GameSpark (Dengeki Online is the same interview using different words, so I will not work on it):
Q1. First, could you tell us the story that led GT Sport to work with FIA?
A1. First the FIA contacted us about what new thing they and we can do. The two pillars, holding championships in GT and issuing FIA-approved digital licenses, were the things I came up with in about five minutes during the conversation. Then immediately I prepared the presentation files about it and showed them to people from the FIA. This is what happened about three years ago. At first the ideas looked too visionary to them, but after negotiation after negotiation, finally the FIA General Assembly favored my ideas last month. This is all how GT Sport was announced.
Q2. Japanese digital license were not in game yesterday, but do you think Japan will join the system?
A2. This is my first time I stepped into the world of auto clubs. Of course I know FIA, JAF (My note: Japan Automobile Federation), and ADAC of Germany by name, but I did not know what they are specifically like or what kind of world it is. After joining them and communicating with the members deeply, I understood the car culture has over a hundred years of history, and the automobile club I go to has as long a history as the culture itself. The clubs are run by elder people, though I do not say they are twice as old as me. Furthermore, occasionally they get together to decide things, so it is completely different world from our company, where sometime it only takes five minutes to do the same thing. Therefore, the digital licenses are the result of our presentations and workshops through this three years. As of now, only 25 countries joined this program, but I think more and more will join it.
The world population of people engaging in motorsports are decreasing, but motorsport-rising countries like India, China, and some from Middle East, which senses danger against this situation, are very interested in this program. On the other hand, there are some countries in which motorsports are going well like Germany, where the motorsport population is increasing and more circuits are built. I think that the latter is less interested than the former and it takes time for the latter to join it. However, I also think that they gradually join the program even years after launch of GT Sport.
Q3. You have been involved in training the real drivers through GT Academy, and this time you will cooperate with the FIA, but are you considering training professional drivers or holding sponsored races like the real ones?
A3. First, the problem is the present state of motorsport is not so stable. Although I took it for granted, in the 1960's, when I was born, and 70's, motorsports were something special, and money from sponsors flowed around the motorsport world, just by putting stickers on cars. I think, however, that this model already collapsed and that it is time we have to propose something new, like the new way of motorsports as they will have to be.
For example, I think GT Academy answered whether drivers from Gran Turismo are good enough to survive in the professional world, but I wonder whether there exist professional racing drivers in the first place. I mean, I wonder whether there are drivers, excluding the handful in Formula One, who are professional in the true sense, as an example, in terms of economy. Although changes do not happen easily in what has a long history, like motorsports, due to its own tradition, I believe our approaches are completely different from current traditions of motorsports.
Therefore, what we want to do with the FIA is not make motorsports itself easier to enter in for virtual drivers just like we have been doing, but change the real world by our influence. We could not be happier if we can act like catalysts to make the real more virtual-ish, and the importance of this partnership lies in this role. We want to change the real world in a very simple way.
Q4. Recently, AIs have been adopted for automated drive, but are you going to cooperate with car industries as GT brand or PD?
A4. Our AIs have been adopted by various companies. For example, nVidia have been using Gran Turismo for machine learning for three years. They really make the machine do what the humans do, I mean, from mastering the controller to recognizing the image or object from screenshot it took. So AIs of GT are already used the moment they are wanted. However, we first have to finish making GT Sport before finding such markets and selling the AIs.
Q5. You remarked that the progress was still 50% but we could catch a glimpse of next-gen games, but what do you think about the next-gen games?
A5. I believe almost nothing has been changed in racing games since the release of Gran Turismo. It is true that more GT-like games are released, but they still cannot show the new way to play or to attract people. We also experienced the very exhausting and frustrating times, like when we wanted to try something new but various things, including its hardware architecture, were not ready, during the PS3 era, the developments of GT5 and 6. But now that we are using PS4, and that we can communicate with world in various forms, after 20 years from the first GT release, I feel a certain response that we can propose something new. Plus, we are enjoying the development more than ever before. I remember it was very difficult to realize what I imagined as it was during the development of GT6.
Q6. You said "super-premium" cars were remodeled from scratch yesterday, then how many polygons per car were used?
A6. Recently, we are not concerned about the amount of polygons since they were generated adaptively. So I cannot say sweepingly.
Q7. Are "standard" cars directly ported from past series or newly remodeled?
A7. All cars in this game, including them, will be remodeled from scratch.
Q8. You announced the partnership with Yokohama Tire and with KW Automotives before, but what is the improvement of physics this time?
A8. The development of physics is never-ending. Of course it should be realistic, but it is a unexpectedly painstaking task to simulate the reality we take for granted, and we keep on working hard. But, as I showed you with a presentation, we developed GT Sport not only for the experienced but also for complete beginners, so we are very concerned about its drivability.
It is often misunderstood that realistic means difficult, but judging from my racing experiences, driving in the real world is not so difficult. We want to overcome the whole misunderstanding that the more realistic, the more difficult to drive. In other words, we are aiming for easy but profound driving experiences.
Q9. Will weather change, environmental changes, and damage be implemented?
A9. Yes, damage models are implemented internally already in this demo, though we cannot show them this time. And about weather, we would like them to be chosen before race. For example, sudden rainfalls during race won't be in the game. The amount of freedom of weather changes and the quality are in a trade-off relationship, and it is important to balance it. We did dynamic weather and lighting changes in GT5 and 6, and we understood how they affect the game. On the other hand, We also know to what extent such restrictions cause quality changes. So this time, we aimed for higher visual quality by introducing the restrictions before race. After all we want to run this game on 1080p / 60FPS.
Q10. So you confirm this game runs on 1080p / 60 FPS?
A10. Rather than confirming, we are going to work on the problem that sometimes it drops below 60FPS. I believe if the game does not run on this condition, it is not a game.
Q11. You announced that VR is compatible for GT Sport, then could you tell us how the progress is and what content is going to be compatible?
A11. Past GT series have supported 3DTV option. In particular, GT6 supported Oculus Rift. Based on these experiences, I think we can implement PSVR as well. It is technically possible to run every single feature of GT Sport on PSVR, although we have to consider whether that does good or harm. We want to implement the VR feature before launch. Originally, driving games go very well with VR. You are sitting when you are driving, and cockpit view is one of the advantages to prevent screensick. We currently think it important how VR recreates the reality.
Q12. You claimed racing games are playable for beginners as well, but are you going to implement the features for beginners like rewind?
A12. It is technically possible to do so whenever we want to. For example, we rewound the replay to show the moment of accident. Therefore, the game itself already has it, and we are considering whether it should be implemented in any mode or limited in arcade mode as the game design.
Q13. Finally, do you have any messages for fans waiting for the release?
A13. Well, as I said before, the team and I are feeling uplifted for the first time since we were developing GT1. Some small but clear progress happens every around eight hours a day, and we feel we did something great every time that happens. Now that various conditions, not only the external but also internal (PD's), are cleared, small miracle-like things, like that gets much better after three days or four, are occurring every day. Companies are like living things, you know. We are confident that GT Sport will be great because we are in good mood and enjoying the development from bottom of our hearts, so all we have to do is deliver it to everyone and share the happiness with them. Thank you.
