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In an interview with Polyphony Digital’s Kazunori Yamauchi, the creator of the Gran Turismo series and President of the company, he talked extensively about both Gran Turismo 5: Prologue for PS3 and the future Gran Turismo for PSP. He hopes that the PSP version of the franchise will be out after Gran Turismo 5 on PS3 . . . but who knows how long it will take them to finish that.

But even so, they have several ambitious ideas for when a PSP Gran Turismo is out, particularly in interfacing it with GT5 on the PS3.

For example, he would love to offer the player the ability to save replays from Gran Turismo 5 on PS3 and transfer them to the PSP, where users could view them, take the replays with them wherever they go, and show them off to people or perhaps trade them with other fans. He says, “One example would be for people to utilize replays of their race experience. Take that outside the home, whereas at home you would need the PS3, but they can take that away and share.”

And of course, an obvious use of having a Gran Turismo on both PS3 and PSP would be versus play between the two consoles! “We’re just talking ideals here – but it would be nice if we were able to allow people to compete whether they’re on the road or in their living room on the PS3, compete in the same race. Even though the visual qualities will be different depending on which hardware they’re on it would be nice if we could allow for that. Technically, we think we should be able to.”

And last (but not least), how about managing a car, and letting it race on it’s own, using the PSP? “Basically you’re the race manager. You don’t even need to steer the controller, you just set the car and let it go; you’re managing it. Another example would be the PSP would be your management tool: give it input and give it instructions and the car would continue on with the race.” — Quotes from Joystiq

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After nearly 50 million series sales worldwide since its Gran Turismo debut on PlayStation 1 back in 1998, Polyphony Digital’s Gran Turismo 5 set for late 2008 promises to possibly be the most exacting and detailed racing game ever created. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue due in early 2008 gives you an online-enabled sampler of the GT5 experience on PlayStation 3 exclusively. What follows are some choice quotes from a recent interview with the Gran Turismo series creator Kazunori Yamauchi, where he discusses how high-definition the game really is, that it will feature rumble, and that they will work on Gran Turismo Mobile after they finish Gran Turismo 5 Prologue and Gran Turismo 5.

Question: Would you say it’s getting incrementally harder to continue the high standard of visual quality with Gran Turismo? Because obviously, GT4 was already extremely good looking.
Answer: Well I feel that yes, there are obvious difficulties, but the passion we have is always to create the best visual qualities available, that we can possibly extract from PlayStation 3. In a racing game, one of the most important aspects is that, because you are travelling at high speeds, you need high resolution to accurately create objects in the distance, and also to give you enough sense speed, sixty frames at 1080p resolution display is another must-have to further enhance the racing experience.

Question: Can you tell us about some of the background to achieving this standard on PS3?
Answer: On average, the car models in GT5 Prologue is 200,000 polygons - this is fifty times more than what we used to have on GT4 PS2, which was on average 4,000 - so fifty times upscaled. We are now able to see very fine details. Another new feature is the in-car camera, because we are now modelling the interior of the car as well. You’ll also notice that we have taken the extra step to represent the stitching of the leather, to the full extent, and the dashboard and so on. We’ve notice throughout our development process that to allow for an in-car camera it gives you a further enhanced experienced that is even more real that it was in GT4. To the extent of even reverse, or other angles, it’s not just the front dashboard that is detailed like this. GT5 Prologue will also allow up to a maximum fifteen [other] cars on the same track, previously it was six. And the visual quality in-game is 1080p, 60fps.

Question: How far have you come in terms of adding new vehicles to your line up since the last game?
Answer: Nissan will unveil their Nissan GTR Prototype production vehicle at the Tokyo Motor Show later this October, so between the window of now until the end of the year, we will be featuring lots of new and upcoming performance vehicles.

Question: So this is the first time this Nissan has been seen?
Answer: Yes, that’s right - first time in a game.

Question: How important do you think rumble feedback is to the GT experience? Everybody knows that a rumble controller is coming, so is it something that you have already been working on with this in mind?
Answer: Yes, that is correct.
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