As the launch of the PlayStation 4 Pro beckons, Sony and many developers have taken to London for a launch event showing off the console and the type of improvements existing and upcoming games will host on the super-powered PS4. Kazunori Yamauchi was in attendance to show off what GT Sport will be capable of (check out the first footage of the game running on the system as well as using PSVR) and discuss the nuances of developing the newest title.
During the Q&A session, Kazunori addressed the idea of ‘outsourcing’ development. This practice involves bringing in other teams to aid the overall development for a project and has seen a rise in the video game industry, with assets such as car models being handled by specialized firms. Glassegg in particular has been used by the likes of Turn 10, Codemasters and EA in their recent racing titles.
For the Gran Turismo series, Yamauchi has previously said that the idea of anyone but Polyphony being at the helm for anything Gran Turismo related would not benefit the series. If other teams got involved, well, “it wouldn’t be Gran Turismo anymore.” It makes the following tweet by Videogamer.com (first spotted by GTPlanet member AKps3) all the more interesting:
Yamauchi has considered outsourcing development to other studios to help release GT titles more frequently, but says it is difficult
— VideoGamer.com (@VideoGamerCom) November 3, 2016
This is a stark contrast to the remarks reported back in June this year. Whereas before he absolutely shut down the notion of outsourcing, we see here that Kazunori has at least considered approaching other teams. We imagine the type of difficulty being described relates to the insane level of high quality and detail that goes into the majority of Gran Turismo’s assets: finding an outside firm who can match Polyphony’s level of workmanship may be a challenge.
It should also be noted that the original “unthinkable” comment from E3 2016 was in response to the idea of a spin-off series (a la the Motorsport/Horizon split in Forza). The tweet doesn’t state to what level Yamauchi investigated outsourcing: it could simply be for asset development.
That being said, Gran Turismo has always very much been a ‘closed shop operation’ so seeing a bit of leeway on this perhaps shows that KY and Polyphony Digital know that releasing the games a bit quicker would definitely benefit the franchise and the players in the long run.
With the success of this practice in games like DriveClub, Forza Motorsport and Race Driver: GRID, this could potentially help the Gran Turismo series acquire a more stable release cycle.
More news on GT Sport as it develops.
See more articles on Kazunori Yamauchi.
I imagine the quality of the outsourced models would deteriorate if outsourced. There’s also a chance the scale sizes of each vehicle wouldn’t match as well as the PD developed ones…
I say nope…
The only things that should be outsourced are any original tracks & Rally courses, dynamic environments, destructible objects, barriers, and ambient elements, & an open world version of Gran Turismo called Gran Turismo: Grand Tour or GT: World Tour, that lets us go on open world road trips through exotic locations world wide with Gumball 3000 like race events etc. using GT’s physics engine & tuning.
Make it happen Kaz so I can throw my money at you.
Just a mirage, like most things he says.
He should NOT be considering this. It NEEDS TO BE DONE!
Long dev time and sub-par products prove this.
I’ve been saying this for years.
“I’m a control freak and people are getting mad that it’s taking so long. Now, we’re losing money and players.” That is what Kaz’s statement says to me. He should be worried right now. The end product here is probably going to make or break the Gran Turismo franchise. I might be a little overzealous with that, but it’s possible.
This Kaz dude said that “giving GT to other developers is unthinkable”. But oh well, I guess times are c-c-c-changing.
Meanwhile I will assemble my own hypetrain called “Forza Horizon-esque Gran Turismo”.
Yamauchi has considered outsourcing development to other studios to help release GT titles more frequently, but says he is difficult.
fixed it
True :P
Japanese are well know to deliver things on time, I wonder what other Japanese fellows think about PD and Kaz.
The AC physics and FFB models are just so fantastic that I think PD should see if they could license it, as is, and then build a great game around that. That would save a ton of development time.
Good for Kaz to keep an open mind about this. And glad to hear he’s not planning a horizon-esque type of game. They seem to be in stark contrast to what Gran Turismo is all about.
Well then do it already, Maybe finally your team can get a gt title out the door before this gen ends.
I don’t get it. How will it affect quality when they will set the standard before out sourcing work?. They just don’t let the outside party call the shots. They tell them what they want and how they want it. Pretty backward thinking IMO but what do I know I will just have to wait forever or switch to other game brands. Even the sound division is still struggling to get it right and they have being doing this for how many versions of the game?
This news worries me. It seems like they might be missing deadlines and could be struggling inside the studio. I hope for the best, but color me concerned.
At last. If quality control, philosophy and overall management are kept on Kaz/PD hands, there is nothing to fear.
I like the slow pace of GT releases, they always feel like a special event whenever they happen.
Kind of agree. I think nobody wants 1 release per year, but release every 3 years should be a norm.
Good to see Kaz becoming a little more flexible.