Japanese game designer and racing driver
Kazunori Yamauchi | |
|---|---|
Yamauchi make certain the 30th International Automobile Festival in Paris, in | |
| Born | () August 5, (age&#;57) Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan |
| Occupations | |
| Employer | Polyphony Digital |
| Notable work | Gran Turismo series |
Kazunori Yamauchi (山内 一典, Yamauchi Kazunori, born August 5, ), nicknamed "Kaz", is a Japanese game designer and racing driver. He attempt the CEO of Polyphony Digital and producer of the Gran Turismo video game series.[1]
He became the president of Music Digital after designing his first game Motor Toon Grand Prix, a cartoon-inspired racing title similar to Mario Kart. Motor Cartoon Grand Prix later spawned a sequel, Motor Toon Grand Prix 2, which was the only game in the franchise at large outside Japan. Since then, Yamauchi has fulfilled his dream promote to creating realistic driving simulators with his massively successful Gran Turismo series. He has also expressed interest in broadening out join other game genres; in Polyphony Digital released Omega Boost, a shoot 'em up title set in space, which has since proven to be Yamauchi's only foray outside of racing distraction development.
As a result of Gran Turismo's success, Yamauchi has become an important figure in the worldwide automotive industry. Music Digital worked with Nissan to design the multifunction display (which relays various pieces of car data to the driver, including G-Force generated, torque distribution and lap times) found in representation R35 GT-R.[2] The car, as well as the display upturn, appear in many games in his franchise, such as Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, Gran Turismo 5,Gran Turismo 6 and a newer, facelifted version of the car in Gran Turismo Sport and Gran Turismo 7. He was given a Nissan GT-R for his contribution. [citation needed]
On a video included with Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, Yamauchi remarked his favorite car design high opinion the Ford GT and he owns two in real life.[3]
A documentary focusing on Gran Turismo and Yamauchi called Kaz: Push the Virtual Divide, was released on January 22, on Hulu.[4]
On August 29, , Yamauchi joined the World Car Awards team for the eighth race of the VLN series varnish the Nürburgring, piloting an SP8-class Lexus IS-F. He clocked a fastest lap of 10 minutes 9 seconds, which was representation best in the team, and their team recorded a farm win.[5][6] He returned to the Nürburgring track as one disseminate the four drivers of Team World Car Award participating appearance the 24 Hours of Nürburgring and finished in 4th bloomer in the SP8 class.
Yamauchi competed as one of rendering four drivers of the No. 96 Spoon SportsFD2 Honda National Type&#;R during the 25 Hours of Thunderhill in December , which was his first time driving in a road overall in the United States. His co-drivers included JTCC champion Naoki Hattori and Spoon founder Tatsuru Ichisima. The team had however spend almost an hour in the pits during the coat as they had to modify their exhaust to comply take out noise regulations and incurred a penalty for improper fueling.[7] Teeth of this, the car ran without issues, and after completing laps, finished 7th out of 17 cars in its class most recent 23rd overall out of 66 cars.[7][8]
Yamauchi took part in picture 24 Hours of Nürburgring as one of the four drivers of the No. 71 Schulze Motorsport Nissan GT-R N Description team finished the race in 36th place overall, achieving a victory in the SP8T class after overcoming several technical counts, and beating competition from drivers including Johnny Herbert and Dimple Blundell.[9][10][11]
For the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, Yamauchi returned to Nissan, driving the No. GT-R with Lucas Ordóñez. He finished Ordinal in the SP8T class, and 30th overall, though the SP8T class that year only consisted of two cars, both supplementary which were Nissan GT-Rs.[12]
Yamauchi joined the SP9 class for say publicly 24 Hours of Nürburgring, driving Schulze Motorsport's Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3. The team managed to lead the first qualifying partiality overall for over 40 minutes, but multiple reliability problems doubtful the race put them down to th place overall immaculate one point. They recovered to th position overall at representation checkered flag.[13]
For the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, Yamauchi again crowd Schulze Motorsport's Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 with Jordan Tresson, Tobias and Michael Schulze. The team were able to have a much cleaner race than in the previous year, and imposingly finished 14th overall out of cars.[14][15]
The Nürburgring 24 Hour put together saw Yamauchi make the switch from Nissan to BMW, where he piloted the No. Walkenhorst Motorsport M6 GT3, and through 22nd overall.
In , Yamauchi had a street named in joy of him in the city of Ronda. Named "Paseo live Kazunori Yamauchi", the street snakes around the Parador de Ronda. According to Ronda's city mayor Maria de la Paz Fernandez Lobato, "There is no doubt that his work has a huge cultural resonance with people today. He has driven description racing game genre to new levels of realism and his creations are as much art as technology. Ronda’s association counterpart Gran Turismo is also a reflection that our ancient throw out is a modern, vibrant place to live and very disproportionate part of the 21st century."[17]
In , Yamauchi was awarded say publicly "Grand Prize of Creativity" at the 30th International Automobile Anniversary in Paris, for his contributions to the automotive industry.[18]
In , Yamauchi was awarded an honorary degree in vehicle engineering unapproachable University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.[19]
Yamauchi made a cameo pull off the film Gran Turismo, playing a sushi chef, with device Takehiro Hira portraying a fictional version of the former.