Kazunori Yamauchi on Gran Turismo Fan Expectations, SUVs, Expensive Wheels, Tourist Trophy, and More

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Quite a nice move from Kaz to drop the SUV topic. Now all the boards and communities have stuff to debate and nobody is claiming about ingame economy, driving physics, missing tracks, roulette tickets, invitations LCD or lobby bugs anymore...
Chapeau!
 
I think performance SUVs would be fun if we got some type of mixed surface track (dirt and paved) or something with a lot of elevation change like Seattle. They are mixed usage vehicles afterall. Just adding XYZ car type doesn't mean the experience is complete. Prototypes aren't fun on tight circuits and K cars suck as Le Mans. Tracks and cars kinda go hand in hand.
 
SUVs are some of the most pointless vehicles around and the last thing racing games need is to have them, especially when GT is missing all sorts of machines like up-to-date GT3s, prototypes, touring cars, road hypercars, EVs etc.

Linking SUVs to car enthusiasts seems really out of touch.
The most popular articles & videos on performance car publications like Evo are for the new generation of high-end SUV’s from brands like Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Range Rover etc.

On Harry’s Garage, which is performance & classic car focused, the most popular video this year is for the new Ferrari SUV. In fact if I had a budget of £100k+ for a one car garage, I’d almost certainly choose an SUV of some sort.

 
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Hi. Car enthusiast here: recently resprayed Mk1 MX-5 in the garage resting, supercharged engine swapped project car sitting in the back garage currently still projecting.
Oh yeah, this is definetly something that everybody would pick up instead of a proper sports car in a racing videogame.
I mean don't get me wrong, I get it that you did upgrades and else but this is a very niche type of car to add in a racing game that does not catch up content-wise in modern age cars or old cars like predecessor games at all. Moreover, just as you mentioned, this is just a go-into-town car, while the real exciting car is being built in garage. Life is not a videogame, we all have to go to the grocery store, but even a G-Wagon is not as track worthy as a miata fun-wise.
I don’t regret it at all. The Exxie is such a great car. And with two small kiddos it’s safe. My Z was a 2+2 but I couldn’t possibly drive it with kids. The weather here in Norway is nasty these days. I help people who drive off the road, instead of joining the statistic.
Well that's the whole point. SUV's and Crossovers in their most common form are just people movers/heavy duty workers/ and in some veeeery rare occasions - Project cars for real extreme off-road action, which is not present in GT and never will be.

Yes, GT has been famous for including boring/standard road cars before and making them fun, BUT GT never had big problems covering sports/enthusiast/race cars, so they could afford that.
But focusing on SUV's and Crossovers in a state that the game has now would be just another product placement/ weird design choise IMO.
 
The Australian car market over the last 50 odd years included some amazing Australian made cars, a few of which were (and are still considered) superior to a lot of cars included in GT7. The confounding thing about this is, according to reports of 'data-mining' (where content can and has been discovered within GT7 code), there are NO Australian cars (GM Holden, Australian Ford, Australian Chrysler and Australian Mitsubishi) to be found! Considering the fact that GT7 is sold in Australia, an Australian track (Mount Panorama) is in the game and several Australians took place in the events hosted by PD, why would PD not recognise Australian motoring history by having a contingent of Aussie cars?
 
The most popular articles & videos on performance car publications like Evo are for the new generation of high-end SUV’s from brands like Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Range Rover etc.

On Harry’s Garage, which is performance & classic car focused, the most popular video this year is for the new Ferrari SUV. In fact if I had a budget of £100k+ for a one car garage, I’d almost certainly choose an SUV of some sort.


A wagon is just as practical and far more efficient compared to any SUV and 9/10 times can get any job done better unless you absolutely have to go offroad.

 
With that in mind, Yamauchi also reflects on the changing face of motoring today. “The types of cars are changing a lot… In the past, car enthusiasts drove sports cars… Nowadays, car enthusiasts often drive SUVs… I think we have to cover such cars.”

Not sure if there's any mistranslation going on but this makes no sense, aside from the fact that the majority of crossovers & SUVs buyers are not car enthusiasts to begin with.

Further more, car enthusiasts who are buying a crossover or an SUV are often buying them as commuter cars, not as enthusiasts cars unless we're talking about proper offroaders. It's not that different from buying a boring o' sedan or hatchback as their daily beater. For a lot of car people, that's always been the case for a long time.

Personally, i don't mind them adding SUVs but it heavily depends on what are they adding and how will it fit the game. Are we adding in offroaders like the Land Cruiser, high end performance luxury like the Lamborghini Urus or are we just talking a plain old Ford Edge? Also, i find that comment pretty interesting as there's a heavy lack of SUVs in GT7 to begin with.


Yamauchi also reflects on how players — “I don’t think it’s the majority,” he notes — respond to new features such as GT Sophy or new Vision Gran Turismo cars, with requests for their own favorite older vehicles.

This also doesn't make any sense either. Fans don't mind adding in new cars, if anything the biggest complaints when it comes to cars is lack of post 2017+ cars.

Same deal with prototypes and concept cars, fans don't mind them that much if at all. It's just that they don't find the Vision GT stuff to be interesting for the most part.
 
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Are people serious right now? One of the most famous Gran Turismo cars is an SUV. Guess it’s an eye opener for those that didn’t know. :sly:

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Cough- so why give us a willys jeep and a fiat 595???? The 8c??? Quite a few useless vehicles already, so give us 2' in a class like the 2' trucks?
Range rover and x5, my predictions, maybe the genesis g80? Since they have a heavy partnership now..

SO WE CAN SWAP THEM DUHHHHHHH!!!! GIVE us old cars with new motors. AND TRANSMISSIONS!

We want the "wtf" factor!!! Seeing a jeep hang with a Ferrari- is 10X cooler than watching some ai powered electric future vehicle that will never be roadlegal or purchasable... (Vgt)


THE future is "tesla swaps". We want our old bodies.

We will never rest our timeless classics that we grew to love!!

Edit: It's not wanting the old cars- It’s more wonder why they add vehicles most of us consider "usesless" old vehicles- 20 mil credit 8c, for example, that have no events, and literally no purpose in a sim RACE game.

The honda odyssey?! Yeah, i remember hooning that 4wd in pink around Tsukuba'. There are so many GT classics, and 00-23' that deserve garage space.

Just sold that dior pos 🤣
 
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Cough- so why give us a willys jeep and a fiat 595
You saw the "only", right? His point is that if you only put old cars in the game, it won't last as a series. Old cars as well is fine.
Oh yeah, this is definetly something that everybody would pick up instead of a proper sports car in a racing videogame.
I mean don't get me wrong, I get it that you did upgrades and else but this is a very niche type of car to add in a racing game that does not catch up content-wise in modern age cars or old cars like predecessor games at all.
What are you talking about? You said you couldn't think of a single car enthusiast who drives a crossover:
Can't really think of a single car enthusiast driving a crossover because it's such so much of a car.
I am and I do. So now you know one.
Moreover, just as you mentioned, this is just a go-into-town car, while the real exciting car is being built in garage.
Nope. I said it was my "daily" driver, work car. I'm a self-employed motoring and gaming writer; when I go to work I go from my bed, walk across the landing, and into my office, or I go drive a couple hundred miles (like I'm doing next week, for a driving event, with something with 600hp). I don't "go-into-town" or commute anywhere in it - it only gets 27mpg on a decent run, and using it for any shorter distances is suicidally expensive.

I picked a car that's fun to drive, fast, and carries stuff (and is a Mazda). It's also the most powerful European market Mazda ever made (until the hybrid CX-60 arrived in late-2022), and extremely rare; the CX-7 is no less an enthusiast's car than the Mazda 6 MPS upon which it's based. You'd have to be an enthusiast to own one, because otherwise you'd just be a moron - and in fact it's been in more Gran Turismo games than the Mazda 6 MPS, as the MX-Crossport from GT4-GT6.

Also I haven't done any upgrades, just maintenance, (there's a thread in Members Cars on it) so I'm not sure where that came from either.


And just to make the "car enthusiast" gatekeepers explode, the "real exciting car" is front-wheel drive.
 
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Cough- so why give us a willys jeep and a fiat 595???? The 8c??? Quite a few useless vehicles already, so give us 2' in a class like the 2' trucks? Range rover and x5, my predictions, maybe the genesis g80? Since they have a heavy partnership now..

SO WE CAN SWAP THEM DUHHHHHHH!!!! GIVE us old cars with new motors. AND TRANSMISSIONS!

We want the "wtf" factor!!! Seeing a jeep hang with a Ferrari- is 10X cooler than watching some ai powered electric future vehicle that will never be roadlegal or purchasable... (Vgt)


THE future is "tesla swaps". We want our old bodies.

We will never rest our timeless classics that we grew to love!!
I believe, from the article and I think Famine explained, it’s past GT cars, not old cars in general.

It’s the assents thing some complain about. Thers another Gtp article that mentions it. If PD just give us the cars from GT1-GTS, that’s easy. However, we’ve got plenty of complaints and wish threads wanting current Cars.

There’s only one car from 2023(Nissan Z). A few cars from 2022(Genesis G70 and Mazda Roadster NR-A). There are VGT cars, but that where complaint scome in. Why model those “fake” cars when there could be a 2022/2023 M4 or 2023 Porsche GT3, etc.

The Willys Jeep is new to the franchise, even though it’s a car from the past. That’s how we move forward, by getting new to the franchise cars. Classics and Current.
 
Not sure if there's any mistranslation going on but this makes no sense, aside from the fact that the majority of crossovers & SUVs buyers are not car enthusiasts to begin with.
I don't know if you've been to a race track recently, or if it's the same where you are to where I am but the car parks at the race tracks around South Australia (i.e. the places where car enthusiasts go) are pretty much dominated by crossovers and SUV's of which many are the higher end sport versions. I am one of them... who also owns two sports/GT type vehicles, but I choose to take the 3.6R Outback to the track.
 
Espace F1 or uninstall.
It's always possible. After all, it took us 23 years to get the Skyline Silhouette back, but we got it anyways.

What's less likely - but even more ridiculous - is if we got the Avantime back with an F1 engine swap. I can just see the "Wow" reactions piling up in the swap thread...
 
In addition he comments that GT7’s updates are not monthly by design, but that they just happen to be so at the moment. When asked if it’s a possibility that the updates could be more spaced out or closer together, he simply comments that it is.
The current 3 cars and 3 events a month pace is already glacial. I can't wait for 3 cars and 3 events 3 times a year.

Did Kaz really go "yes" to a "is it X or Y" question?
 
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You saw the "only", right? His point is that if you only put old cars in the game, it won't last as a series. Old cars as well is fine.

What are you talking about? You said you couldn't think of a single car enthusiast who drives a crossover:

I am and I do. So now you know one.

Nope. I said it was my "daily" driver, work car. I'm a self-employed motoring and gaming writer; when I go to work I go from my bed, walk across the landing, and into my office, or I go drive a couple hundred miles (like I'm doing next week, for a driving event, with something with 600hp). I don't "go-into-town" or commute anywhere in it - it only gets 27mpg on a decent run, and using it for any shorter distances is suicidally expensive.

I picked a car that's fun to drive, fast, and carries stuff (and is a Mazda). It's also the most powerful European market Mazda ever made (until the hybrid CX-60 arrived in late-2022), and extremely rare; the CX-7 is no less an enthusiast's car than the Mazda 6 MPS upon which it's based. You'd have to be an enthusiast to own one, because otherwise you'd just be a moron - and in fact it's been in more Gran Turismo games than the Mazda 6 MPS, as the MX-Crossport from GT4-GT6.

Also I haven't done any upgrades, just maintenance, (there's a thread in Members Cars on it) so I'm not sure where that came from either.


And just to make the "car enthusiast" gatekeepers explode, the "real exciting car" is front-wheel drive.
Well, the CX-5 and CX-7 are as much of a common and boring cheap groccery getter as possible in my country.

Also,i've said
Can't really think of a single car enthusiast driving a crossover because it's such so much of a car.
Which means that I cannot think of a single car enthusist who would choose a Crossover family van over a proper sports car/exciting car. Yes, a car enthusiast would choose a car like this in the real life as a second/third car to comfortly move around town or if he can't afford himself anything exciting at all and has to take a reliable car for life purpouses.


Moreover, we are talking about a videogame over here, which main focus is racing cars around the track and is supposed to be fun and a little better than real life. Not off-roading or trying to put a family and grocceries in a car.
recently resprayed Mk1 MX-5 in the garage resting, supercharged engine swapped project car sitting in the back garage currently still projecting.
Tell me that this "sporty" groccery-getter is much more fun to drive around than any of theese and you would pick it for track use any day...

And just to make the "car enthusiast" gatekeepers explode, the "real exciting car" is front-wheel drive.
Sorry, don't really get it. What do you mean by that?
Having driven quite a few cars of different classes, never been excited by an FWD car. (like hondas for example)
RWD or AWD like quattro is fun for me. Either slow and low-powered or extremely owerpowered, this is where fun and control is for me. FWD cars - never felt anything special behind the wheel :(
 
Having driven quite a few cars of different classes, never been excited by an FWD car. (like hondas for example)
RWD or AWD like quattro is fun for me. Either slow and low-powered or extremely owerpowered, this is where fun and control is for me. FWD cars - never felt anything special behind the wheel :(
Then you haven't driven a good sporty FWD car, some FWD cars are incredibly fun to drive.
 
Well, the CX-5 and CX-7 are as much of a common and boring cheap groccery getter as possible in my country.
They're also completely unrelated cars, to the point of wondering why you'd bring one into a conversation about the other. The CX-5 is a Mazda-own Skyactiv platform, the CX-7 a much earlier vehicle based on the Ford Focus Mk2 when Mazda was majority owned by Ford.

And the post-2010, diesel CX-7 is very boring indeed; lots of kit, but a humdrum 2.2 diesel with only 170hp or so. The first generation is a Mazda 6 MPS in a crossover body - with the same 260hp turbo 2.3 petrol and iAWD - but I've already said that twice now. Nobody sensible bought it because it's such a stupid thing to do, and as a result it's a rare, quick, and still fun to drive vehicle. Which meets the "enthusiast" criteria all ends up, whatever you think about it. Or the CX-5, for some reason.

Which means that I cannot think of a single car enthusist who would choose a Crossover family van over a proper sports car/exciting car.
It's a five-seat car with a silly engine that goes very quickly. What makes you think it's not exciting?
Yes, a car enthusiast would choose a car like this in the real life as a second/third car to comfortly move around town or if he can't afford himself anything exciting at all and has to take a reliable car for life purpouses.
The CX-7 petrol is so ridiculously expensive to run and unreliable that every outlet that deals with used cars says you shouldn't buy it. Suggesting it's a car you only run because you can't afford anything exciting and have to take a reliable car is... really ignorant of reality.
Moreover, we are talking about a videogame over here, which main focus is racing cars around the track and is supposed to be fun and a little better than real life. Not off-roading or trying to put a family and grocceries in a car.
No, you're talking about a video game. I was responding to your ludicrous gatekeeping comment that you couldn't think of a single car enthusiast who'd drive a crossover. I am, and I do. You can just admit that we actually exist any time you like rather than keeping on digging and dodging.

Also the CX-7 is in Gran Turismo in its MX-Crossport form, as also already explained twice. So... it looks like you're wrong there too.

Tell me that this "sporty" groccery-getter is much more fun to drive around than any of theese and you would pick it for track use any day...
I bought the CX-7 because it was fun to drive - as well as meeting the other criteria I had. I don't drive boring cars. More fun than an MX-5? It certainly can be - the extra power is hilarious, and the extra traction (especially in winter; why do you think the MX-5 is resting in the garage?) is very useful. Not to mention long journeys; the Mk1 MX-5 was not made to do a 300-mile run on UK roads. And I would absolutely take my CX-7 on track, without any question at all.

It would absolutely destroy the MX-5 in any acceleration zone at all; 120mph comes up quicker in the CX-7 than 90mph does in the MX-5. The MX-5 slows down quicker (when not snatching the front-left brake) obviously, but the smaller brakes tend to heat up over time (the CX-7's weight won't help here, but the discs are 65% larger), and while the weight difference is a benefit in the corners - especially when there's a change of direction involved - the much wider tyres and iAWD mean the CX-7 isn't significantly behind and power is available sooner; I'd be concerned about long radius corners and tight chicanes in the CX-7, but I'd be surprised if the MX-5 had a major advantage on any circuit less twisty than a kart track or if the CX-7 had anything less than a major advantage on any circuit with significant full throttle sections. I think the crossover point would be... Croft; MX-5 would just have the CX-7 beaten there, but the CX-7 would stamp it into the floor at Thruxton, Snetterton (300), Donington, and Silverstone.

Also I don't get groceries in it (or, all that often, family; I don't take my family to work events). I already explained this to you as well, but for some reason you keep inventing use cases for me.

Sorry, don't really get it. What do you mean by that?
People who like to gatekeep what qualifies as fun/enthusiast/sports cars - like you're doing here with crossovers when you say you don't know any car enthusiasts who drive one despite it being presented to you - love to say front-wheel drive cars aren't fun and only rear-wheel drive (or certain AWD) cars are, and the concept that FWD can be fun enrages them.

My project car that you've randomly gushed about as being more exciting than my CX-7 despite knowing nothing about it (or apparently either of them) is front-wheel drive. So it'll be fun to see you reconcile my "real exciting car" project in my garage with it being front-wheel drive, especially as you've just proven the point...


Anything else you'd like to be wrong about today, or are you going to stop gatekeeping car enthusiasm?
 

Is that an SUV or a standard groccery getter family car?

Oh no! It's a top of the line peak perfomance TRD PRO pickup truck that drives on a specially prepared road without a single mud puddle!

Yeah, I may sound stupid this time, but the whole point of my outrage os that GT7 has waaay to many issues and lacks a lot of content, before they can say that SUV's are a very important thing in a racing game like GT.
 
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