Gran Turismo Project Leader Kazunori Yamauchi Visits Ground Kontrol

Kazunori Yamauchi, President of Polyphony Digital and lead producer of the awe-inspiring Gran Turismo series of driving simulations, stopped into Ground Kontrol with members of his design team for a visit.

L to R: Hiroki Imanishi, Graphic Design Director, Polyphony Digital; Bill C., Ground Kontrol regular; Kazunori Yamauchi, President, Polyphony Digital; Anthony Ramos, Manager/Co-owner, Ground Kontrol; Takamasa Shichisawa, FMV Design Director, Polyphony Digital.

The designers are especially interested in Tempest, Star Trek:SOS, and the other vector-based games; they've never seen color vector graphics in person! The developers of the incredibly realistic Gran Turismo driving simulations 'ooh' and 'ahh' while flying down Tempest's tubes. Such is the lasting allure of classic gaming...

Finding our Marble Madness arcade game, Kazunori snaps pictures to share with team members in Tokyo. He knows the game's designer, Mark Cerny, having worked with him on Crash Bandicoot.

Yamauchi-san tries the Vectrex homebrew game Protector as the group's translator looks on.

Everyone agrees that GK should open a franchise in Tokyo. Trips to Japan as part of business? I could live with that. --Anthony R.