Kazunori Yamauchi

Sony has announced via the Playstation Blog US that Gran Turismo Sport will not be releasing this November. In the update post, Kazunori Yamauchi himself details that the game will now be releasing in 2017 with an exact release window still to be confirmed.

https://youtu.be/jE7Ni_p1k-Q

Quality steering wheel support is a prerequisite to a complete and pleasant experience for modern driving sims. Nowadays it is almost impossible to expect significant sale results from driving simulators unless they support plenty of accessories that the market clearly demands.

While nothing substantial has been revealed courtesy of GT Sport’s visit to China — at least in terms of new content shown — the interviews that continue to surface shed light on a number of subjects that highlight continued support for the title past its release later this year.

Alongside dropping the news that GT Sport is currently 70% complete, Kazunori Yamauchi has also revealed an interesting insight into how Polyphony Digital view the latest entry in the Gran Turismo series.

In a recent interview with Chinese news outlet Sina, Kazunori Yamauchi has revealed that Gran Turismo Sport is currently around “70% Complete” and improvements are occurring on a ‘daily basis’ to ready the game for it’s November release.

While GT Sport’s recent Chinese tour hasn’t yielded much in terms of new content, the interviews PD president Kazunori Yamauchi has taken part in have shed light on a variety of subjects. We’ve heard about the plan to involve F1 coaches in the FIA Championships, and saw a reduction in the race track locations in the game. To balance out the track news, the game could see a massively increased car count via post-release support, according to the latest interview (conducted by A9VG, and helpfully translated in our forums by GTPlanet member Yui-san).

As ACG 2016 continues in Hong Kong, more details about GT Sport are revealed. If you missed it, our article yesterday covered multiple subjects: new images, slightly reduced counts for the events and track locations, and a recap of the Advanced Matchmaking System. An interview with Kazunori on A9VG.com sheds further light on the title and how the eSports focus will play out.

Important details regarding GT Sport’s mission challenges and tracks have appeared during the 2016 Animation-Comic-Game conference, revealing more on the game set to land on store shelves this November.

One of the most well-represented racing classes in Gran Turismo Sport is set to see its ranks grow by at least one more car, if an Instagram post from endurance racer Matias Henkola is to be believed. During the Nürburgring 24 Hour race last month — where GT Sport was playable for fans — Henkola and the rest of the team had access to a special private build of the game, where their Walkenhorst race car was made available for crucial virtual seat time.

Much like the automotive sector, China is a huge market for gaming. Sony is capitalizing on that with a tour of the country over the next week, and Gran Turismo Sport will feature heavily at all three planned events.

https://youtu.be/jmR1qGbk6Uo

The 100th anniversary Pikes Peak International Hill Climb challenge recently finished, with French racing driver Romain Dumas taking the top spot with a time of 8’51.445 behind the wheel of the Norma M20 RD (#30) in the Unlimited class.

Since the Forza series split into Forza Motorsport and Forza Horizon, there’s been a recurring theme of speculation among GT fans that Polyphony might do something similar. According to recent comments by Kazunori Yamauchi, however, people hoping for a GT spin-off title by another developer should not get their hopes up:

When looking at the GT franchise as a whole, critics frequently rate the most recent games – GT5 and GT6 – as the least successful in the series’ history, for a wide variety of reasons. Those critics might be surprised to find that Kazunori Yamauchi actually agrees with them.

With online racing taking center stage in Gran Turismo Sport, there has rightfully been many questions about the game’s match-making capabilities. Playing with drivers outside of your own skill set – whether they are faster or slower than you – can be a frustrating experience, especially if you end up with the rude and childish players who often plague online lobbies.

Kazunori Yamauchi has confirmed in an interview with German outlet ‘Inside Playstation’ that Gran Turismo Sport will incorporate extended online support for servers in the much-anticipated ‘Sport’ mode of the game.

2016 marks the 100th anniversary – but only the 94th running – of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado. Gran Turismo became a platinum sponsor of the event last year, and will expand that relationship by having Polyphony Digital president Kazunori Yamauchi not only attend the event, but drive one of the three Acura pace cars.

Since the reveal of Gran Turismo Sport, Kazunori Yamuchi has once again been pushed into the spotlight of the broader gaming media – a new iteration of Gran Turismo brings in a level of hype unmatched by many series in the genre and gaming medium as a whole. One such outlet who are covering the recent unveiling of Gran Turismo Sport is Red Bull’s gaming section, who conducted an interview with Kazunori himself. Whilst a lot of the article reiterates points we already knew and reported on, there are some interesting statements from the head of Polyphony Digital.

https://youtu.be/djZToFEFw_0