We Have access to a lot of [the gt-r's] information that others simply cannot get.There are two main avenues when talking about the GT-R relationship with Gran Turismo. Obviously there's the cross-marketing that we've been working on together with Nissan. We always had the GT-R PROTO, and we also featured the "masked" GT-R that Nissan used for its viral communications prior to launching the car at Tokyo Motor Show. In the downloadable demo, we had the GT-R masked. Then it was uncovered in the game, synchronized with the reveal at the motor show, and then players got the production version of the car.
Then there's the development element. Having worked together with Nissan on many angles, whether it's design or tech or engineering, that relationship brings us to higher levels of replicating the car. We got a lot of information surrounding the GT-R, making sure that it's replicated correctly in the game. We probably have access to a lot of information that others simply can't get.
Nissan actually approached us to develop something new for the GT-R. The quickest way to understand this is to see the real car, to see the onboard computer. Our pitch back to Nissan was quite aggressive in that the computer must be very functional and very highly customizable from the owner's perspective. They'd be able to punch in and extract what they want, not just a cycle of, "Here's your fuel, here's your whatever." That actually went through Nissan's boards and they said, "OK, approved. Let's proceed." That was very exciting news, to be able to do that and make it happen.
We had the honor of having the chief engineer of Nissan to be present at our presentation at the Tokyo Motor Show. They did a quick talk show on stage where the chief engineer and marketing rep came up on stage and quoted that the game delivers the exact experience that you get in the real GT-R. We're quite proud of that and are happy to be in that position.
Kazunori Yamauchi www.granturismoworld.com