GT5: Yamauchi promises "global community"

Speaking in a rare interview, Polyphony Digital front man and Gran Turismo producer Kanzunori Yamauchi has promised that GT5 will provide a "global" community for fans of the game from the hugely anticipated PS3 title's "online capabilities".

"This Gran Turismo was going to be the first game produced for the PlayStation 3 hardware, so we definitely had to take the specs of the game to a whole new level, he said. "For example, we've increased the number of cars that can run in a single race. We've also worked hard to make the driving simulation more real. For instance, we've tried to give the player more control when drifting the car. Another element is the AI, the cars that you race against. It's become much more intelligent. Also, this game will have online capabilities. Even up till now, I think Gran Turismo has created a unique global community, but the users weren't really connected to each other. Now the community will really become global. This will be a big change."

Yamauchi continued, "Our goal is to include every joy and fascination of automobiles into the game. Since we're trying to create a virtual reality, I think it could be called a simulator. As you know, there are many aspects in the world of automobiles. In a sense, the game will have elements that will resemble an encyclopedia of cars."

The development super-star's beginnings were also discussed in the interview.

"Things don't happen so easily," he said. "At first the whole concept of Gran Turismo couldn't be understood by the games publisher. Back then, there wasn't anything called 'driving simulators'. They also couldn't understand why it had to involve cars that really existed. Games of that nature didn't exist."

And just for fun, Yamauchi also detailed the contents of his garage. He currently owns a "heavily modified" Nissan 350Z, a Honda S2000, a Mercedes SL55 as a "daily driver", a Porsche GT3 ("This car was the benchmark I set for myself when I started building the 350Z. I think the 350Z's performance is very close to the GT3 now.") and two Ford GTs, one white and one gun metal.

Gran Turismo 5 has no release date as yet, but its precursor, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, is heading for a March release in Europe and is already out in Japan. Watch the interview for yourself, right here.