While theGran Turismofranchise is one of the longest-running franchises in all of gaming and one of its most respected, it almost didn’t take off from the ground entirely.
It’s not because of any technical limitations but because of a gameplay design that was thankfully changed thanks to Shuhei Yoshida, former PlayStation boss.
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In aninterview, Yoshida explained that he talked to Polyphony Digital boss Kazunori Yamauchi, given that he was one of the first people to play the game. Yoshida mentioned that Yamauchi seemed to take the game’s “Real Driving Simulator” to heart, but went overboard on how hard it was.
Yoshida noted, “It was the early days of the first PlayStation, and Kazunori Yamauchi was working on the very first Gran Turismo. You’ll remember that on the cover it said that the game was the “real driving simulator”. And you know, I’m not a game designer, I’m a producer first and foremost. During development, Kazunori Yamauchi showed me a prototype of Gran Turismo, and I was among the first to play it. And to tell you the truth, he was really serious when he talked about simulation (laughs)!”
After having 30 people play the game, Yoshida’s hunch was correct. “It was extremely advanced, perhaps too much so. But at first Kazunori Yamauchi didn’t take my feedback at face value, so he gathered around thirty consumers to test the game, some of whom were developers! And just as I expected, they all crashed without exception at the first turn, because the gameplay was so difficult. I was at the back of the room with Kazunori Yamauchi, at which point he turned to me and told me I was right, and that’s when he rounded things off and toned down the pure simulation aspect a little to put out the Gran Turismo you know today on PS1,” Yoshida added.
The former PlayStation boss added, “In a way, I like to think that I partly saved Gran Turismo’s fate, and that I played a small part in its success (laughs)!””
PlayStation gamers and racing fans worldwide should be thankful Yoshida offered his advice back then, or the franchise might not have taken off as well as it has now. While the franchise is known for realism when it comes to driving, modding, and tweaking your car’s performance, there’s such a thing as beingtoorealistic, and based on Yoshida’s statements, Yamauchi designed the game that way, which would have alienated a lot of gamers.
Shuhei Yoshida left PlayStation in January 2025 and has since given countless interviews. Some of the things he revealed included thathe wasn’t a fan of Sony’s live service pushand thathe didn’t believe in Ken Kutaragi’s visionfor the original PlayStation.
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Gran Turismo 7
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