Polyphony Digital

Polyphony Digital has taken an unusual – though certainly welcome – opportunity to announce scheduled downtime for Gran Turismo 5’s online services through mid-September. While it is not clear what, if anything, these maintenance periods will bring with them in the form of software updates, it’s worth noting the release of new GT5 versions have frequently been released after network downtime.

At the 2011 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance yesterday, Kazunori Yamauchi awarded this year’s Gran Turismo Trophy to a head-turning 1960 Plymouth XNR Ghia Roadster concept car. Created by influential car designer Virgil Exner (hence the concept’s name), it was intended to preview the direction of Chrysler’s designs in the 1960’s. It had enough muscle to back up its dramatic, asymmetrical look, producing 250 horsepower from a Valiant 225 Slant Six (more details on the car are available here).

In an interview with VG24/7, Shuhei Yoshida, President of SCE Worldwide Studios, made some interesting comments regarding the future of Gran Turismo 5 and Polyphony Digital’s next project:

While responding to a question on Twitter, Kazunori Yamauchi has thankfully shared some brief yet interesting information on the future plans for Gran Turismo 5. Here’s a human translation of his comments, kindly offered by GTPlanet community member Shirakawa Akira:

Earlier this week, Kazunori Yamauchi announced (via rare English-language tweet) Polyphony Digital’s new offices in Fukuoka, Japan, are already up and running. Though initial news reports were lacking many hard details, more information has emerged about the details behind the move, suggesting more substantial changes for the company than was originally inferred.

Well, this was certainly unexpected: Japanese news outlets are reporting that Polyphony Digital will be moving 50 of the company’s 150 employees more than 500 miles away, from Tokyo to Fukuoka, Japan. Apparently, the trauma Tokyo suffered during the Japan’s major earthquake earlier this year has prompted the move (Fukuoka is located in the western end of Japan, which generally sees less seismic activity compared to other parts of the country).

You think you know a lot about the Gran Turismo series? This jaw-dropping collection of GT games and memorabilia collected by GTPlanet’s own edward_v12 will educate even the most hard-core fans.

As you’ve probably heard by now, Japan was rocked by a large earthquake and tsunami early this morning. Understandably, I’ve received questions from many other fans concerned about the safety of Kazunori Yamauchi and the team at Polyphony Digital. Fortunately, Kazunori tweeted not long after the event to report no major damage or significant injuries at either of the company’s studios.

SCEE has granted a product licensing company known as “Musterbrand” the rights to produce GT-branded shirts and outerwear in an online “Gran Turismo Boutique”. The products range in price from $24.00 to $199.00 (shipping not included).

GT series creator Kazunori Yamauchi gave an interesting speech at D.I.C.E. 2011 yesterday, titled “On Gran Turismo and I”. Hosted by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, the D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Summit is designed to “bring together the top video game designers and developers from around the world and business leaders from all major publishers to discuss the state of the industry, its trends and the future.”

If you’ve been following the online reviews and chatter surrounding Gran Turismo 5 you know how contentious most of it has been. Between the “fanboys”, the trolls, and the rest of us, it’s very difficult to actually see what most people really think about the game or how it could be improved. It’s even more difficult to pass along your feedback to Sony Computer Entertainment or Polyphony Digital, and – unless they ask you directly for your opinions- your thoughts may just get lost in the noise.

Kazunori Yamauchi has been honored in UK Esquire magazine’s “Man at the Top 2010” awards for his work on GT5 and the GT series. Esquire recognized ten men who “rewrote the future through their works in the past year”, placing Yamauchi alongside some big names, including actor Russell Crowe, “Inception” director Christopher Nolan, Twitter CEO Evan Willams,  Tour de France star Mark Cavendish, and others.

First picked up by our own Amar212, SCEJ (Sony Japan) has announced that three free cars for Gran Turismo 5 will be available to download from the PlayStation Store on December 24th. The free cars will be “Chrome Line” editions of the Lamborghini Murcielago LP 640,  Jaguar XJ13, and a BMW M3 Coupe. Keep in mind this news report has – so far – only come out of Japan (though Japanese gaming site AndriaSang rather confidently states that “Anyone with GT5 will be able to make the download for free.”)

IDC Models, the rapid prototyping and model making division of Industrial Design Consultancy (IDC), has just completed a prototype of a radical new concept race car, which comes straight from the mind of one of the world’s top F1 car designers, Adrian Newey, Red Bull Racing’s Chief Technical Officer.

In a new press release, Sony Computer Entertainment has announced the official sales data for Gran Turismo 5. As of December 6, 2010, GT5 sales exceeded 5.5 million units worldwide – or 423,000 copies sold per day for 13 days. That’s half a million more copies than what GT5: Prologue managed to sell in nearly two and a half years, and more than double what Gran Turismo PSP has sold since last October. GT5 is also now halfway along to GT1, GT2, and GT4’s total sales (approximately 10 million per title), but still has a ways to go to match GT3’s 14.8 million.

This is it, folks: Polyphony Digital has finally published the complete and comprehensive list of features in GT5. A quick scan actually doesn’t reveal any major bombshells that most of you regular GTPlanet readers don’t already know, but it’s a nice overview, regardless. Start reading here on the official site.

Much like Polyphony Digital’s Citroen GT, it looks like the Red Bull X1 Prototype will also be transitioning from the virtual world into reality – sort of. This is actually just a model, but these pictures from the latest edition of Evo Magazine make it easier to imagine what the real thing could actually look like.

Here’s the official photo collection from last week’s Gran Turismo Awards in Las Vegas. Don’t miss the first new screenshots of last year’s winner, Philip Koenen’s 1970 Ford “Trans-Cammer” Mustang below.

The 8th annual GT Awards were held in Las Vegas last night, and Kazunori Yamauchi gave top honors to Mark Stielow for his custom 1969 Chevrolet Camaro. Check out the complete press release and the first pictures from the event below. Expect a lot more media, video, and interviews to start popping up from SEMA in the next few days.

A GameReactor associate in Tokyo, Gregor Wildermann, has reportedly made contact with Polyphony Digital and Kazunori Yamauchi for further clarification on Gran Turismo 5’s production status: