Feature
The Nissan GT-R Turns Virtual in Gran Turismo 5
Inside the Partnership That Put the Japanese Supercar in Everyone's Living Room
Sitting back in a rare moment of pause, taking a deep drag on his cigarette, Kazunori Yamauchi, the father of Sony PlayStation super game Gran Turismo, considers the question: What's so different about GT5, then? "The biggest difference is obviously the change in platform, from the PlayStation 2 to the PlayStation 3," he says. "This allows a lot more possibilities."
This is where we want to interrupt our subject and ask him about the 2009 Nissan GT-R and its starring role in GT5. It's what we came to talk about. But we don't. He'll get to it.
"Number one," he says, "we have revisited the core elements that construct a racing game — the physics of the car, the artificial intelligence of the opponent's cars, the graphic quality, race structure and championships. We've made sure we've raised the bar for those core elements. Two, we want to set new standards and broaden the possibilities around the racing game."
OK, so it's going to be a better, way more realistic driving game in 1080 high definition. But what are these new possibilities all about? "One example is called Online Dealership," he says. "This is a virtual, online dealership where manufacturers can, for instance, issue press releases, unveil new cars, show new videos and so forth." Not madly interesting, but could be useful. "Another example is GT TV, which will cover a range of car-related videos."
Gran Turismo Life
That's more like it. GT TV will feature a full range of normally hard-to-find, car-related video content from around the world, such as the D1 drifting championship from Japan and DTM racing from Germany. And, yes, there will even be a spot where people can download and watch episodes of Top Gear on their PlayStation. As an added bonus for TG addicts, GT5 players will also be able to drive their car of choice around a virtual version of the Top Gear test track.
"We refer to it as Gran Turismo life," Kazunori-san continues, exhaling a long jet of blue smoke. "We're taking a step forward in gaming, but we're also taking a step into lifestyle, too."
To this end, the start page of GT5 is almost as configurable as your MySpace or Facebook home page. There is a global map showing where all your friends are, a calendar, a messaging system and several other widgets to play with. It's quite a step forward from the basic switch-on-and-play setup of GT4 — a fact that hasn't escaped the GT boys. "Sometimes it's not that easy to get the new ideas across," says Kazunori. "It's difficult for some people and some manufacturers to envision."
Nissan Gets It
Maybe some don't get it fully yet, but one carmaker that does is Nissan. It had a slightly disguised GT-R running around the virtual GT5 test track for months before its unveiling at the Tokyo show. "Our relationship with Nissan has been good for many years," says Kazunori, lighting his third cigarette in 15 minutes. "We have known the development team for the car since the R34 GT-R [1997], so our history goes way back."
Clearly no coincidence, the R34 Skyline GT-R was, in many people's eyes, close to being the physical version of the car in the game. The way it looked and reacted on screen were eerily similar to the way the car drove on the road.
Well, for GT5, Kazunori and his team have gone one better with the new GT-R. Not only is the car in the game exactly the same as the real car down to the last pixel, the road car now has one main feature that has been designed by the Gran Turismo team. "We worked very closely with Nissan to design the onboard computer," Kazunori says. "The concepts, design and functionality were developed by the Nissan team using our ideas."
While that's a key part of the new GT-R that you can see, there are also plenty of parts you can't see that Kazunori helped develop. He wasn't just cooped up in an office working on GT-R interfaces — he got behind the wheel of the real car regularly, too.
The Real Deal
A cup car racer for many years, Kazunori-san, it's fair to say, is a pretty handy driver. He hasn't raced for a few years, but he still manages to squeeze the odd track day into his schedule when he's not driving cars on the screen, just to check that the game is up to the real thing. Showing the almost real level of detail in the game, he reckons playing the new GT5 has kept his driving skills honed for when he can hit a track for real.
"The experience in the virtual car and the real car is almost the same," he says. "If you can do it in one, you can do it in the other." And that's no idle boast. To prove his point, he says that, when Nissan invited him to test the real GT-R on a track he had only driven in the game, he was doing near record lap times within six laps.
"It was surprising for the Nissan test-drivers," he says, remembering the day with a smile. "They see the car every day, they work on it every day. It was surprising for them to see someone just pop in and within six laps have near perfect form."
Virtually the Same
It works the other way too, apparently. When rally legend Sébastien Loeb dropped by the Gran Turismo offices the other day, he'd never played the game before but managed to get to grips with it almost immediately. "He is an excellent competitor, even in GT5," Kazunori says with respect. "A true expert."
Just how the rest of us are going to fare with the new game remains to be seen. It is slated for release late in 2008, so I'd suggest you and your mates pack in as many real track days as you can until then. After it's launched you won't need to slog to the circuit again, as the experience at home should be virtually the same, just without the dodgy hot dogs and rain.
This is where we want to interrupt our subject and ask him about the 2009 Nissan GT-R and its starring role in GT5. It's what we came to talk about. But we don't. He'll get to it.
"Number one," he says, "we have revisited the core elements that construct a racing game — the physics of the car, the artificial intelligence of the opponent's cars, the graphic quality, race structure and championships. We've made sure we've raised the bar for those core elements. Two, we want to set new standards and broaden the possibilities around the racing game."
OK, so it's going to be a better, way more realistic driving game in 1080 high definition. But what are these new possibilities all about? "One example is called Online Dealership," he says. "This is a virtual, online dealership where manufacturers can, for instance, issue press releases, unveil new cars, show new videos and so forth." Not madly interesting, but could be useful. "Another example is GT TV, which will cover a range of car-related videos."
Gran Turismo Life
That's more like it. GT TV will feature a full range of normally hard-to-find, car-related video content from around the world, such as the D1 drifting championship from Japan and DTM racing from Germany. And, yes, there will even be a spot where people can download and watch episodes of Top Gear on their PlayStation. As an added bonus for TG addicts, GT5 players will also be able to drive their car of choice around a virtual version of the Top Gear test track.
"We refer to it as Gran Turismo life," Kazunori-san continues, exhaling a long jet of blue smoke. "We're taking a step forward in gaming, but we're also taking a step into lifestyle, too."
To this end, the start page of GT5 is almost as configurable as your MySpace or Facebook home page. There is a global map showing where all your friends are, a calendar, a messaging system and several other widgets to play with. It's quite a step forward from the basic switch-on-and-play setup of GT4 — a fact that hasn't escaped the GT boys. "Sometimes it's not that easy to get the new ideas across," says Kazunori. "It's difficult for some people and some manufacturers to envision."
Nissan Gets It
Maybe some don't get it fully yet, but one carmaker that does is Nissan. It had a slightly disguised GT-R running around the virtual GT5 test track for months before its unveiling at the Tokyo show. "Our relationship with Nissan has been good for many years," says Kazunori, lighting his third cigarette in 15 minutes. "We have known the development team for the car since the R34 GT-R [1997], so our history goes way back."
Clearly no coincidence, the R34 Skyline GT-R was, in many people's eyes, close to being the physical version of the car in the game. The way it looked and reacted on screen were eerily similar to the way the car drove on the road.
Well, for GT5, Kazunori and his team have gone one better with the new GT-R. Not only is the car in the game exactly the same as the real car down to the last pixel, the road car now has one main feature that has been designed by the Gran Turismo team. "We worked very closely with Nissan to design the onboard computer," Kazunori says. "The concepts, design and functionality were developed by the Nissan team using our ideas."
While that's a key part of the new GT-R that you can see, there are also plenty of parts you can't see that Kazunori helped develop. He wasn't just cooped up in an office working on GT-R interfaces — he got behind the wheel of the real car regularly, too.
The Real Deal
A cup car racer for many years, Kazunori-san, it's fair to say, is a pretty handy driver. He hasn't raced for a few years, but he still manages to squeeze the odd track day into his schedule when he's not driving cars on the screen, just to check that the game is up to the real thing. Showing the almost real level of detail in the game, he reckons playing the new GT5 has kept his driving skills honed for when he can hit a track for real.
"The experience in the virtual car and the real car is almost the same," he says. "If you can do it in one, you can do it in the other." And that's no idle boast. To prove his point, he says that, when Nissan invited him to test the real GT-R on a track he had only driven in the game, he was doing near record lap times within six laps.
"It was surprising for the Nissan test-drivers," he says, remembering the day with a smile. "They see the car every day, they work on it every day. It was surprising for them to see someone just pop in and within six laps have near perfect form."
Virtually the Same
It works the other way too, apparently. When rally legend Sébastien Loeb dropped by the Gran Turismo offices the other day, he'd never played the game before but managed to get to grips with it almost immediately. "He is an excellent competitor, even in GT5," Kazunori says with respect. "A true expert."
Just how the rest of us are going to fare with the new game remains to be seen. It is slated for release late in 2008, so I'd suggest you and your mates pack in as many real track days as you can until then. After it's launched you won't need to slog to the circuit again, as the experience at home should be virtually the same, just without the dodgy hot dogs and rain.
Add A Comment »