Shuhei Yoshida, President of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios (SCE WWS), has said he's keen to see the next chapter in the Gran Turismo franchise support PlayStation VR.
Speaking with EuroGamer at the recent EGX over the weekend, Yoshida-san revealed that various testing has been done with the upcoming virtual reality headset, and found the racing genre to be an ideal fit for the new technology.
"Many trial tests we've been doing, some genres just work fine. One of those genres is racing games. So when Gran Turismo comes out on PS4, I'd like to see it support PlayStation VR, yeah," he said.
The next numbered instalment in Polyphony Digital's racing series, Gran Turismo 7, is currently in development for the PlayStation 4, though a release date has yet to be confirmed. In fact, while we know the game is in the works, Sony has yet to officially unveil the game to the public. However, creator Kazunori Yamauchi has promised that we won't have to wait too long for the game to launch, following the lengthy development cycles seen with previous iterations in the series.
Recently, Polyphony has been on something of a hiring spree, taking on board a former member of the Forza development team. In addition, recent job ads have hinted at improved AI and a companion app for the hotly anticipated racing simulator title. It has been rumored the game will be released in Prologue form similar to Gran Turismo 5, although nothing has been confirmed by Sony. Regardless, Yamauchi-san has teased that PS4's hardware will make a huge difference to the franchise.
Gran Turismo was first released on the PlayStation back in 1998 in the west, and became the console's best-selling title with over 10 million units sold. A sequel followed in 1999 for the PSOne before the franchise made its debut on PS2 in 2001 with the critically acclaimed Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec. Gran Turismo 4: Prologue and the full title would follow in 2003 and 2005, respectively.
With the launch of the PS3 in 2006, the racing series shifted platforms with the release of Gran Turismo 5: Prologue in 2008, with the full game turning up in late 2010. 2013 saw the release of Gran Turismo 6, which has sold over two million copies worldwide to date. The series also made the jump to PSP in 2009. Overall, the franchise has sold 71.10 million units globally.
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