From NeoGAF.
Interview: Inside Line Talks to Kazunori Yamauchi, Father of Gran Turismo wrote:IL: Any details on when Gran Turismo 5 will be released in the U.S.?
Yamauchi: It's not decided yet.
IL: But I couldn't help but notice the NASCAR and WRC licenses in the GT5 trailer you released today at E3. Why, in particular, did you decide to add NASCAR?
Yamauchi: NASCAR is a very North American motorsport. In Japan, we're very European-oriented in terms of racing, and NASCAR has always been sort of a far existence for us -- we don't know very much about it. I actually had a chance to watch NASCAR in person a while back, and the experience was very eye-opening. We just thought that having this amazing series, including it in the Gran Turismo world, we would have WRC on one side and that would be the European angle and you would have NASCAR for the North American perspective -- that would really widen the field of the game.
IL: I also noticed the damage to the STI in the trailer, so should I take that as a hint that this will be the first Gran Turismo game that shows visible damage when people crash into a wall?
Yamauchi: Yes.
IL: How difficult is it to incorporate that into a racing simulation?
Yamauchi: It's just the order of priority. You have to get the shape of the car and the physics completely perfect to call it a simulator to begin with. Deformation was just something that's lower on the list of priorities to do for a game.
IL: Are you concerned about Forza 3 beating GT5 to market?
Yamauchi: I don't really know that much about the other games that are out.
IL: I want to ask you about automated manual transmissions. The GT-R has one. You have a similar transmission in the Mitsubishi Evo. The Audi R8 has R-tronic, just a single clutch, but there are an increasing number of these transmissions on the market. Does this have any implications as far as designing driving games, because it's technically a manual transmission but it functions more like an automatic. Yet, in video games, you have the choice of one or the other. Is this going to force you to rethink how you design games and actually have animation of the driver shifting with paddles?
Yamauchi: Internally, all these types of transmissions are replicated in our games. Of course, you have single- and dual-clutch versions, but the shift timing and torque application and time lag of the shift and all the gearbox characteristics are actually replicated accurately in our games. For example, in GT5 Prologue, the 2007 Ferrari F1 car uses a seamless shifter and that's simulated accurately as well.
IL: In the 20-minute documentary that came out when GT5 Prologue was released, you said your vision for what a racing game could be was only 10-15 percent complete. Do you think you might be at 50 percent when the full version of GT5 comes out?
Yamauchi: That's probably a good figure.
IL: In the full version of GT5, do you think there will be any more distinction between U.S-specification and JDM-specification of Japanese-brand car, because for instance now if you choose to race a WRX STI, then you have a right-hand-drive car with the 2.0-liter engine that's offered in Japan (which arguably performs better), but would there ever be an option to choose a left-hand-drive model with the 2.5-liter engine that's used here?
Yamauchi: It's always a possibility that we'll do something like that, but ever since we made the transition to the PS3-based Gran Turismo 5 Prologue and beyond, one car takes so long to make. If we have a right-hand-drive and a left-hand-drive model, it might take 3 or 4 months to create each one. We just have to weigh our priorities of what we can do and can't do.
IL: In the full version of GT5, are you going to let players choose different models and brands of tires to alter the handling characteristics of their cars and increase the realism of the game?
Yamauchi: It's very important to do that.
"Race drivers don't really care how fast they're going..we keep going faster and faster until we approach that limit of control and that's when we balance ourselves..that's how we make good time."
JOHN FITCH
1950's Le Mans driver
