Although Gran Turismo was launched in the West in 1998, Japanese developers launched the now iconic franchise domestically in 1997 (on December 23, under their old name, Polys Entertainment).

Kazunori Yamauchi, the father of Gran Turismo and president of Polyphony Digital, also published a blog post alongside a new video from the studio to mark the milestone anniversary. Let’s see what Yamauchi wrote: “I’m pleased that we are celebrating our 25th anniversary since the first release of the Gran Turismo series. Back in 1992, Gran Turismo was the first project plan I created out of nearly 100 others I came up with when I started my career in this industry, so it means a lot to me. While making video games was a hobby I started at ten years old, I had never thought about making it a career.

I started a movie production club when I was 14 and had been producing movies, so I first joined Sony, hoping to create image products. But the department they assigned me to was not what I was expecting. It was a department where the PlayStation console was just about to start and where [PlayStation creator Ken] Kutaragi-san was working feverishly to bring the concept of PlayStation to life. That place was not what I had hoped for, but looking back now, you could say that I was fortunate. I was fascinated by the real-time 3D graphics that many had been waiting for, and I created and presented plans for all kinds of video games, not just limited to race games but RPGs, adventure games, action games, puzzle games, and more.

As a result, Gran Turismo took a more fantasy race game format in the “Motor Toon Grand Prix,” becoming one of the first first-party titles for PlayStation. Still, if a plan for something other than a racing game had been the one that was approved, there is a good chance that I might have been making a title other than Gran Turismo today. After that, the Gran Turismo project started by gathering a team of two part-time artists and three engineers. From there, the number of comrades has continued to increase for over a quarter of a century and has become Polyphony Digital today, a company with over 200 staff members.

I don’t think many video game franchises in the world have continued for 25 years with the same title and with the same team. The founding members of the company are still working on the front lines, and I am thankful and proud that all 200 of our staff are a team with the same motivation and love that the company started with in the beginning. In the last 25 years, the cumulative sales total of the series has reached over 90 million copies as of November 16, 2022. And this result is something that could not be accomplished by ourselves alone. Behind that 90 million figure, all the media people conveyed Gran Turismo’s allure to their readers. The people of PlayStation sold Gran Turismo for us around the world with passion, and there is an incredible amount of support from the retailers who interfaced with our users. My heartfelt thanks go out to all of them for their support.

And above all else, I can’t ever thank enough the Gran Turismo users and people of the Gran Turismo community who have played our new titles, which at times could be said to have been very experimental. We are here today because of all the people who supported us. I believe the Gran Turismo series has always pursued “beauty.” The beauty of the cars, the beauty of the scenery, the beauty of the lighting, the beauty of driving, the beauty of sounds/music, and the beauty of the graphics. The “pursuit of beauty” is the motivation for creating Gran Turismo. We have a newfound determination to continue our progress into the future with a strong sense of purpose. We appreciate all of your support over the last 25 years. Thank you,” Yamauchi wrote.

Congratulations, and keep up the excellent work.

Source: Gematsu