000s.
 
This is like asking, "what did the Romans ever do for us?" :lol:
 
Quite a cool thread idea, I would imagine the influence is something that I would imagine would yield quite a significant influence over a large area of the automotive sector, if you were to look closely enough that is.
 
- Nissan 350Z GT4 Edition (which has been on sale in NL).
- There has been a link between KY and Amuse, but I forgot which link.
 
SHIRAKAWA Akira
Regarding that, I wonder if NASCAR will be popularized outside the USA by GT5.
Maybe many people that think that ovals are boring will change idea.

Speaking of the Gran Turismo franchise in general, has the Nurburgring Nordschleife been popularized by it too?
It's only in the last 10 years or so that it has become really popular as a circuit and "racing temple".
I definitely remember it had a much lower profile before the 2000s.
Click to expand...

I think the only game, i can think of before the millennium that had the Nurburgring Nordschleife is GPL.
 
SHIRAKAWA Akira
Regarding that, I wonder if NASCAR will be popularized outside the USA by GT5.
Maybe many people that think that ovals are boring will change idea.
Click to expand...

Hopefully, judging by the videos they haven't dumbed it down(unlike EA) so it should be a nice challenge.

Also hoping it brings more people to my fantasy NASCAR competition.:)

Speaking of the Gran Turismo franchise in general, has the Nurburgring Nordschleife been popularized by it too?
It's only in the last 10 years or so that it has become really popular as a circuit and "racing temple".
I definitely remember it had a much lower profile before the 2000s.
Click to expand...

I would say so, before GT4 had the 24hours of Nurburgring in the game it was a relatively unknown race. I think the same thing can be said about the 24 hours of Le Mans, only to a lesser extent.
 
Maybe in the USA, those two races were world famous long before videogames were even invented.
And the Nürburgring becoming really popular as a circuit because of GT ? :lol:
You've got to be kidding me
 
opladener
Maybe in the USA, those two races were world famous long before videogames were even invented.
And the Nürburgring becoming really popular as a circuit because of GT ? :lol:
You've got to be kidding me
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I'd argue thats the point of most of the accomplishments listed in this thread. There were examples of mitsubishi and subaru showing improved sales in the US after gt. So judging by what has been posted in the thread so far, I think the idea is more of a US centered argument.
 
kazunori yamauachi influence is greatly underated he is one of only a handfull of people that could have brought the game world and auto world together.
 
Vincent Viceroy-> You forgot the Gran Turismo Awards at SEMA every year...

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R.I.P. J. Rocha

-> Also:

- The aerodymanic design of the Amuse (S2000) GT1 series.
- Design for the Nismo kits.
- Unveiling the Toyota FT-86 series of concept cars.
- Huge factor of bringing the Evo & WRX series into the US.
- Popularized Pagani, Aston Martin, & TVR on countries that don't know these manufacturers.

:)
 
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I didn't know about the Nurburgring until Gran Turismo. Sure, I had heard of Le Man, but not Nurburgring or even the 24 hour races. America just doesn't care. I've yet to meet a single stranger that can clue in to anything outside of NASCAR, sometimes F1 or rally, and it's proven by how many people don't fill the grand stands at ALMS and Rolex races. The news never talks about racing.

Thank you GT and PD for opening my eyes to motorsport.
 
Thats kinda sad, actually. Theres so much racing here on TV - we have WTCC, DTM, F1, WRC, Superbikes, MotoGP, 24h du Mans, sometimes you don't even know what to watch because the races are running at the same time.

On Topic: I agree with GT making japanese sports cars known in the world - especially all those awesome JGTC cars. Even though WRC sure played a big part too, WRX STi, Lancer Evolution, Celica, Corolla were/are very famous rally cars
 
Vince_Fiero
Not clear how many teams drive with Gran Turismo sponsoring, but I saw during GT4 Cup races a lot more GT adverts then F:censored:.

4712410855_50ba60700d_b.jpg
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That Aston ran the GT banner at the Spa event b/c that race was the next event Mathol Racing had entered after running in the ADAC Nur. 24 Race during the previous month, which was when all the participants ran a GT banner.

Fast forward today & that banner has been changed.
 
Well I have a hard time believing Kaz takes most credits for making people aware of unique car brands, world famous tracks and racing events.
Sure for the casual gamer or a young petrolhead playing GT may have been the first exposure to these, but they were available as knowledge for those interested long before simply by reading books, magazines and watching the telly.
All those leftfield classic car brands which appeared in GT4 for example were already absorbed by my ten year old brain when I digested all I could read about cars without any apparant effort before the internet-era.

What makes GT stand out from any long before available car encyclopedia in book form is the fact you can actually experience those cars.
Pretty pictures of exotic machines became pretty pixelated moving footage you could drive yourself and the biggest thing he might have achieved for the car industry as a whole isn't the choice of those leftfield cars ( for the more eclectic petrolhead it is partly ofcourse ) but the plain ordinary run of the mill cars being fun.
Before GT you had the choice to drive supercars, supercars, supercars and racecars, racecars and more supercars.
He may also be credited perhaps in playing a part in making the Japanese car and car culture ( which admittingly wasn't really acknowledged much in Western media before ) interesting or create interest for it.

GT ( and the games that followed by other developers ) is probably the best unbiased impartial promotional tool to both showcase and experience their product and to a large audience which, for a large part, may neither be that interested in cars apart from playing them in a videogame or not even at driving age yet ( which could be potential future customers basing their judgement and decisions for a part on their experience with videogame cars ).

And a bit ironic now perhaps with their inclusion into GT5, the fact a car game can be fun, deep and offer enormous variety without including Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati or still can be without Porsche......:)
 
I'm not so sure about the gt series being responsible for subaru / mitsubishi and nissans gtr doing better in the u.s. Higher import's and sales have probably got as much to do with the fast & furious films
 
The GT series predates the Fast and the Furious movies. Maybe the Skyline being in 2F2F helped, but the GT series brought it to the (American) public eye in the first place. Ditto with the Impreza WRX and the Evo, which weren't even in any of the Fast and the Furious movies until after the cars had already come out.
 

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