Sébastien Loeb visits Polyphony Digital (GT4 as the real driving simulator)

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http://www.gran-turismo.com/jp/sp/detail.do?article_id=306

Sébastien Loeb, one of the most famous French rally drivers, visited Polyphony Digital in Japan to join the time-attack event for GT4 Online Public Beta on Aug. 26, 2006 (the beta itself is already over now). He visited Japan for WRC Round 11 Rally Japan in Hokkaido in the beginning of September.

Last year he won Rally of Turkey but canceled the press conference to go back from the rally's podium to France by a private jet since the qualification test for the Le Mans 24 Hours race was on the same day.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/4614345.stm
http://www.eurosport.com/rally/turkey/2005/sport_sto726934.shtml
He could complete the test laps at the Sarthe circuit 21 seconds before the test-day deadline. How could he do that even though he had not driven on the Sarthe circuit? He practiced it on GT4 in his private jet to France!
http://www.sebastienloeb.com/html/archives-actu/031-24hdumans.htm

In this movie (WMV stream) about his visit to Polyphony Digital, you can see his private jet and the PS2 in action.

http://access.scej-online.jp/counter/gt4/060907_gt4ol_loeb_live.wvx

This video shows his arrival at the Narita Intl. Airport in Tokyo, his trip from Turkey to the Sarthe circuit, and the time-attack event at the Polyphony Digital office. The course is the Sarthe circuit with the same car he used for Le Mans 24 Hours on GT4 Online. At the first run he went out of the course and the producer Kazunori Yamauchi cut the session for retry. In the third attack Loeb could get 3'11"298. Excited Yamauchi joined the session and could get 3'11"696. But the online user "YAM23" could score 3'8"968! Loeb was apparently impressed and did analysis of the replay. Loeb was at the 10th in the ranking and Yamauchi was at the 11th.

Replay of Loeb's time-attack
http://access.scej-online.jp/counter/gt4/sloeb_main.wvx
http://access.scej-online.jp/counter/gt4/sloeb_sub.wvx

Replay of YAM23
http://access.scej-online.jp/counter/gt4/sloeb_yam23.wvx

Replay of Kazunori Yamauchi
http://access.scej-online.jp/counter/gt4/sloeb_yamauchi.wvx

In his blog he mentions his visit to Polyphony.
http://www.sebastienloeb.com/html/actu/impressions.htm
29 et 30 août : les reconnaissances
...
Sinon, j’ai fait un truc sympa hier. PlayStation m’a fait visiter le studio où ils sont en train de réaliser le prochain Gran Turismo pour la PS3. C’est très impressionnant, le studio est composé d’une centaine de personnes qui travaillent quasiment 24h/24. Lorsque tu te balades dans les bureaux, tu vois des matelas et des sacs de couchage trainer un peu partout. Le créateur du jeu m’a raconté que pour la réalisation du premier Gran Turismo, il leur avait fallut un an à 10 personnes, et que pendant cette année, il n’était rentré chez lui que 4 jours ! C’est vraiment une mentalité à part !

Sébastien Loeb won Rally Japan on Sep. 3 and became the driver with the most (27) WRC victories.
http://www.sebastienloeb.com/html/galerie-japon2006.htm
 
Nice find! I'll see if I can get somewhere near that time in GT4.

Looks like PD are working themselves to the ground to get GT5 up and running.
 
Le créateur du jeu m’a raconté que pour la réalisation du premier Gran Turismo, il leur avait fallut un an à 10 personnes, et que pendant cette année, il n’était rentré chez lui que 4 jours !
Whoa, if true.
It says that Yamauchi told Loeb that it took one year of constant work to a team of 10 persons to develop Gran Turismo 1 and that during this year Yamauchi got back home only 4 days, on the whole year...

That's what I call a crunch time.
 
Whoa, if true.
It says that Yamauchi told Loeb that it took one year of constant work to a team of 10 persons to develop Gran Turismo 1 and that during this year Yamauchi got back home only 4 days, on the whole year...

That's what I call a crunch time.

Now THATS dedication...
 
Whoa, if true.
It says that Yamauchi told Loeb that it took one year of constant work to a team of 10 persons to develop Gran Turismo 1 and that during this year Yamauchi got back home only 4 days, on the whole year...

That's what I call a crunch time.

That's what you get for marrying Xanthippe. Just ask Socrates :p
 
This is great! Nice to see, probably the best rally driver in history (well on non-ice surfaces) having a go at GT4. Also great to get to see the creator play the game!

If Kaz has only been back on 4 days this past year they must have been busy with something...Loeb even said it was great to see the new GT for PS3 in action...please be GT5.
 
If Kaz has only been back on 4 days this past year they must have been busy with something...Loeb even said it was great to see the new GT for PS3 in action...please be GT5.

I actually think he was talking about the year he and his team worked on GT1.

And stop dreaming about GT5 - they will definitely be working on one, but we will also definitely get GT4 Online / GT:HD first.

Hopefully one will confirm this in this thread, so nobody has to wonder about that again. A GT5 / full new GT at launch is a dream that will never happen.

For me, GT:HD at launch is something I had hoped for already since the release of GT4. So you could say, my hopes and dreams seem fairly realistic. ;)
 
I actually think he was talking about the year he and his team worked on GT1.

And stop dreaming about GT5 - they will definitely be working on one, but we will also definitely get GT4 Online / GT:HD first.

Hopefully one will confirm this in this thread, so nobody has to wonder about that again. A GT5 / full new GT at launch is a dream that will never happen.

For me, GT:HD at launch is something I had hoped for already since the release of GT4. So you could say, my hopes and dreams seem fairly realistic. ;)

What serious GT fan could actually, realistically, expect a new GT at launch, or on time for that matter? :D In regards to GT:HD are you hoping it will be included on the hard drive, as a sort of free 1080p tech demo bonus, or are you willing to shove out cash for it (and if so, how much)? I could see them including some of the more polished levels and cars pre-installed on the HDD, but I'm a little skeptical that they would take the time to ensure that the game in its entirety is fully functional, market it, package it, and distribute it (globally). Then again, they have sold numerous little demo, one-off, versions before to different territories. With that in mind, I would think they're more inclined to do a limited run, BD based, demo (based on the upcoming TGS build) bundled in with the first million or so PS3s. Hmmm....
 
What serious GT fan could actually, realistically, expect a new GT at launch, or on time for that matter? :D In regards to GT:HD are you hoping it will be included on the hard drive, as a sort of free 1080p tech demo bonus, or are you willing to shove out cash for it (and if so, how much)? I could see them including some of the more polished levels and cars pre-installed on the HDD, but I'm a little skeptical that they would take the time to ensure that the game in its entirety is fully functional, market it, package it, and distribute it (globally). Then again, they have sold numerous little demo, one-off, versions before to different territories. With that in mind, I would think they're more inclined to do a limited run, BD based, demo (based on the upcoming TGS build) bundled in with the first million or so PS3s. Hmmm....

Well, I can actually order it in some shops, which have box-art and all, and its release date is set together with the other 14 games announced for release or near release. While that doesn't mean release is imminent, certainly not with GT, it does give credence to a GT:HD launch.

The game so far seems to support the following extras over the original:

- 12 cars
- online
- hi-def
- 3D rims

As a serious fan, I'd buy it! ;)

Especially the first two features appeal to me. I have played GT4 at LAN parties a good deal and I love it, and that's just 6 cars. 12 cars is our dream (well, 24 even more, but 12 is a great improvement), and online support ditto - GT4's driving model and graphical quality really comes into its own in LAN mode, and 12 player, online, and hi-res, 60fps graphics, yeah!
 
Well, I can actually order it in some shops, which have box-art and all, and its release date is set together with the other 14 games announced for release or near release. While that doesn't mean release is imminent, certainly not with GT, it does give credence to a GT:HD launch.

The game so far seems to support the following extras over the original:

- 12 cars
- online
- hi-def
- 3D rims

As a serious fan, I'd buy it! ;)

Especially the first two features appeal to me. I have played GT4 at LAN parties a good deal and I love it, and that's just 6 cars. 12 cars is our dream (well, 24 even more, but 12 is a great improvement), and online support ditto - GT4's driving model and graphical quality really comes into its own in LAN mode, and 12 player, online, and hi-res, 60fps graphics, yeah!

It would seem you have a lot more information about the game then I do then (and I call myself a serious GT fan :cry: ). I see I need to look into this a lot more and find what official and rumored details are out there. While I would buy a complete GT4:HD, especially with those extras, I'm not sure I would want to pay $60 USD for that. Particularly if the PS3 does indeed up-sample PS1/2 games to 1080p. Anything below $40 and I would be happy. But importing old data would almost be a must (for me).
 
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