Kazunori Yamauchi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd0fscJeyxg

Thanks to gamer28 for digging up this short-but-sweet interview by AOL Autos with Kazunori Yamauchi, as he discusses the role that hybrid cars will play in Gran Turismo 5. Most notably, he also mentions you’ll be able to “tune” hybrids – with the recommendation of turbo-charging the new Honda CR-Z which will be featured in the game.

GT series creator Kazunori Yamauchi is taking your questions live, right now, via Honda’s official Twitter account! If you’re on Twitter, submit your questions by including the “#Honda” and “#E3” hash-tags in your tweets. I’ll be following the interview closely and will update this post accordingly. The interview starts right now, at 12:00 PM Pacific Time!

EuroGamer was first to share new details that emerged from the private GT5 presentation Yamauchi hosted at E3 on Wednesday, and now we’ve got even more information from MotorTrend, Kotaku, IGN, and GameSpot. Now, in addition to the new details I’ve already covered, here’s what we know:

As you may recall, GT series creator Kazunori Yamauchi joined the Team World Car Awards for the 24-Hour Nurburgring race just a few weeks ago. Despite some mechanical troubles, they finished fourth in their class, with Yamauchi himself setting the team’s second-fastest lap at 9:48. Check out on-board video of one of his laps below, featuring his signature smooth-and-steady driving style. Congratulations to the whole team, and thanks to all who sent this in!

Gaming business news site MCV is claiming to have received word from a “source close to Sony” that Gran Turismo 5’s implementation of 3D technology and support for the new PlayStation Move controller are the reasons for the game’s extended development time. While 3D support has already been confirmed, until now PS Move rumors had been fueled by nothing more than some extremely vague statements by Kazunori Yamauchi early last month to gaming magazine PSM3:

As many of you know, the father of the Gran Turismo series is competing in the Nurburgring 24 Hours race, going on right now. He’s driving the #72 Lexus IS-F with teammates Hideshi Matsuda, Owen Mildenhall, and Peter Lyon (learn more about them here). You can monitor their progress live on the race’s official website – they’ve even got streaming video coverage available right here. For audio coverage in English, tune in to Radio Le Mans (thanks for the shout-out on the air , guys!). I’ll update this post when the results are in. Good luck, Yamauchi-san!

In what is presumably the last of Kazunori Yamauchi’s round of interviews to emerge from his time at Snetterton, he’s made a comment regarding the development status of the big game:

In an interview with Japanese show “Love Cars!”, Yamauchi hinted at updates to GT5’s damage modeling:

During his time at Snetterton to watch the two GT Academy 2010 finalists compete for the top spot, Kazunori Yamauchi talked with quite a few journalists. His last interview to be published is with BBC’s TopGear. As you would expect, there aren’t any bombshells, but here’s the most notable quotes:

One of the more unpleasant surprises we’ve had waiting for Gran Turismo 5 was the unexpected postponement of the game’s March 2010 Japanese release. It was a quiet announcement, but set a somber tone at the beginning of the year for us eager fans. Since that time, we have not received any sort of information on exactly why that happened – until now. In an excellent interviewwith Dean Gibson of AutoExpress last weekend, Yamauchi-san clarified things a little bit:

Kazunori Yamauchi was (and actually still is, thanks to Iceland’s volcano) in the UK this past weekend to meet with the GT Academy 2010 winners at Snetterton. That went well, but the first interview to emerge from his visit (which appears to have been removed from AutoBlog UK) has already caused a great deal of teeth-grinding in our forums. Here’s the problem:

MotorTrend has just published a new video today, which includes new NASCAR video footage – including interior view! It also documents Kazunori Yamauchi’s first-hand experience at the Texas Motor Speedway. Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

MotorTrend’s latest interview with Kazunori Yamauchi is, thankfully, a great read. By opening the floor to questions before their meeting, editor Nate Martinez was really able to hit all the high points – bravo! Here’s some of the most noteworthy quotes:

While digging through TechCrunch‘s live CES coverage, I uncovered one of Kazunori Yamauchi‘s most unique interviews. It’s live, uncut footage, showing everything from the moment TechCrunch editors first meet the Sony press representative, talking with the infamous “Translator” alone before Yamauchi arrives, to a funny interruption at the end. Although no new information was revealed, I found it enjoyable and refreshing to watch and I think you will, too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFZZ0Fjtb94

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:

Before the Gran Turismo 5 Time Trial Demo was released to the public, it was open to a few members of the press and special VIPs involved with the GT series. While their hot laps and replays were taken offline when the leader boards were reset, they live on thanks to more videos via TaxiGamer. Below you’ll find clips of Kazunori Yamauchi and the first GT Academy winner, Lucas Ordonez. Six-time WRC champion Sebastian Loeb was also spotted in the rankings, though I can’t find any video footage of his lap at the moment. If you have it, please share the link below!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pmx9QITCfyY

GTPlanet Twitter follower jef722 sent me a link to a recent article posted by EDGE Online, and I found its perspective and approach incredibly refreshing. EDGE argues that Yamauchi’s creation is much more than just a racing game – it’s a classic Japanese RPG, played out in hundreds or even thousands of races: