Born on August 5, 1967, Yamauchi is known by the nickname "Kaz." Before establishing his career in realistic simulation, he designed Motor Toon Grand Prix, a cartoon-style racing game. He became the president of Polyphony Digital following the release of this title and its sequel, Motor Toon Grand Prix 2. While his career has focused almost exclusively on racing, he directed the space-themed shoot 'em up Omega Boost in 1999.
Yamauchi’s transition into competitive motorsport intensified in 2009. On August 29, 2009, he joined the World Car Awards team for the eighth race of the VLN series at the Nürburgring. Driving a Lexus IS-F in the SP8 class, he recorded the team's fastest lap at 10 minutes 9 seconds, helping the squad secure a class win.
In December 2009, he made his debut on a United States road course at the 25 Hours of Thunderhill. Competing in the No. 96 Spoon Sports FD2 Honda Civic Type R, he shared driving duties with Spoon founder Tatsuru Ichisima and 1996 JTCC champion Naoki Hattori. Despite a one-hour pit delay to modify the exhaust for noise regulations and a penalty for improper fueling, the team finished 7th in class and 23rd overall.
The 2011 24 Hours of Nürburgring marked a significant milestone in Yamauchi's racing career. Driving the No. 71 Schulze Motorsport Nissan GT-R N24, he and his teammates overcame technical issues to win the SP8T class. This performance placed them 36th overall, finishing ahead of a field that included established drivers Johnny Herbert and Mark Blundell.
Yamauchi returned to the Nürburgring in 2012, again driving a Nissan GT-R. Partnered with Lucas Ordóñez in the No. 123 entry, he secured a second consecutive SP8T class victory and finished 30th overall. However, the SP8T class that year was limited to two competing Nissan GT-Rs.
In 2013, Yamauchi moved up to the SP9 class, piloting a Schulze Motorsport Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3. Although the team led the first qualifying session for over 40 minutes, reliability problems during the race dropped them to 165th place at one stage. They eventually recovered to finish 135th overall. He returned with the same team and machinery for the 2014 24 Hours of Nürburgring, achieving a much cleaner run to finish 14th overall out of 165 starters.
Yamauchi's influence extends into the technical side of the automotive industry. Polyphony Digital collaborated with Nissan to create the multifunction display for the R35 GT-R, a system that tracks G-Force, torque distribution, and lap times. This display is featured in several iterations of his software, including Gran Turismo 5, Gran Turismo 6, and Gran Turismo 7. For his work on the project, Nissan presented him with a GT-R. Outside of his professional partnership with Nissan, Yamauchi has identified the Ford GT as his favorite car design and owns two of the vehicles.
In 2013, the city of Ronda honored Yamauchi by naming a street "Paseo de Kazunori Yamauchi." The street is located near the Parador de Ronda, with Mayor Maria de la Paz Fernandez Lobato citing the cultural resonance of his work in driving the racing genre to new levels of realism.
In 2015, he received the "Grand Prize of Creativity" at the 30th International Automobile Festival in Paris. This was followed in 2017 by an honorary degree in vehicle engineering from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. In the 2023 film Gran Turismo, Yamauchi made a cameo appearance as a sushi chef, while his persona was portrayed by actor Takehiro Hira.
Gallery · 1 related image
