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

[mwoodski]

So here's the weird thing about crossover SUV's.

They're literally just what cars were before everything got all low and wide in the 1940's.

Those are bone standard 1939 Chevrolet, Ford, and Austin sedans. Note the high ground clearance, the overall shape, and the high seating position. We've just reverted to what we originally had.

Also I can 100% see the SUV ""trend"" slowing down within the next decade as kids that grew up with these cars start to become the primary buying target for manufactures.

No one wants to drive what their parents did.

 

[FPV MIC]

No one wants to drive what their parents did.

Really, no one? My parents had some ripper cars that I'd love to own/drive. I even did own and drive one of them for many years that my parents had bought brand new. I'd probably still have it tucked away somewhere if it didn't die a slow and horrible death from rust (it was already about 25 years old when I got it). I still have the grille hanging up in my shed though.

 

[Ipirialmighty]

I feel sorry for Kaz who is subjected to unreasonable criticism by stupid translations and clipping.

I've read this interview in its entirety in Japanese, and the criticism he's receiving in this thread is not fair.

Everyone talks about how SUV are necessary or not for GTs, but he's talking about the need to cover those cars "as well," and it's foolish to focus the discussion on that when he hasn't indicated a policy of rapidly increase SUV.

 

[SnakeOfBacon]

...
And then to say that their capacity for new cars is around 60 per year, and to only have delivered around 30 extra cars after release, (about 50%), 75% along the way to the first anniversary, seems to be a weird claim to make. We can make 60 new cars a year, but we're not going to give you that! (so far) 🤔

It'd be nice if they did add 60 (or more) cars per year (as in 2018 and '19), but if they release every car they produce in a given year, none are saved up for GT8.
I don't really want GT7 to have a two-year lull with four cars released like GTS had, so I can understand their "36 now, 24 for hibernation" strategy.

 

[Ande3200]

60 cars per year would be my guess thats for 2023 and beyond, 2022 proably not included, we looking at 600 cars by the end of 2024 if they can keep that pace, witch would still be great for the the work and quality that goes into each car model for gt7,

I also run ac on pc with mods witch is kind of awesome, some of car mods are even close in quality to the gran turismo car models but not many in that quality overall, i would say over 50% is not the gretest quality,

but the sounds you get in ac is really mindblowing with some mods,

But even then i always find my self back at gran turismo, becouse no other racing game gives me the same feeling and love for cars😊

 

[05XR8]

Kaz mentioned that in GT Sport, when the car models were ready, they’d be released. We don’t know how many are being modelled at any given time. Just because they can produce in X amount of numbers, doesn’t mean thats’s what is in progress.

 

[whiteusagi]

I feel sorry for Kaz who is subjected to unreasonable criticism by stupid translations and clipping.

I've read this interview in its entirety in Japanese, and the criticism he's receiving in this thread is not fair.

Everyone talks about how SUV are necessary or not for GTs, but he's talking about the need to cover those cars "as well," and it's foolish to focus the discussion on that when he hasn't indicated a policy of rapidly increase SUV.

Completely agreed here. The full interview was quite lengthy with Kaz touching on SUVs briefly in but one of the many questions presented to him, yet the reaction blew over. For those who care, this was the question/answer in Japanese/English (for context this was following a discussion over ways to keep car culture sustainable into the future):

――「ビジョン グランツーリスモ」以外の新車について、今後注力していきたい分野は何かありますか？
山内氏： 注力というのではないのですが、車の種類も今だいぶ変わってきています。ミニバンが増えたというのももちろんあるのですが。今、車好きの方はSUVに乗っていることが多いです。かつて、車好きの方はスポーツカーに乗っていました。当時スポーツカーに乗っていたような人たち、かろうじて車の運転に興味があるような人たちは、今はSUVタイプに乗っていることが多いんですね。そういう車もカバーしていかないといけないとは思っています。

--What other areas of new cars besides "Vision Gran Turismo" would you like to focus on in the future?
Yamauchi: I wouldn't say it's a focus, but the types of cars nowadays have changed quite a bit. Of course, there is the increase in the number of minivans. Nowadays, many car enthusiasts drive SUVs, whereas in the past, car enthusiasts drove sports cars. Now, both the kind of people who used to drive sports cars in the past as well as those who are barely interested in driving cars, are now often driving SUV types. I think we need to cover those types of cars as well.

Note: He goes out of the way to specifically mention that the talk of SUVs/minivans is not one of their focuses. My personal opinion of the language he uses is that he is simply trying to keep the door open to minivans/SUVs/etc. as a potential tool to connect to a greater audience (to both car enthusiasts of past, as well as those who may not be as invested in the current day).

 

[Northstar]

I feel sorry for Kaz who is subjected to unreasonable criticism by stupid translations and clipping.

He is a very experienced studio head working for a billion dollar international company, if people are still relying on unofficial translations for information that’s pretty much their own fault. There is nothing unreasonable about it.

 

[05XR8]

Plus, this is the only thing he’s mentioned, about the car list, we can discuss. There’s only one 2023 car and it’s an iconic sports car PD didn’t promote. The 2022 Genesis(minus the surprise Gr.3 & Gr.4 cars) and Mazda NR-A, could have easily been replaced by other highly requested cars.
Some people may be uneducated about how high SUVs have risen in performance, since the Bronco II and Cherokee. Even above the iconic GMC Typhoon & Syclone.

Also, about the ficus bit, Kaz acknowledged the need to include SUVs. That’s enough to through fans off that hope to see certain cars. It’s similar to fans feeling VGTs taking a slot that could have been for another car. So, including one SUV feels like (insert)iconic Gran Turismo 1-GTSport car X or iconic car Y and/or new car Z(no pun intended), will be missed.

 

[Artremis]

He is a very experienced studio head working for a billion dollar international company, if people are still relying on unofficial translations for information that’s pretty much their own fault. There is nothing unreasonable about it.

That's an absurd position. Game directors do interviews for different mediums and languages all the time, and they aren't translated officially because that's literally not their responsibility, it's how interviews and media work. If they were to make an official public statement or something sure, it'd fall on them to translate it.

 

[Northstar]

that's literally not their responsibility,

It is if you don’t want to be misunderstood. They have the tools at their disposal, they just choose to ignore them.

 

[redhed17]

It'd be nice if they did add 60 (or more) cars per year (as in 2018 and '19), but if they release every car they produce in a given year, none are saved up for GT8.
I don't really want GT7 to have a two-year lull with four cars released like GTS had, so I can understand their "36 now, 24 for hibernation" strategy.

If you say you can create 60 cars a year, you better deliver very close to 60 cars for 2-3 years minimum at least imho. Otherwise, why tell people you can create 60 cars!

To start hoarding cars for a GT8 is way too early when you consider the possible time between GT games. If they think the next game could be anywhere near the 9 years between GT6 and GT7, I expect a decent number of cars per year for more than 3 years.

And yes, I know GT Sport was in between, but GT6 had, Wiki says, 1247 cars, and GT Sport and GT7 add up to 758 (so far) for 9 years! The money they are making, they could afford to employ more people to create cars and tracks.

Just the simplistic view of a game player, who has played so many hours playing GT games from GT1, and is sadly, more disappointed by GT7 than maybe I was with GT Sport. After I realised what GT Sport was in comparison to previous GT games, I hoped for a return to form for GT7, but I have played GT7 less than GT Sport, and I don't race online! 😲

 

[Giz WCR-666]

The money they are making, they could afford to employ more people to create cars and tracks.

this is something ive always wondered.. its won many awards recently, surely theyre making enough money to expand things..

 

[Ipirialmighty]

He is a very experienced studio head working for a billion dollar international company, if people are still relying on unofficial translations for information that’s pretty much their own fault. There is nothing unreasonable about it.

He was interviewed by only Japanese media. He hasn't agreed to have the interview published in other language, nor has The Japanese media is not obligated to hire a translator to translate into English.

"their own fault"?! It is absolutely unreasonable to abuse him with unofficial and incorrect translations.

It is if you don’t want to be misunderstood. They have the tools at their disposal, they just choose to ignore them.

He hasn't agreed to clipped and translate this interview.

Whenever Kaz is interviewed by the English media, he always hires an interpreter to accompany him in order to avoid misunderstandings arising from his English. On this point, he is fulfilling his responsibilities as the president of a billion dollar company.

Completely agreed here. The full interview was quite lengthy with Kaz touching on SUVs briefly in but one of the many questions presented to him, yet the reaction blew over. For those who care, this was the question/answer in Japanese/English (for context this was following a discussion over ways to keep car culture sustainable into the future):

Note: He goes out of the way to specifically mention that the talk of SUVs/minivans is not one of their focuses. My personal opinion of the language he uses is that he is simply trying to keep the door open to minivans/SUVs/etc. as a potential tool to connect to a greater audience (to both car enthusiasts of past, as well as those who may not be as invested in the current day).

Thank you so much for proper supplementary information😄

 

[Northstar]

He was interviewed by only Japanese media. He hasn't agreed to have the interview published in other language, nor has The Japanese media is not obligated to hire a translator to translate into English.

"their own fault"?! It is absolutely unreasonable to abuse him with unofficial and incorrect translations.

He hasn't agreed to clipped and translate this interview.

Whenever Kaz is interviewed by the English media, he always hires an interpreter to accompany him in order to avoid misunderstandings arising from his English. On this point, he is fulfilling his responsibilities as the president of a billion dollar company.

As I have already said, while there is no obligation to provide an interpretation whether it is live or not, the option certainly exists. The fact they choose not to provide even a translated manuscript is a choice they willingly made thus have only themselves to blame when others misinterpret them.

They also have the opportunity to release clarifying comments after the interview, they don’t take advantage of that opportunity either.

 

[HarVee]

What surprises me though is that Kazunori still needs translator-san when doing English interviews. He has millions of dollars at his disposal and certainly can afford a TESL teacher. Hell, I'm a licensed TESL teacher. I could teach him for free.

 

[Nightwing24]

As I have already said, while there is no obligation to provide an interpretation whether it is live or not, the option certainly exists. The fact they choose not to provide even a translated manuscript is a choice they willingly made thus have only themselves to blame when others misinterpret them.

They also have the opportunity to release clarifying comments after the interview, they don’t take advantage of that opportunity either.

You should read what Spanish speaking people are saying about your posts here via google translate…. You should’ve provided translations in all languages if you wanted to be understood 🤷🏼‍♂️

 

[whiteusagi]

What surprises me though is that Kazunori still needs translator-san when doing English interviews. He has millions of dollars at his disposal and certainly can afford a TESL teacher. Hell, I'm a licensed TESL teacher. I could teach him for free.

Millions of dollars still unfortunately falls short of buying time. And perhaps he simply feels his time is spent better in other pursuits (I believe people have previously mentioned before that his English is actually surprisingly good, although I have no proof to back that up).

As I have already said, while there is no obligation to provide an interpretation whether it is live or not, the option certainly exists. The fact they choose not to provide even a translated manuscript is a choice they willingly made thus have only themselves to blame when others misinterpret them.

They also have the opportunity to release clarifying comments after the interview, they don’t take advantage of that opportunity either.

I can’t speak about any other interviews because I haven’t read all of them, but I would like to focus on the original interviews linked in the GTPlanet article. Are you saying that Kaz is responsible for a Japanese media outlet not using their finite resources to hire a translator to translate their original Japanese conversation into English? Or that Polyphony should have a need to translate any/all interviews Kaz conducts in whatever language into English? If so, I imagine that would be a sure fire way to have him keep his mouth shut, which is another “problem” that many people hold his feet to the fire for.

 

[SnakeOfBacon]

If you say you can create 60 cars a year, you better deliver very close to 60 cars for 2-3 years minimum at least imho. Otherwise, why tell people you can create 60 games!

To start hoarding cars for a GT8 is way too early when you consider the possible time between GT games. If they think the next game could be anywhere near the 9 years between GT6 and GT7, I expect a decent number of cars per year for more than 3 years.

And yes, I know GT Sport was in between, but GT6 had, Wiki says, 1247 cars, and GT Sport and GT7 add up to 758 (so far) for 9 years!

I wouldn't add the GT Sport and GT7 car lists together because they share 333 cars! GT7 has the whole GTS carlist, minus 2 cars and 3 livery duplicates, plus 91 cars at launch and 30 from updates so far.

GT6 had a car list that took 12 years to build, with 796 'Standard' cars from GT3, 4 and PSP, and 400+ 'Premium' cars made since 2006.

132 of GT6's Premium cars made the jump from 6 to Sport, and 17 more PS3-era cars have been added to GT7 so far. If all the other lost Premium cars were added to GT7 tomorrow, we'd go from 454 to 683ish cars (plus NASCAR and two Ferrari F1 machines).
Hmm... 700 cars made in 15 years sounds even worse, let's forget that figure.
Here's to 480 more great cars by 2031, and bringing back the 200ish Premiums that we know are great!

 

[juanffy18]

Gt fans only not drive SUV, GT fans drive GT1 cars for daily, i have a GT-one in my garage Kaz and a motorcycle, so Tourist Trophy 2 please.

 

[i386]

GT fans drive GT1 cars for daily

And a tomahawk to work (making money). When they get caught doing 490+ km/h they say it's a valid 600pp car

 

[redhed17]

I wouldn't add the GT Sport and GT7 car lists together because they share 333 cars! GT7 has the whole GTS carlist, minus 2 cars and 3 livery duplicates, plus 91 cars at launch and 30 from updates so far.

GT6 had a car list that took 12 years to build, with 796 'Standard' cars from GT3, 4 and PSP, and 400+ 'Premium' cars made since 2006.

132 of GT6's Premium cars made the jump from 6 to Sport, and 17 more PS3-era cars have been added to GT7 so far. If all the other lost Premium cars were added to GT7 tomorrow, we'd go from 454 to 683ish cars (plus NASCAR and two Ferrari F1 machines).
Hmm... 700 cars made in 15 years sounds even worse, let's forget that figure.
Here's to 480 more great cars by 2031, and bringing back the 200ish Premiums that we know are great!

I knew there was a lot of overlaps with regards to cars numbers/games, but did not have the knowledge, or the inclination, to work it out. So thanks for that. My numbers look bad enough, but yours look even worse. 🙄

 

[lqpl]

I read it as “it’s not enough to stay in the past, we have to look to the future as well.”

We’re probably in the last generation of children now who makes the sound “brrrrr” when they play with cars.

It sure feels like childhood when we get a few new "hotwheels" style cars every month or so.
Dreams becoming realitly !

The funniest part of the SUV debate this topic has turned into is the fact that the concept version of the Mazda CX-7 was in GT4, GT5, and GT6. 🤣

Twas' one of the pioneers. And it being turbo'd' should have brought it more popularity. Famine is lucky enough to have a rare gem 💎 of them in the uk, but I barely see them at all on the roads anymore here in southern US. The fog/tail lights have always reminded me of the older style portable and home cd players.🧐

 

[Ipirialmighty]

As I have already said, while there is no obligation to provide an interpretation whether it is live or not, the option certainly exists. The fact they choose not to provide even a translated manuscript is a choice they willingly made thus have only themselves to blame when others misinterpret them.

They also have the opportunity to release clarifying comments after the interview, they don’t take advantage of that opportunity either.

option? translated manuscript? release clarifying comments after the interview? Are you serious...?🤔

As I said before, Kaz was interviewed by only Japanese media, GT Planet has unofficially translated it. That things happened without his knowledge.

I think that GT Planet is responsible for this situation, but the more people like you there are, Kaz may refuse to be interviewed to avoid trouble. As a result, we will be less opportunities to get information about Gran Turismo.

 

[pmm4177]

This is the discussion thread for an article on GTPlanet:

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

Over the holiday period, and to mark Gran Turismo’s 25th Anniversary, Polyphony Digital invited Japanese gaming media to a rare tour of its facilities and another opportunity for Kazunori Yamauchi to explain his thoughts of the past, present, and future of the series...

I just want the game I paid $114 for PS4 to work properly! Ever since the 25th anniversary update I've been dealing with the game freezing midrace for a second or so causing me to lose time on the car in front of me making it impossible to race in the daily events without completely ruining my win/loss ratio because it might freeze 1 time in a 6 lap race, it might freeze 5 times in a single lap and sometimes I can run 3 or 4 races without it doing it. If you can't/won't fix this issue thats been going on 2.5 months you can just give me my hard earned $114 back and ill go play assetto corsa comp!

 

[FMW]

I believe, Kaz is missing the point about high-end wheels. People will spend good hard-earned money on those things that will bring them joy. For me, that joy came when I bought my first Logitech compatible GT wheel for GT3. I used it to death and kept updating my Logitech wheels up until the G25. Luckily, the GT games are fun to drive with the hand controller, but for me I get the most joy using a wheel. Today, that joy comes from Fanatec and their DD base/wheel offerings along with an aluminum extrusion rig. No, people don't have to go this route to enjoy a "game", but for me it's a heck of a fun way to play with "virtual toy cars".

As a side note: I wonder if his stance on "high-end" wheels is the reason he doesn't improve his implementation on said "high-end" wheels in his game? It's maybe his way of controlling the perception that you need a high-end wheel to be competitive when playing the "Sport" aspect of the game? Curious....

 

[MUC76]

It's maybe his way of controlling the perception that you need a high-end wheel to be competitive when playing the "Sport" aspect of the game?

Then we will never get a simple brake and/or throttle rumble for the fanatec...

 

[redhed17]

As a side note: I wonder if his stance on "high-end" wheels is the reason he doesn't improve his implementation on said "high-end" wheels in his game? It's maybe his way of controlling the perception that you need a high-end wheel to be competitive when playing the "Sport" aspect of the game? Curious....

I think they will definitely support the wheels they licence, but other wheels... 🤔

 

[Mathaios_C]

Why no one ask about the gt mode and why they chose to go with those menus instead of the classic gt mode…it is no sense, so incomplete. Why no on ask why the collector level is locked at 50. Why no on asked why u need licence B and A. So incomplete. Why no one ask about seasonal events. So many questions and no answers.

 

[Giz WCR-666]

So many questions and no answers.

its how Kaz operates.. 😂