While the Gran Turismo franchise is one of the longest-running franchises in all of gaming and one of its most respected, it almost didn't take off from the ground entirely.
It's not because of any technical limitations but because of a gameplay design that was thankfully changed thanks to Shuhei Yoshida, former PlayStation boss.
Yoshida Pushed For Less "Simulation" For Gran Turismo's Debut Game
In an interview, Yoshida explained that he talked to Polyphony Digital boss Kazunori Yamauchi, given that he was one of the first people to play the game. Yoshida mentioned that Yamauchi seemed to take the game's "Real Driving Simulator" to heart, but went overboard on how hard it was.
Yoshida noted, "It was the early days of the first PlayStation, and Kazunori Yamauchi was working on the very first Gran Turismo. You’ll remember that on the cover it said that the game was the “real driving simulator”. And you know, I’m not a game designer, I’m a producer first and foremost. During development, Kazunori Yamauchi showed me a prototype of Gran Turismo, and I was among the first to play it. And to tell you the truth, he was really serious when he talked about...
