Polyphony Digital

The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb – the most famous and challenging hill climb race in the world – has just announced that Gran Turismo will be the “Platinum Sponsor” for the 2015 event, and will even be part of the race’s official name.

Polyphony Digital, which has long been noted for its relatively small team of developers when compared to other video game production companies, is looking to recruit more staff members.

It’s that time of year again! The 12th annual Gran Turismo Awards have been formally announced, and will be held next week at SEMA 2014 – the largest international automotive trade show in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In a brief post on the company’s PitStop blog, Polyphony Digital reports they have received a “large number of applicants from around the world” for Sound Engineering positions, and that Kazunori Yamauchi and the Sound Production team are currently reviewing all of the resumes which have been submitted. They also thanked applicants for their enthusiasm for Polyphony’s “projects ahead”.

Polyphony Digital hosted a special event at their Tokyo offices today which featured some friendly competition between Super GT drivers. The event was streamed live on NicoNico, and revealed the newest track coming to GT6: Circuito de la Sierra.

When Kazunori Yamauchi accepted the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge from Forza Motorsport’s Dan Greenawalt last week, he took the opportunity to pass along the challenge to two more people: Lucas Ordoñez, original GT Academy champion, and Ken Kutaragi, the “Father of PlayStation” who was instrumental in the design and development of the original console.

As you probably know, the “ALS Ice Bucket Challenge” has taken the world (and social media) by storm over the past few weeks. It’s resulted in a lot of fun videos of people getting cold water poured over their head, and it’s raised more than $88.5 million dollars to help victims of ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease) and help fund a global team of researchers looking for a cure.

Each year at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance – the world’s most famous and prestigious car show – Kazunori Yamauchi selects a car to be awarded the “Gran Turismo Trophy”, after which it will be digitized and immortalized in the Gran Turismo series.

Polyphony Digital has just released the “Beyond the Apex” mobile app in the iTunes App Store; click here to download it for free (332MB).

Kazunori Yamauchi has published the third post in his series discussing the engine sounds of Gran Turismo on Polyphony Digital’s “PitStop” blog.

Kazunori Yamauchi is the latest person to host a session of Reddit’s IAmA (I Am A, Ask me Anything), and is accompanied by Nissan’s chief designer, Shiro Nakamura, as both unveiled the Nissan 2020 Concept Vision Gran Turismo at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Yesterday’s announcement of Gran Turismo’s partnership with the FIA has made shockwaves around the Internet and right here at home on GTPlanet, and now we have a few early details about the FIA Online Championship – the first virtual race event to be organized and sanctioned by the world’s governing body of motorsport.

As confirmed in a major announcement from Polyphony Digital and the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), Gran Turismo 6 has become the first-ever video game to feature FIA-certified content, with four of the game’s real-world tracks receiving approval from the governing body of world motorsport.

Polyphony Digital has launched a new blog called the “PitStop” as a place to provide more frequent and informal communications with the public. A “variety of authors” from around the world will be contributing to PitStop, and comments can be posted via Facebook.

If you watched the Gran Turismo documentary KAZ: Pushing the Virtual Divide and took note of the music, you’re not alone – it’s been a frequent topic of discussion around the film, and the full versions of the songs have not been available anywhere – until now!

In memory of the 20th anniversary of the passing of Formula 1 legend Ayrton Senna, Polyphony Digital have formally unveiled their plans to support the Ayrton Senna Institute, developed in close cooperation with Senna’s family.

The Gran Turismo documentary KAZ: Pushing the Virtual Divide has taken top honors at the 2014 Gaming Marketing Summit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSVnsx_df8g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O30hygmGhkM