Kazunori Yamauchi

GameInformer magazine’s interview with Kazunori Yamauchi (a small part of which was quietly posted on their website back in September) was just included in their latest issue, and is now, of course, getting quite a bit more attention. Here’s what Yamauchi had to say regarding damage in Gran Turismo 5:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ateTG5bdoEc

In the latest issue of the Official UK PlayStation Magazine, Kazunori Yamauchi made yet another statement about the questionable status of Gran Turismo 5’s weather system:

Kazunori Yamauchi’s participation in the VLN’s BFGoodwrich Langstreckenmeisterschaft event on the Nurburgring Nordschleife last month is carefully documented in the latest issue of Auto Express. Editor Owen Mildenhall, who shared the car with Yamauchi and Peter Lyon during the 4 hour endurance race, has posted about the experience on the magazine’s website. Unfortunately, the differential on the team’s Lexus IS-F wasn’t up to the task, forcing Yamauchi to retire the car after just 40 minutes behind the wheel.

Most of the Kazunori Yamauchi interviews from “mainstream” gaming sites are generally pretty weak, but I’ve got to hand it to IGN editor Ryan Geddes for asking some direct, important questions during his time with the GT series creator at SEMA. Although Yamauchi’s ability to talk his way out of specific answers remains strong, Geddes’ latest interview drew some interesting comments. Watch the interview above (look out for replay interior footage of J.R. Rocha’s G37), or keep reading for complete analysis of all the high points…

It’s taken a surprisingly long amount of time for word on the latest GT Awards winner to get out, but IGN is first to break cover and confirm the winner: a 1970 Ford Mustang with a 427 SOHC “Cammer” engine. The car is a mean-yet-classy addition to Gran Turismo, carefully pieced together by Philip Koenen and Grand Touring Garage in Oregon for a “Hong Kong client” after a long search for the right body and engine. The powerplant is particularly special: considered one of the best Ford has ever built, it produces 616 hp at 7000 rpm and 515 lbs/ft of torque at 3800 rpm.

Yamauchi’s latest interview with AutoWeek magazine has quite a few surprises, with Yamauchi going so far as to confirm GT5’s development cost and a controversial new feature. Keep reading for a quick summary of everything you need to know…

It’s time for the 7th annual Gran Turismo Awards at the SEMA show in Las Vegas! As you may recall, this unique event is a big deal for GT fans and car tuners alike, as Yamauchi picks his favorite car from the show to be featured in the next GT game. Award winners from previous years have brought us some of the series’ most memorable and cars, including the 1962 Buick Special (’03 winner) in Gran Turismo 4 and the 1960 Art Morrison Chevrolet Corvette (’06 winner) in GT5 Prologue.

Kazunori Yamauchi’s latest interview with ComputerBild.de may not drop any bombshells, but it definitely warrants a closer look. Google’s automated translation is a bit rough, so I’ve picked out the high points for you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og3uRCwHPMA

Few franchises in the gaming world can trigger such heated debate as Forza and Gran Turismo. The reason for the rivalry is obvious, with each high-profile game competing for hearts and minds on the front lines of the “console wars”. Up until this year, however, Microsoft’s Turn 10 Studios and Kazunori Yamauchi’s Polyphony Digital worked quietly on their respective titles and delivered driving games of excellent quality for each console. As the online rhetoric of fans begins to heat up, however, that code of silence is beginning to melt away. Here’s what Yamauchi had to say about the competition while speaking with NowGamer just last week:

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

Japanese gaming mag Famitsu hit news stands this week featuring a fresh interview with Kazunori Yamauchi. He used the opportunity to reiterate GT5’s progress while emphasizing the scale of the game:

We’ve got another new interview with Kazunori Yamauchi via GameBlog.fr, and while it’s not as personal or as thorough as Xavier Ocampo’s, it does produce two interesting and encouraging statements.  First, he reiterates the updated damange modeling in Gran Turismo 5 – reinforcing my personal suspicion that negative reactions to the damage shown off at GamesCom was the primary decision for a 2010 release. On the subject of release dates, Yamauchi confirms that is a decision in the hands of Sony Computer Entertainment, since “both versions [PAL and NTSC, presumably] will be finished at the same time”.

When you’re looking through some of the latest screenshots, it’s easy to think to yourself, “You know, that looks a lot better than anything I’ve ever seen in real life.” It’s a phenomenon not lost on Kazunori Yamauchi, who acknowledges that the real world doesn’t quite live up to the visual standards set by Polyphony Digital in these comments to NowGamer:

Unfortunately, most “journalists” who get the chance to interview Kazunori Yamauchi are largely clueless about the current state of the franchise. As a result, they ask the same questions to which the answers don’t really matter, delivered with the same rabid, impatient schoolboy mentality that seems to plague many people on the Internet these days. Needless to say, while this interview method can provide some sensational headlines, it does nothing to connect with the man or the company behind Gran Turismo. That’s what makes this interview with Xavier Ocampo, Japanese correspondent at MeriStation, so incredibly refreshing and insightful.

Last weekend’s interviews with Kazunori Yamauchi are finally hitting the web. While most reveal nothing that GTPlanet readers don’t already know, if we add up the bits and pieces of new information, we can get a better idea of what he is trying to tell us (or not). With so many interviews out at once, it’s easy to feel a bit overwhelmed. To help out, I’ve organized Yamauchi’s comments for you, dividing them up by topic. Let’s get started…

It’s always interesting to take a peek inside Polyphony Digital‘s studios – a modern space packed full of computers, PS3’s, model cars, and Japanese toys. While we wait for the interviews from GamesBlog and GameSpot, take a look at some of the pictures from they’ve already started sharing. Be sure and watch for the iconic Ferrari 330 P4 getting its interior modeled, along with some interesting track-side elements, curiously blocky screens of Gran Turismo 5, and a talking George W. Bush figurine (?). What else can you find hiding in the background? Take a look at our full gallery of 111 images right here.

Since Kazunori Yamauchi announced the Japanese release date on Thursday, the news has been met with a wide range of emotions, from elation, relief, to anger. The drama forming around Gran Turismo 5 is boiling over like never before, and all eyes will be on Yamauchi’s next interviews. Fortunately, we won’t have to wait long, as Polyphony Digital has welcomed several groups of journalists over to their studios for tours, taking questions along the way. One site, GameSpot, is taking a bold move by actually inviting their readers to recommendquestions for Yamauchi-san – you can take advantage of the opportunity by leaving a note in their comments right here.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past year (or just not reading the car magazines/blogs…), you probably know about the new Mercedes SLS AMG – the company’s replacement for the SLR McLaren and the spiritual successor to the classic 300SL Gullwing. It was only recently announced by Mercedes, but that didn’t stop Kazunori Yamauchi from getting the chance to slip behind the wheel. As you can see in these two apparently leaked videos (see the other one here), Yamauchi-san saw the car both with and without camouflage, outside and in.