Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi has described the PlayStation 3 generation as a ‘nightmare’ in terms of game development.
Speaking during an interview with GameSpot, Yamauchi-san said that the PS3 hardware just wasn’t fundamentally up to the task of pumping out the level of quality expected of developers, resulting in a frustrating period.
"The age of the PS3 for us was sort of a nightmare. We really had to deal with this situation for a while where, ‘This is what we want to achieve, but all we can do is this.’ So there was a lot of frustration that was built up. The PS3 hardware is something that, at first glance, looks like it’s able to do this certain level of things, but in actuality, it can’t.
"In terms of development, it was really really difficult and the games, after all the development efforts were put into it, were very very low. I think it was just that the balance as a piece of hardware wasn’t very good. But the PS4 is so good. This time we’re really able to do and achieve what we want to do, so it’s really fun."
Gran Turismo Sport is Gran Turismo 7 in all but name, coming to PS4 this holiday season
Polyphony Digital is currently working on the next instalment in the venerable racing simulation franchise with the PlayStation 4-exclusive Gran Turismo Sport. The game is scheduled for release in November and will be compatible with PlayStation VR.
Despite its name, Yamauchi-san said that GT Sport could have easily been called Gran Turismo 7 due to its wealth of features.
"In terms of the naming, I think we actually could have called it Gran Turismo 7 because it contains so many different features. There would be no problem calling it GT7. But at the time of the announcement for this game, the main focus of the title was really the ‘sport’ part, so that’s why I named it [Gran Turismo] Sport. Now that I look back and think about it, I think I actually could have called it 7. [Laughs]”
Gran Turismo debuted on the PlayStation back in December 1997 in Japan, and spawned a massively successful franchise spanning PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and PlayStation 3, with over 76.5 million copies sold worldwide.