Polyphony Digital

Polyphony Digital began as Polys Entertainment, a development group inside Sony Computer Entertainment's Japan Studio. Under that name it made Motor Toon Grand Prix (1994), its 1996 sequel and the first Gran Turismo (1997) for PlayStation. The success of Gran Turismo in Japan earned it more independence, and on 2 April 1998 it was set up as a company in its own right, Polyphony Digital, with Kazunori Yamauchi as founder and president.

As Polyphony Digital it released Omega Boost and Gran Turismo 2 (1999) and then, on PlayStation 2, Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (2001) and Gran Turismo 4 (2004). Designed as a realistic driving simulator, Gran Turismo became the most successful racing series on PlayStation, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3. In 2006 the studio brought the same approach to motorbikes with Tourist Trophy.

The studio has also worked with the car industry. It has made special editions of Gran Turismo for manufacturers, designed a body kit for the Nissan 350Z that NISMO later sold, and in 2007 designed the multifunction display of the new Nissan GT-R. In 2014 it signed a long-term partnership with the FIA to launch an official online championship in 2015.

PlayStation 3 brought Gran Turismo 5 (2010) and Gran Turismo 6 (2013), followed by Gran Turismo Sport (2017) on PlayStation 4 and Gran Turismo 7 (2022), also on PlayStation 5. Its latest game is My First Gran Turismo (2024). Polyphony Digital is based in Tokyo, is part of PlayStation Studios and has two studios in Japan, one in the Netherlands and one in the United States.