On 11 September at the Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA) held in Germany, several announcements regarding the relationship between Gran Turismo and the famed Stuttgard-based manufacturer were made.
A virtual version of Porsche’s first fully electric car, the Taycan, was revealed within Gran Turismo Sport at the event. During the presentation that accompanied the reveal, Head of Exterior Design Style Porsche, Mr. Peter Varga, and Gran Turismo Series Producer Kazunori Yamauchi announced that a Porsche Vision Gran Turismo was in the works for 2020, and the 917 Living Legend, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the legendary Porsche 917, was also making its way into the game.
Three highlights for how Porsche and Gran Turismo will work together in the future
1. The Porsche Taycan Turbo S will be made available on “Gran Turismo Sport” as a free DLC by October 2019. Thanks to development teams from Stuttgart and Tokyo working closely together during the past nine months, besides a detailed representation of the interior with animated instruments, Porsche and Polyphony Digital Inc. recreated the car’s unique sound and its performance on the track.
2. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the 917, Porsche will bring the design study “917 Living Legend” into Gran Turismo Sport. Since Porsche won the 24 hours race of Le Mans for the first time in 1970 with a 917, the car is among the most important racing cars in the motorsport history of the brand. The integration will be implemented within the first half of 2020.
3. Last but not least, designers from Porsche are currently developing the Porsche Vision Gran Turismo Project, which is then being turned into a drivable car within the game by Polyphony Digital Inc. The Porsche Vision Gran Turismo Project is expected to appear within Gran Turismo Sport by the end of next year. With the Porsche Vision Gran Turismo Project, the Porsche Design team is exploring new horizons: for the first time, a virtual sports car concept not linked to series production will be developed, which makes the visionary interpretation of the Porsche design DNA a reality.
Kjell Gruner, Vice-President of Marketing at Porsche AG
"Motorsport is part of our DNA and racing games offer great opportunities to reach young and digital target groups. The multi-award-winning franchise is the perfect partner for further strengthening Porsche’s engagement in racing games and Esports. ”
Kazunori Yamauchi, Gran Turismo Series Producer
Since 2017, you can drive Porsche cars in Gran Turismo Sport. By integrating the Taycan Turbo S and the ‘917 Living Legend’ car in ‘Gran Turismo Sport’ and by creating the Porsche Vision Gran Turismo Project, we are further strengthening our partnership."
― Regarding the inclusion of the “Porsche Taycan Turbo S”
“In Gran Turismo, it is necessary to not only accurately reproduce the interior and exterior of cars, but it is also necessary to perfectly replicate the unique mechanisms of individual cars, and their detailed physical properties. The Porsche brand uses no unnecessary garnishings: simple, clean designs, high quality and performance, and high precision machines is what the soul of Porsche is made of, and we need to replicate their perfectly honed driving experiences in Gran Turismo to perfection. This is a very exciting work for us."
― Regarding the “Vision Gran Turismo” project with Porsche
"Vision Gran Turismo is a movement, in which we ask automotive manufacturers to freely design 'your idea of a Gran Turismo'. Put in other words, it's sort of a call out from myself, asking everyone in the field 'Are you still enjoying the creation of cars?' And it really is a great honor to have the people at Porsche, who have a strong, unique, irreplaceable position in automotive culture, to answer to my call by saying, 'THIS, is the Gran Turismo we imagined at Porsche.' I think the Porsche Vision Gran Turismo will be looked back on even 10, 20 years from now, as an important 'Merkmal' in automotive culture.
