A quarter of a century, nothing more and nothing less: that is the time that has passed since the launch of the first Gran Turismo. during these 25 years its popularity has been increasing, but its quality has also grown. Kazunori Yamauchi (creator and CEO of Polyphony Digital) has written a letter on the PlayStation blog thanking them for such an achievement. And the franchise has released a video that promises to strike a chord with you.
The history of Gran Turismo is that of Kazunori Yamauchi. When he came to work at Sony, he was placed in the creation department of the original PlayStation… although he would have preferred to be in the company’s imaging products division. In 1992 he began to shape the project of Gran Turismo and in 1994 he was already in charge of another game: Motor Toon Grand Prix (MTGP).
The development of Gran Turismo It started with him, two part-time designers and three engineers. Today, Polyphony Digital has a staff of over 200 people and the founders are still with the company. The game was first released in 1997… and many of the MTGP models were present. In Europe and the United States they had to wait for something else: it arrived in May 1998. The first edition distributed 10.85 million copies worldwide.
A figure that, now, seems small. In these 25 years, Gran Turismo has sold more than 90 million copies worldwide. There are few video game franchises that have maintained their title, their success, and their team for the same length of time.
for 25 more years
Kazunori Yamauchi explains, in his letter, that the game “awakened my personal passion for cars, aftermarket and tuning. As one of the millions of people around the world with similar stories, I’d like to think we have at least another 25 years of GT to go.” He further adds that “the search for beauty” is the motivation behind the creation of each edition. A motivation that is clearly seen over time: the features, sounds and engines may receive criticism from the public, but the graphics are rarely questioned.
His biggest thanks go to the millions of fans who have made Gran Turismo the smashing success it is: “Above all, I can never thank the users and people in the GT community for all they have played with our new titles. , which at times could be said to have been very experimental. The icing on her words, puts her the video that accompanies these lines and that reviews all editions of the game allowing you to see your evolution. Some images that will excite more than one.