Gaming giant Polyphony Digital has announced an intriguing partnership with new electric vehicle manufacturer Sony Honda Mobility to collaborate on developing exciting new in-car technologies aimed at enhancing driver enjoyment.
The collaboration was revealed by Sony Honda president Izumi Kawanishi during Sony’s CES 2024 press conference in Las Vegas earlier this week. He explained that the partnership would focus primarily on advancing sensory and emotional aspects of driving by fusing Polyphony’s world-leading vehicle simulation expertise with Sony Honda’s electric vehicle platform.
Polyphony Digital is best known as the creator of Sony’s hugely successful Gran Turismo racing game franchise, which has sold over 80 million copies worldwide. The games are renowned for their meticulously detailed car models and ultra-realistic driving physics, which provides the ideal basis for Polyphony to support the development of Sony Honda’s future vehicles.
An early output of the tie-up will see Sony Honda’s AFEELA prototype vehicle, which debuted at CES 2024, brought to Gran Turismo 7 later this year as a free downloadable content update. This will give fans an exciting sneak peek at a vision of the future from this all-Japanese technology alliance.
For Sony Honda, collaboration with such an established simulation and gaming enterprise strengthens their position as an innovative mobility tech brand built to “realize innovations in mobility that affect people’s sensibilities and behavior”, says Kawanishi.
