Kazunori Yamauchi

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

Kazunori Yamauchi has confirmed that Gran Turismo Sport will not feature dynamic time-lapsing or weather. In the interview conducted by GTPlanet, Kazunori made clear that there will be no ‘transitions’ during races and conditions will be chosen prior to entering a race. These features were two of the stand-out attributes for Polyphony’s PS3-era games, however they could only be accessed on specific tracks within the game’s track roster, which meant the level of quality each track had could vary depending on what was chosen.

When the Vision GT Project took off back in 2013, nobody really knew how long the collaborative effort between Polyphony Digital and leading automobile manufacturers and design houses was going to last. Speaking with GTPlanet in London last week, Kazunori Yamauchi confirmed the initiative is far from complete, and that players can expect further additions in this year’s Gran Turismo Sport:

In less than a month, citizens residing near Colorado Springs will get the chance to attend the 100th anniversary race of the Pikes Peak Hill Climb challenge, one of the most dangerous point-to-point racing events in the world. Conquering the peak of this 12.42 miles long course has always been one of motorsports’ cream-of-the-crop undertakings, with various numbers of unique machines trying to beat the environment in the hands of unbelievably talented drivers.

The details that came out during last week’s London event were a veritable wave of information for Gran Turismo fans. GT Sport’s full retail release date was announced (November 15, 16, or 18, depending on region), but one date absent from the event was the public beta’s availability, which was announced at the original GT Sport unveiling last year. We’ve now got confirmation that it won’t be happening, from Kazunori Yamauchi himself.

Bang the gongs, cue the avalanche of GIF’s – it’s happening! After over six months of silence, GT Sport is ready for its first gameplay showing. As you’d expect of a company that has announced a title at a racetrack (GT6), and taken over an entire town for a release party (GT6 again), Polyphony is pulling out all the stops, showcasing the PS4 title in downtown London, at the Copper Box Arena, a former Olympic site.

Last week we reported that Polyphony Digital’s CEO Kazunori Yamauchi would be returning to the Nürburgring in the lead up to the 2016 ADAC 24 Hours of Nürburgring. Sharing the driving duties of the #101 BMW M6 GT3 with Matias Henkola, George Richardson, and Max Sandritter, Yamauchi was set to participate in the top SP9 class under the Walkenhorst Motorsport banner.

Kazunori Yamauchi will be returning to the gruelling Green Hell this year. Polyphony’s man in charge took 2015 off, after an accident during the qualifying session the year before. In a surprising turn, however, Yamauchi will be slotting in behind the wheel of a Bavarian motor for the ADAC qualifier this weekend.

As you’ve probably heard by now, the next chapter in the GT series – Gran Turismo Sport – was officially unveiled at the Paris Games Show a few hours ago.

The “Course Maker” in GT6 remains as one of the game’s last unreleased features – and the one fans are anticipating the most. We haven’t heard much about the new tool in GT6, though, which is expected to be a significant upgrade over the course maker we last saw in GT5.

In a JeuxVideo interview published last week from the Peugeot Vision GT launch event in Paris, Kazunori Yamauchi gave a direct answer when asked about the possibility of the Peugeot 208 Pikes Peak coming to the Gran Turismo series: yes.

Since a team of Polyphony Digital employees were seen scanning the Snaefell Mountain Course last year – host of the legendary Isle of Man TT – there’s been a lot of talk about the possibility of motorcycles coming to the next installment of the Gran Turismo series.

Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi was in Paris last week for the formal unveiling of the new Peugeot Vision GT concept, offering the first chance in quite some time for members of the media to ask him questions. As would be expected, most of them were eager to get him talking about GT7.

Top Gear recently published an interview with Kazunori Yamauchi after speaking with him at the reveal of the Alpine Vision GT in Paris.

While in Paris to help unveil the new Alpine Vision GT concept car, GT series creator Kazunori Yamauchi was awarded the “Grand Prize of Creativity” at the 30th International Automobile Festival for his contributions to the automotive industry.

More details from the Gran Turismo article in the most recent issue of GamesTM magazine have been revealed, and some additional quotes from Kazunori Yamauchi paint an interesting picture of his thoughts on the franchise and its future.

While speaking to GamesTM magazine in a recent interview, Kazunori Yamauchi made some interesting comments regarding the development of Gran Turismo 7, which is apparently set to benefit greatly from the power of the PlayStation 4 console: