Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi is, as you might expect, a geek. Not a gaming geek, though. A car geek.
"For me, it's always been cars first and gaming second," says Kazunori, fresh from putting the finishing touches to GT5 Prologue, the latest instalment in the Gran Turismo franchise. "Give me the choice between a day on the track and a day on the Playstation, and it's the track day every time."
Correct choice, Kazunori-san. That's no idle assertion to pacify Top Gear, either - Kazunori is renowned as a seriously quick track driver, and he admits slightly sheepishly that his garage back home in Japan includes a Honda S2000, Nissan 350Z, Porsche GT3 and a Mitsubishi Evo V. Oh, and a Merc SL55 AMG. A pretty full collection, then? Apparently not.
"I'm not even close to owning all the cars I'd like to," says Kazunori. "My dream garage would have to include... well, a Ferrari 330 P4, a McLaren F1 and the new Nissan GT-R."
Ah yes, the GT-R. Nissan's Skyline (OK, it's not called the Skyline any more, but Kazunori repeatedly refers to the GT-R by its old name) has been intimately intertwined with the GT franchise over the past 10 years - in fact, 48 different Skylines have appeared in the various iterations of the game.
