Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia

Unimore awards the Honorary Degree to Kazunori Yamauchi, designer of the Gran Turismo Sport series

On 17th October 2017, Unimore honoured the Japanese video game developer Kazunori Yamauchi with the Honoris Causa Master’s Degree in Vehicle Engineering. He is well known internationally for designing and developing the successful GT video game series exclusive for PlayStation consoles. The series sold more than 76 million copies all over the world and this year celebrates its 20th birthday.

The reasons for awarding Kazunori Yamauchi the Honoris Causa Degree at the "Enzo Ferrari" Engineering Department are his own commitment and personal skills applied to design the GT cars, together with his creativity and technical mastery in developing highly realistic driving video games. These skills are also reflected in Yamauchi ‘s involvement in designing concept cars in collaboration with several vehicle manufacturers, such as General Motors, Merceds-Benz, Toyota, Bugatti, and Fittipaldi Motors to name but a few.

“I believe that speed is a universal dream. A dream that mankind has always pursued. The feeling of being at one with the car is something I sensed for the first time with GT and only when I started driving a real racing car I found out that it was the real feeling”  explains Kazunori Yamauchi, President of Polyphony Digital Inc. (where the GT series is developed), Senior Vice President of Sony Interactive Entertainment and Executive Vice President of the SIE World Wide Studios. “There was not much difference between virtual and real. GT allowed me not only to express my passion for the automotive universe, but mostly to share it with millions of people all over the world, giving them the opportunity to feel the adrenaline and the thrill of speed typical of real races by means a simple video game. Receiving this award after twenty years from my first GT and by the Department named after the father of modern motorsport moves me because it proves how creativity, enthusiasm and persistence make the human being reach ever more ambitious and unenvisaged goals.”

Together with the team of Sony Interactive Entertainment Europa and Polyphony Digital, also the General Manager of Sony Interactive Entertainment Italy, Marco Saletta, attended the ceremony, which was held in the afternoon at Modena Technology Centre. “The Honorary Degree to Yamauchi-san marks the consecration of the video game industry as a means of genuine cultural expression of modernity. In this light we would like to thank the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and the “Enzo Ferrari” Engineering Department for the long-term vision that fully legitimates the video game medium, even in an academic context, as a vehicle of knowledge and skills” said Saletta.

This special distinction was conferred by the Chancellor of the University, professor Angelo O. Andrisano, who was joined by professor Alessandro Capra, Director of the “Enzo Ferrari” Department, and professor Francesco Pellicano, President of the Master’s Degree in Vehicle Engineering, in explaining the reasons for the award.

“The decision of the “Enzo Ferrari” Engineering Department to award Kazunori Yamauchi the Master’s Degree in Vehicle Engineering is a confirmation of the strong link existing between our University and the productive infrastructure that goes beyond the national boundaries” the Chancellor of Unimore, professor Angelo O. Andrisano declared. “It is significant that, in the year of the launch of the Unimore Automotive Academy and the new international degree in Advanced Automotive Engineering, these are conceptually inaugurated by a manager and technician who is leaving a legacy in the history of GT car design and driving simulator development, with effects in the automotive landscape”.

Categorie: International - english