Kazunori Yamauchi

Important details regarding GT Sport’s mission challenges and tracks have appeared during the 2016 Animation-Comic-Game conference, revealing more on the game set to land on store shelves this November.

One of the most well-represented racing classes in Gran Turismo Sport is set to see its ranks grow by at least one more car, if an Instagram post from endurance racer Matias Henkola is to be believed. During the Nürburgring 24 Hour race last month — where GT Sport was playable for fans — Henkola and the rest of the team had access to a special private build of the game, where their Walkenhorst race car was made available for crucial virtual seat time.

Much like the automotive sector, China is a huge market for gaming. Sony is capitalizing on that with a tour of the country over the next week, and Gran Turismo Sport will feature heavily at all three planned events.

https://youtu.be/jmR1qGbk6Uo

The 100th anniversary Pikes Peak International Hill Climb challenge recently finished, with French racing driver Romain Dumas taking the top spot with a time of 8’51.445 behind the wheel of the Norma M20 RD (#30) in the Unlimited class.

Since the Forza series split into Forza Motorsport and Forza Horizon, there’s been a recurring theme of speculation among GT fans that Polyphony might do something similar. According to recent comments by Kazunori Yamauchi, however, people hoping for a GT spin-off title by another developer should not get their hopes up:

When looking at the GT franchise as a whole, critics frequently rate the most recent games – GT5 and GT6 – as the least successful in the series’ history, for a wide variety of reasons. Those critics might be surprised to find that Kazunori Yamauchi actually agrees with them.

With online racing taking center stage in Gran Turismo Sport, there has rightfully been many questions about the game’s match-making capabilities. Playing with drivers outside of your own skill set – whether they are faster or slower than you – can be a frustrating experience, especially if you end up with the rude and childish players who often plague online lobbies.

Kazunori Yamauchi has confirmed in an interview with German outlet ‘Inside Playstation’ that Gran Turismo Sport will incorporate extended online support for servers in the much-anticipated ‘Sport’ mode of the game.

2016 marks the 100th anniversary – but only the 94th running – of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado. Gran Turismo became a platinum sponsor of the event last year, and will expand that relationship by having Polyphony Digital president Kazunori Yamauchi not only attend the event, but drive one of the three Acura pace cars.

Since the reveal of Gran Turismo Sport, Kazunori Yamuchi has once again been pushed into the spotlight of the broader gaming media – a new iteration of Gran Turismo brings in a level of hype unmatched by many series in the genre and gaming medium as a whole. One such outlet who are covering the recent unveiling of Gran Turismo Sport is Red Bull’s gaming section, who conducted an interview with Kazunori himself. Whilst a lot of the article reiterates points we already knew and reported on, there are some interesting statements from the head of Polyphony Digital.

https://youtu.be/djZToFEFw_0

Kazunori Yamauchi has confirmed that Gran Turismo Sport will not feature dynamic time-lapsing or weather. In the interview conducted by GTPlanet, Kazunori made clear that there will be no ‘transitions’ during races and conditions will be chosen prior to entering a race. These features were two of the stand-out attributes for Polyphony’s PS3-era games, however they could only be accessed on specific tracks within the game’s track roster, which meant the level of quality each track had could vary depending on what was chosen.

When the Vision GT Project took off back in 2013, nobody really knew how long the collaborative effort between Polyphony Digital and leading automobile manufacturers and design houses was going to last. Speaking with GTPlanet in London last week, Kazunori Yamauchi confirmed the initiative is far from complete, and that players can expect further additions in this year’s Gran Turismo Sport:

In less than a month, citizens residing near Colorado Springs will get the chance to attend the 100th anniversary race of the Pikes Peak Hill Climb challenge, one of the most dangerous point-to-point racing events in the world. Conquering the peak of this 12.42 miles long course has always been one of motorsports’ cream-of-the-crop undertakings, with various numbers of unique machines trying to beat the environment in the hands of unbelievably talented drivers.

The details that came out during last week’s London event were a veritable wave of information for Gran Turismo fans. GT Sport’s full retail release date was announced (November 15, 16, or 18, depending on region), but one date absent from the event was the public beta’s availability, which was announced at the original GT Sport unveiling last year. We’ve now got confirmation that it won’t be happening, from Kazunori Yamauchi himself.

Bang the gongs, cue the avalanche of GIF’s – it’s happening! After over six months of silence, GT Sport is ready for its first gameplay showing. As you’d expect of a company that has announced a title at a racetrack (GT6), and taken over an entire town for a release party (GT6 again), Polyphony is pulling out all the stops, showcasing the PS4 title in downtown London, at the Copper Box Arena, a former Olympic site.

Last week we reported that Polyphony Digital’s CEO Kazunori Yamauchi would be returning to the Nürburgring in the lead up to the 2016 ADAC 24 Hours of Nürburgring. Sharing the driving duties of the #101 BMW M6 GT3 with Matias Henkola, George Richardson, and Max Sandritter, Yamauchi was set to participate in the top SP9 class under the Walkenhorst Motorsport banner.

Kazunori Yamauchi will be returning to the gruelling Green Hell this year. Polyphony’s man in charge took 2015 off, after an accident during the qualifying session the year before. In a surprising turn, however, Yamauchi will be slotting in behind the wheel of a Bavarian motor for the ADAC qualifier this weekend.

As you’ve probably heard by now, the next chapter in the GT series – Gran Turismo Sport – was officially unveiled at the Paris Games Show a few hours ago.