Every exceptional idea ultimately begins as a proposal, perhaps even a daring one. Gran Turismo was no exception. One might think Sony readily approved the idea for The Real Driving Simulator, considering its eventual success. Yet, it took years and considerable persuasion for the initiative to launch. And, believe it or not, in some respects, it traces its origins back to Mario Kart.
Dedicated GT enthusiasts are aware of this narrative, but as time has passed, it has largely faded from public awareness. It commences in the early ’90s with Kazunori Yamauchi, a worker at what later transformed into Sony Computer Entertainment, but was at that time, a small collective within Sony Music Japan focusing on video game publishing. The PlayStation had yet to be conceived, and if you are familiar with gaming history, it was initially intended to be something completely different. Yamauchi’s inaugural role at Sony involved creating end credits for the Super Nintendo titles it published, and he characterized it to Game Informer years later as “somewhat dull.”
As the PlayStation project took off in 1993, Yamauchi was brought on board to create games for it. He had “over 100” concepts spanning various genres, but the one he was genuinely eager to produce was a driving simulation featuring licensed vehicles. He presented the proposal to Sony executives, but it did not resonate. “At that time, it was a groundbreaking concept, and it was tough to get the higher-ups to support it,” Yamauchi reminisced to PlayStation Blog.
Luckily, he remained undeterred. The project that the executives approved was also a driving game—but a more widely appealing, whimsical one. It was essentially Sony’s response to Mario Kart, featuring original, cartoonish characters, vibrant visuals, and cheerful music. Titled Motor Toon Grand Prix and launched roughly two weeks after the PlayStation itself in Japan in December 1994, it marked the first game from Polys Entertainment—in the team’s own words, a “New Generation Game-Making Project.”
Motor Toon Grand Prix (1994) Sony PlayStation (PS1) Gameplay
Motor Toon Grand Prix was never released in the United States, but it doesn’t have a considerable amount of Japanese for those unfamiliar with the language, and I suggest giving it a try simply because it provides an enjoyable experience. The handling mechanics are straightforward yet substantial, favoring drift mechanics without being jerky or clumsy, unlike the initial few Ridge Racer installments.
The simple action of maneuvering these quirky vehicles is intuitive, natural, and most importantly, entertaining. In that respect, it feels more grounded compared to Super Mario Kart, or its Nintendo 64 follow-up, which was still two years away as of 1994. The vehicle models themselves also cleverly morph, stretch, and lean into turns. That was a particularly innovative use of Sony’s “new-generation” 3D technology that the Polys team was beginning to master, and frankly, I’m astonished that more kart racers have not adopted that idea.
There’s a very solid reason why Motor Toon Grand Prix is such a pleasure to play. Throughout its development, the physics system supporting those Tex Avery-esque characters, in their whimsical, candy-colored environments, was being fine-tuned to enable a far more advanced driving experience. It was being crafted, covertly, for Gran Turismo.
Those Sony executives were unaware that Polys, Yamauchi, and particularly physics engineer Akihiko Tan (fun fact—he’s still programming car dynamics for Gran Turismo today) had been laying the foundation as early as 1993 for the driving simulation they had initially dismissed. They likely began to grasp it by mid-1996 when Polys unveiled a sequel, titled Motor Toon Grand Prix 2. This installment did make it to the West, and since its precursor was not released here, it launched without the “2.”
Motor Toon Grand Prix 2 is a fascinating game for numerous reasons. Firstly, it is abundantly clear from the new characters, more developed and intricate worlds, graphical enhancements, advanced weapon systems, as well as the sheer quantity and quality of content that Polys had acquired significant knowledge about maximizing the PlayStation’s capabilities over the year-and-a-half since their first venture. The game constantly reminds you of this at every juncture. The menus are visually captivating, featuring scrolling backgrounds and plenty of spinning 3D elements, all operating at 60 frames per second. However, it is when you start clinching championships and unlocking rewards that it becomes evident how profoundly the team was experimenting with the silicon, and for what purpose.
MTGP2 includes three hidden minigames, each charming as tech demonstrations. The first, “Tank Combat,” is a first-person tank-on-tank battle where your sole aim is to eliminate your opponent before they eliminate you. It runs in a window, allowing Polys to utilize both the PlayStation’s higher resolution 640×480 mode and achieve 60 fps, a rare feat for the console. Next is “Submarine X,” essentially a Battleship clone utilizing some other peculiar PS1 display settings. But it is the third, “Motor Toon Grand Prix R,” that genuinely revealed what Polys had been striving for all along.
This final minigame replaces the typical Motor Toon characters with two significantly more lifelike vehicles: an open-wheel racer and a stock car. There are no weapons and no opponents. The circuit is a version of Toon Island, the game’s inaugural track, except its hues are far more subdued and realistic, with the world’s fanciful attributes stripped away. The simpler visual style also results in doubled framerate compared to the standard game. Additionally, it features guitar rock that one wouldn’t find out of place in an ’80s Fuji TV F1 broadcast.
As you might expect, the real distinction lies in the handling. These vehicles operate entirely differently from the cartoons. The stock car spins its rear tires upon the green light, struggling to accelerate. Its tires are displayed separately from the car body, which heaves and rolls when turning. If you are not cautious with the throttle when exiting corners, you’ll easily lose control. The F1-like racer presents an even tougher challenge, with too much grip, particularly for steering via the D-pad.
Motor Toon Grand Prix R – PS1 Gameplay
“Motor Toon Grand Prix R” is decidedly more challenging to play than Gran Turismo and, quite frankly, not particularly fun. Yet, as a relic and a demonstration of what Polys’ physics system could accomplish when unrestrained, it’s intriguing. In the Japanese version, players can reveal messages from the dev team. One of these, penned by Kazunori Yamauchi and dated March 1996, hints at something monumental.
“Now, not entirely as a response to the three-year-long Motor Toon endeavor, but I’m currently developing a hyper-realistic racing game as my upcoming project,” Yamauchi wrote, translated via Google. “I’m attempting to navigate the complex task of diligently pursuing realism with real cars while also ensuring it functions as a proper game. Serious racing game enthusiasts, please be patient a little longer.”
Motor Toon Grand Prix seems to have sold sufficiently in Japan, even if its sequel did not achieve the same level of success outside the country. Yamauchi had established his ability to produce a product that people wanted to engage with, so when he returned to the boardroom to present Gran Turismo a second time—with a great deal of the necessary physics groundwork already laid under the guise of a kid-friendly kart racer—the decision-makers were far more open to the concept.
After MTGP2 was completed, Polys’ total workforce of fewer than 20 individuals focused entirely on Gran Turismo and gave themselves a new identity: Polyphony Digital. “The program differs from Motor Toon’s,” Yamauchi disclosed to Next Generation magazine in 1996, “but we utilized parts of it. The physics model is identical, and the individual who developed the physics algorithms is the same person. In fact, the Gran Turismo team began before Motor Toon 2 was launched, and after that project concluded, the simulation programmer and other designers joined the team.”
Before becoming the president of Sony’s global development studios, Shuhei Yoshida was a producer on numerous early PlayStation classics, including Gran Turismo. “I recall how [Yamauchi] approached coders working on 3D graphics and car physics engines who frequently contributed to a specialized magazine, persuading them to join his team to realize his dream project,” Yoshida reminisced. “He possessed a charm and charisma that instilled belief in his vision, convincing others that he and the team could achieve what seemed to be impossible at that time.”
The rest, as they say, is history—at least the better-known history. Gran Turismo was a phenomenal success when it launched two days prior to Christmas 1997 in Japan and in May 1998 in Europe and North America, ultimately becoming the best-selling game on the platform. It gave rise to a sequel less than two years later with roughly four times the vehicles and double the tracks—an unprecedented surplus of content at a time when racing games usually featured a limited selection of cars.
In that Next Gen preview, months before GT1’s worldwide debut, Yamauchi articulated an almost eerily prescient vision for the future of gaming that wouldn’t materialize for another decade or more.
“I envision Gran Turismo as a racing game operating system,” he expressed. “If you alter some of the rules, design fresh tracks, and tune everything, it becomes feasible to create any form of race. For example, within this game, only road racing is possible, but it could be modified to accommodate rally racing. Gradually, the game will enhance. I aspire for the game to become an OS for racing games, akin to how Windows 95 functions for computers.”
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