Ah the festive period — is there a better time to be merry for days on end? We sincerely doubt it. With parties left, right and center, one may expect that big organizations also get in on the fun. It seems Polyphony Digital is no exception, based on tweets by original GT Academy winner Lucas Ordóñez and Super GT driver Satoshi Motoyama. Both racers attended the annual party, held at the Japan offices of the Gran Turismo creators.
Always great to be back in Japan and see great friends! #GRANTURISMO #GTSport @Kaz_Yamauchi @SatoshiMotoyama pic.twitter.com/yslxeOQO0g
— Lucas Ordonez (@Lucas_Ordonez) December 28, 2016
Lucas’ tweet above shows him happily posing with Kazunori Yamauchi and Satoshi Motoyama in Polyphony’s head offices. Where most parties would play board games like Monopoly and Cluedo, the game of choice at this party would seem to be Gran Turismo Sport — as we can clearly see a full set-up of at least eight rigs for some racing action. We don’t know about you but that definitely seems more fun than the usual party games of choice!
ポリフォニーパーティーにて久々のルーカスなう🐙#GTSport pic.twitter.com/IvRxZ2Ue8l
— Satoshi Motoyama (@SatoshiMotoyama) December 28, 2016
Motoyama’s tweet shares a similar sentiment, saying that it’s been a long time since the two drivers last met up together. Alongside the same photo Lucas posted of the two drivers sharing a happy moment, another image is included showing off the GT Sport competition rig in action on Willow Springs. The California-based circuit has been shown in previous GT Sport footage so fans are well aware of it’s existence.
That being said, we can see some interesting aerial views of the track on the large screens above each wheel set-up. This appears to show the full track from a single view and could indicate the type of viewing angles the game’s Sport mode could host for spectators. Could this be our first look at some more complex camera angles for spectating the race?
This year’s festivities were short on surprises, unlike 2015’s Polyphony Holiday party: that event provided us with our first look of what would become Scapes. To its credit however, Polyphony Digital did just show off quite a lot of material at PlayStation Experience last month, including the very first 4K trailer and a selection of new vehicles (which we’ve helpfully turned into a list).
We hope you had a fantastic festive period and here’s hoping that 2017 is a great year for Gran Turismo and sim racing fans alike — We’re pretty confident it will be.
Tip o’ the hat to community member queleuleu for first bringing this to our attention.
See more articles on Kazunori Yamauchi, Lucas Ordonez, and Polyphony Digital.
