Gran Turismo car factory

Today, the level of close relationships between car makers and some video game developers is staggering. For example, it's no secret Polyphony Digital, the studio behind the multi-million-selling Gran Turismo game franchise for the Sony PlayStation, has designed elements of the current R35 Nissan GT-R.

The best and brightest car designers from brands such as Mercedes-Benz, Chevrolet, BMW, Mitsubishi and Lexus have all created "Vision" concept cars for the game too. These vehicles have already influenced high-performance car designs and this trend is sure to continue.

Video games are becoming so realistic, both in terms of the visuals and the physics, that automotive brands are increasingly revealing their new cars in the digital world before the real world. Sort of an electronic toe-in-the-water.

If you’re still unconvinced about how influential game developers are becoming in the automotive world, one tour of the Polyphony Digital studios in Japan will set things straight.

Virtual meets reality in Tokyo
Tucked away from the bright lights of central Tokyo, in the Koto prefecture, hiding behind the walls of a non-descript building, is Polyphony Digital, the developer behind the 64-million-selling Gran Turismo game franchise. Despite the less than stellar surroundings, the importance of what this company does should not be underestimated.

Indeed, the casual way in which company founder Kazunori Yamauchi explains the point of the DJ turntables at one end of the large office is pointedly honest.

"Once a year we have a big party with all the car manufacturers invited. We discuss many things, then, from 6pm to 6am, we dance."

As Yamauchi guides us past the many awards garnered by the Gran Turismo games, including a BAFTA, he stops to show off a model of the X2014 concept car, a joint venture between the Red Bull Racing F1 team's aerodynamic guru, Adrian Newey, and Polyphony Digital.

Clearly, without hundreds of real world cars, this Japanese company wouldn't have a smash-hit game on its hands. But the relationship goes both ways, and has the potential to expand in future as technology – and particularly virtual reality - advances.

For new car buyers, those lost weekends trawling car dealerships could be a thing of the past, replaced by a ‘virtual’ showroom which allows you to look around a car, test its features and even take a drive in it.

Car brands turn to technology
Yamauchi-san told motoring.com.au that the Vision Gran Turismo project, where car companies are invited to create futuristic sports cars, is vital in developing bonds between the game developer and the automotive big names.

"When you see things like that, you can tell we're really deeply involved with manufacturers," he says.

But it goes much further than that.

Polyphony Digital's fastidious attention to detail and motivation for realism has given it a unique platform for communication and integration with car brands.

"I think Gran Turismo and Polyphony Digital, we're sort of now gotten to a point where we're serving as the brain for the automobile manufacturers," Mr Yamauchi explained.

He pictures the next decade as being pivotal for the relationship between the virtual and real car worlds, and it's not surprising.

The amount of effort required for not just the visuals, but also the physical construction of a single car in the latest Gran Turismo Sport game is intense.

"We're really involved with their engineers, their designers, the people involved with racing, and looking into the next 10 years in the relationship we have with them," the Polyphony Digital chief revealed.

Digital details
As we're given the grand tour of the studio, Yamauchi-san explains that it takes up to six months to fully realise a vehicle in the latest game, Gran Turismo Sport. Sure, the 3D constructs may not be real, but they're built the same way as regular vehicles, complete with internal structures to ensure everything behaves and reacts as it would in the real world.

As we watch an artist cleaning up the speedometer of a late 1970s Lamborghini Countach, the detail is mind-blowing. The company uses laser scanning of real cars (and race circuits) – including the virtual cockpits – to get everything right, then compares them side-by-side with photography to see if they measure up.

While the 3D modelling is insane, so too is the coding which goes into how the cars obey the laws of physics within the game.

Nissan R36 GT-R secrets safe… for now
Polyphony Digital has long-standing relationships with several car companies, but its ties to Nissan are probably the closest. The company not only has a partnership with Nissan to develop the GT Academy, which has propelled more than 20 young gamers into the international racing scene – including former Aussie postman Matt Simmons – but also works with the Japanese giant to develop vehicles.

"So, in terms of the current GT-R, what we designed for them was the multi-function display in the centre console. Even now we meet with the development team for the GT-R a few times a year to have discussions with them, we're very very close to them today,” Mr Yamauchi told us.

Naturally we’re keen to glean any information on the next-generation R36 GT-R, but it seems non-disclosure agreements are tricky things to challenge.

"Regards to the new GT-R, I can't say anything from my mouth," grins Polyphony Digital’s head honcho.

It's fascinating how technology continues to change the way we understand cars and especially how they're researched, developed and designed. You may not be able to afford the latest Nissan GT-R, but you can certainly drive a very realistic reproduction in virtual form.

Better yet, you can even take the 2020 concept car version of the next Nissan GT-R for hot laps in Gran Turismo 6 and Gran Turismo Sport. It could be a case of life imitating art, and not the other way around.

Video games are one of the few cultural phenomena anchoring young people to the automotive world and it will be intriguing to see just how far a ‘simulation’ can be taken in the next 10 years.

When the lines between reality and fantasy become indistinguishable, the automotive landscape may be completely unrecognisable. But I'm willing to bet my last dollar there'll always be millions of people who still want to drive sporty, exotic cars. When everything's autonomous and electric, perhaps simulations will be the only way to indulge this hobby.