Polyphony Digital

Since a team of Polyphony Digital employees were seen scanning the Snaefell Mountain Course last year – host of the legendary Isle of Man TT – there’s been a lot of talk about the possibility of motorcycles coming to the next installment of the Gran Turismo series.

Last year, Polyphony Digital announced a public effort to recruit new sound engineers to work on improving Gran Turismo’s audio. They later reported being swamped with a “large number of applications”, and some major hiring decisions have apparently been made.

Top Gear recently published an interview with Kazunori Yamauchi after speaking with him at the reveal of the Alpine Vision GT in Paris.

While in Paris to help unveil the new Alpine Vision GT concept car, GT series creator Kazunori Yamauchi was awarded the “Grand Prize of Creativity” at the 30th International Automobile Festival for his contributions to the automotive industry.

Since the PlayStation 3 encryption keys were published by hackers back in 2011, both GT5 and GT6 have been targeted by users looking to modify the games beyond their intended parameters. Although “hacks” have always been a part of video gaming and even the GT series, it now takes on a new seriousness, as it threatens the integrity and fairness of online competitions.

As most readers will recall, a new Safety Car based upon a special edition of the BMW M4 was announced for Gran Turismo 6 a few weeks ago. Many of you were quick to notice, however, that the car shown in the screenshots did not contain a flashing LED light bar on the roof, as could be seen on the real car which BMW debuted at SEMA the following day.

Changes are coming to the Suzuka Circuit in the next Gran Turismo 6 update, according to the latest post on Polyphony’s PitStop website.

The 2014 Gran Turismo Awards were held at Drai’s Nightclub on the Las Vegas strip Wednesday night, where Kazunori Yamauchi announced a custom car from SEMA 2014 – the world’s largest aftermarket automotive industry event – would be featured in an upcoming Gran Turismo game.

The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb – the most famous and challenging hill climb race in the world – has just announced that Gran Turismo will be the “Platinum Sponsor” for the 2015 event, and will even be part of the race’s official name.

Polyphony Digital, which has long been noted for its relatively small team of developers when compared to other video game production companies, is looking to recruit more staff members.

It’s that time of year again! The 12th annual Gran Turismo Awards have been formally announced, and will be held next week at SEMA 2014 – the largest international automotive trade show in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In a brief post on the company’s PitStop blog, Polyphony Digital reports they have received a “large number of applicants from around the world” for Sound Engineering positions, and that Kazunori Yamauchi and the Sound Production team are currently reviewing all of the resumes which have been submitted. They also thanked applicants for their enthusiasm for Polyphony’s “projects ahead”.

Polyphony Digital hosted a special event at their Tokyo offices today which featured some friendly competition between Super GT drivers. The event was streamed live on NicoNico, and revealed the newest track coming to GT6: Circuito de la Sierra.

When Kazunori Yamauchi accepted the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge from Forza Motorsport’s Dan Greenawalt last week, he took the opportunity to pass along the challenge to two more people: Lucas Ordoñez, original GT Academy champion, and Ken Kutaragi, the “Father of PlayStation” who was instrumental in the design and development of the original console.

As you probably know, the “ALS Ice Bucket Challenge” has taken the world (and social media) by storm over the past few weeks. It’s resulted in a lot of fun videos of people getting cold water poured over their head, and it’s raised more than $88.5 million dollars to help victims of ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease) and help fund a global team of researchers looking for a cure.

Each year at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance – the world’s most famous and prestigious car show – Kazunori Yamauchi selects a car to be awarded the “Gran Turismo Trophy”, after which it will be digitized and immortalized in the Gran Turismo series.

Polyphony Digital has just released the “Beyond the Apex” mobile app in the iTunes App Store; click here to download it for free (332MB).

Kazunori Yamauchi has published the third post in his series discussing the engine sounds of Gran Turismo on Polyphony Digital’s “PitStop” blog.

The FIA Online Championship coming to Gran Turismo next year certainly will be pushing the world’s governing body of motorsport into the future, as the organization sanctions and stewards an entirely virtual racing event for the first time in its 110-year history.

Kazunori Yamauchi is the latest person to host a session of Reddit’s IAmA (I Am A, Ask me Anything), and is accompanied by Nissan’s chief designer, Shiro Nakamura, as both unveiled the Nissan 2020 Concept Vision Gran Turismo at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.