Kazunori Yamauchi added yet another event to his motorsport resume earlier this month when he competed in the 25 Hours of Thunder Hill in California. Yamauchi drove an N-spec Honda Civic for Spoon Sports along with several experienced teammates including Tatsuru Ichishima, Naoki Hattori, and journalist Sam Mitani. The all managed a clean drive, but their performance was unfortunately hampered by penalties for improper fueling and (interestingly) a too-loud exhaust. Nevertheless, it was a great experience for Yamauchi-san who is learning much from all this track time:
“Thunder Hill was a completely new circuit for me, having had no experience on it virtually or otherwise. Its extreme ups and downs and reverse banked corners are unimaginable in Japanese and European circuits, and is quite characteristic to North America.
Driving with Mr. Ichishima of the legendary Spoon team, and with Mr. Naoki Hattori who has experience in both F1 and CART, I was very careful to be smooth and constant when driving so that I wouldn’t be a handicap to the team.
Not having a lot of experience in circuit driving, and not knowing what to expect in a 25-hour race, I was very relieved to find that I was able to reduce the 20-second gap between my laptimes and my teammates’ at the beginning of the practice to almost zero at the start of the final race. It was a great feeling to confirm first hand that “Gran Turismo” has a positive effect in not just learning specific tracks, but also in raising the level of driving technique in the drivers themselves.
And racing as part of a team like Spoon, with its long celebrated history, led by true professional drivers like Mr. Ichishima and Mr. Hattori, gave me a lot of insight and experience that will be useful for creating future editions of Gran Turismo.
Of course, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen Yamauchi’s smooth driving in action – don’t forget about his on-board Nurburgring lap we saw last month. His ultimate goal is to compete in the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring next year, so this lengthy event at Thunder Hill was a great primer. Check out the gallery below for more!
See more articles on Kazunori Yamauchi and Polyphony Digital.
QUIT RACING, FINISH THE GAME!!!!
I think it’s funny that there are so many comments berating Kaz for participating in ACTUAL races. Apparently you people have never heard of research. How are you supposed to create a racing sim without having ever raced?
for god’s sake, stop playing celebrity and get back to finishing gt5. I’m sick of this guy…
Hey, was Kaz with hattori??? He’s from BestMotoring ??
Whoops, lots of typos… also, I meant 25 hour race, I’m not familiar with the Thunder Hill endurance race. Also, about being slow….. c’mon….. he’s in a Civic…. xD… not that that tuned version is exactly slow, it’s just slower than most other cars in the race.
Those of you downing Kaz’s “slow” and relaxed driving: I’d like to see you try to pus a car to and beyond its limits throughout an entire 24 hour endurance race… I guarantee you will be spending AT LEAST 6 of those 24 hours in the pits changing tires, refueling, and replacing bad brakes and other various worn out parts. Or worse yet, a dead car with a blown engine, running on your last available set of tires worn bald, and over fuel allotment.
For those of you complaining about Kaz taking some time off once in a while all we ever hear of him from others who work with him and interview him is how he doesn’t sleep or stays the night at the office… all we ever see of him in pics and vids are his baggy, black rimmed, sleep deprived eyes and pale skin. I think he deserves some time off…. it’s not like he’s taking off a week every signle month…. and whether you realize it or not, even if he’s out racing in Real Life he’s still, technically, at work… he’s still likely mulling things over in his mind about how certain things can be improved to reflect his own true experience.
Hey Lans, can it buddy. Obviously those games aren’t simulators.
What is your point anyway, loudmouth?
Dat yor favowite widdle game betta not be kwitasized?
This is all BULLSHIT! We want to see a new trailer, new cars, new damage models, PD should know this! This demo is starting to get boring, we want a feature list in GT5, information about the game, cmon PD cmon! WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR 5 YEARS!
@MATTHEW Please play the game before you make random accusations , If you want speed in your racing games, try grid wipeout pure or mario kart wii, those games, should be realistic enough for you
After moaning about the game not being ready. I would now be willing to wait a couple more weeks for them to add that track. Fantastic elivation chages and not much deatil needed as it in the middle of nowhere!! (or DLC perhaps)
Kaz… make it so!!
@ Stone.
You’re like my X-Gf… Come to think of it… That’s why she’s my “Ex”. Could never STFU and say stuff that matters. GT5 is a product that you are going to “buy”… nobody “owes” you a GT5 so sit your ass down and “wait” for it to come out if you are in such a hurry to “buy” it; or program your own game.
Now back on topic:
that is a beautiful track !!
Smooth driving as always
sorry about the typos ^^^^
You know, it’s funny, we don’t hear about the fine folks at Turn 10 participating in events such as this. Well, at least I don’t recall ever seeing anything pertaining to it.
I guess that’s the difference between a game maker and a dedicated automotive enthusiast striving to deliver as realistic of a simulation as possible within the constraints of hardware.
that board looks like the “Secret track on the ferrari 458 clip” And @ “brian” he doesnt hasn’t have to race on a track for it to in the game….
@goonersems
Yah, and if they do, lets hope it’s the own they showed in secret at tgs.
Imo he better get his *ss back to GT5 development instead of playing around on the tracks ;)
I hope they get that little warble you always hear after each gear change in racing cars in GT5
as far as i’m concerned granturismo doesn’t take money from manufactures to be in the game but they get more “favours” so when kaz asks for a seat
they can’t turn him down and yeah i really need to see a new trailer by the new year
someones throwing ‘MOM’ insults…quite pathetic tbh.
@Sam__ NY
In case of Spoon. KY had a long time relation with them, so it’s not that hard for them to hire KY to race. Remember KY had plenty of racing experience for a while now. He attended the 9hr Tsukuba event before, and he’s been driving JGTC/Super GT for almost a decade. I don’t know about Lexus at 24hr Nurburgring, but he got long time relation with plenty of manufactures. Nissan is one of those.
Westerners make better racing games.
Gran Turismo 5 may look better than Forza, but who cares.
Did no one notice how slow the environment moves by even when you’re going in excess of 150 mph?
I’m sorry but this is just a shit representation of GT5, and aside from the obvious physics improvement, is a step down from Prologue. Anyone who has played Forza 3 and then Gt5 time trial demo will know exactly what I mean. Polyphony Digital’s overwrought focus on presentation is going to be a real setback for me if nothing significant is altered from the demo. Physics, graphics, and replay value will no doubt be there in droves, but I don’t get the sense I’m racing lawnmowers in Forza. GT5, until any evidence to the contrary demonstrates it to me otherwise, is a polished up slug compared to Forza, the agile lizard.
@Dom
He is doing really well for a non-professional driver. Endurance race is all about consistency. You won’t get extra point or placing driving like an idiot, you do however hinder the rest of the team and wear out your machine (tires, brakes, engine, etc.).
Props to KY, and more American tracks, so that we can practice more at home before each race ;)
Holy crap ! An endurance race with the Spoon team, with teammates like Ichishima-san and Hattori-san. That’s my ultimate dream !!
Impressive driving
Not incredibly fast, but consistent and confident. I like his style
He is doing ok for an amateur. His driving style is very boring though, but it’s also because he is not pushing too hard.
C’mon, there will be only tracks in US? K.Y. is really starting to like America and American cars.
He must be working on gt5 and not running…!!!
@ddl8
O look, you do speak english, nvrmind.
His work on GT 5 is probably done by now, let the man enjoy his hobby.
Cool video.The sad think is if you were to play the exact same race with the same car in the same track in GT5,you’ll only hear tire screeching!Please PD work on the sound
By “in the game,” I mean future Gran Turismo games.
Kaz’s steering control is vey good. Though he was driving a fairly easy fwd car, there was never any unnecessary steering input. Well done! And for all of those that think he should back in Japan programming, you are out of your minds. Its fantastic that the head of Gran Turismo is a racing and car junkie. His passion for this has a direct input on Gran Turismo. Would you rather have him spend his free time playing golf, tennis, chess, etc, instead of competing in real race events??????
sam_ny i guess i got to take a couple of lessons from your mom.
I say keep him driving. He has a team of 150 (I believe) people working on this, and seeing that in every picture of him he looks like s***, I say let him have fun. Plus, if he races enough, he’ll eventually incorporate his visual experiences in the game (I.e. The “racing high” he mentioned in one interview). Believe me, this’ll make a better game.
Smooth,yes.Hot Lapping.not.More like Cool Lapping.Trying to lokate all those nice babes aroung the track.Not pushing that car near to its limits.Show us a video where KY is driving like he means to win.
@ddl8
We speak english on this site.
reverse banked corner is just off camber
meaning the road slopes in the opposite direction to the way an oval is built….
GTVIRUS and JP u r bloody idiots. The rule of jungles is when boss is out nobody give a shit working! Nobody! Even freaking japanese, i guess they use the time to sleep under their tables… U dont understand how things in this world work thats fucking why u r bloody idiots :)
It seems like Kaz just shows up at a random racing event and some racing team hires him to be a driver for them just for being who he is. In most every other motorsport you can’t just be a driver for a day, or in Kaz’s case a day and 1 hour. What’s next, NASCAR!?
@GTVIRUS, you got it spot on, can’t agree more!!
Just love the sound of the JPN-Spec Type R from Spoon :D. How come they’ve received penalties for a noisy exhaust systems ^_^
I think this is excellent. The more real racing experience Kaz has, the more realistic the racing experience in GT is likely to be.
wow ! Ichishima , hattori & yamauchi in the same car
“Its extreme ups and downs and reverse banked corners are unimaginable in Japanese and European circuits”
erm kaz needs to get his ass down to cadwell park in England if he wants ups and downs :P
I watched 2 laps looking for “reverse banked corners” and saw nothing too extreme outside of 3 or 4 blind crests. What is a “reverse banked corner”?
Are we there yet?? How long….???
You sound like little kids,….
You not worth more commenting and should be on a black list for GT5
omg you lot are bloody idiots! The guy isnt allowed time off to do what he wants? He has a high pressure position already, you cant deny him what he loves doing. And he’s one man in a huge team of 200 odd, and proberly doesnt have much to do with accual game creation these days, so like its going to matter!
Somehow I can’t help missing the blue line…
So, the wait now is to see if another demo will be issued before or to coincide with the release of the final product.
so you’ve got it, the desert track from the new AE86 video
3 and a half years of the Kazunori Yamauchi-san world tour of racing tracks and attending car shows -(along with mixing in enough time on the road on those long nights between car shows and racing tracks to give us Gran Turismo 5: Prologue)- and 1 and a half years of Kaz and team Kaz programming the game.
There you have it folks…Our 5 years (and still counting) of waiting in high anticipation of Gran Turismo 5.
Any truth to the rumor that the time trial demo pushed the actual release date from March 2010 to June 2010??…to maybe November 2010????
Kaz, with Gran Turismo 5, is turning out to be like Axel friggin Rose, with that Chinese Democracy cd…
/sigh, /facepalm, /hands on hips looking upward shaking head, /screaming why why why like Nancy Kerrigan.
Mr.Kazunori.Ok,you drive.How long should we wait for GT5 new info,screens,trailer??Half year?2010 Q4?2011?New demo again,one track,one car?
Back to work man, back to work!!!!
It quite clear that Thunder Hill won’t be in GT5. Kaz mentioned that he hadn’t had any experience on the track, virtual or otherwise. I’d be quite surprised if there’s a single track in any Gran Turismo game that Kaz hasn’t at least tested in his own game.
@Dhandes:
Maybe if you would’ve had as few days off as Kaz over the past 5 years you wouldn’t be throwing those disrespectful lines. He’s not a machine.
@Dhanes
Oh no, his team can’t manage 1-2 days without a team lead. As soon as his back is turned, they’ll all down their keyboards.
honestly…
Maybe,he should leave off the playtime and get back to programming the game.
Does that mean he’s been learning this track from playing GT5?
What does this mean? ;)
another 25 hours postponed for GT5 release… ;-P
Curious if we’ll see this track in GT5…