Gran Turismo Creator Makes Motor Trend List

via ign

For the third straight year in a row, the famed creator of the Gran Turismo racing series has made it to Motor Trend's annual top 50 Power List. Yet again, Yamauchi was the only videogame personality to make the list which generally includes automotive industry professionals. Yamauchi entered the list at 27, ahead of Jean Todt (Ferrari CEO) and Takeo Fukui (Honda CEO).

The complete top 50 Power List rankings can be found in the February 2007 issue of Motor Trend which hit newsstands earlier this week. Motor Trend's list ranks key players in the automotive industry based on their influence and impact on the industry in the past year.

Almost 10 years ago, Yamauchi started the Gran Turismo franchise with a team of only four people. Today, he has climbed the ranks at Sony to become the President of Polyphony Digital. The development studio is now comprised of more than 70 members including programmers, designers, and artists. Currently Yamauchi and the rest of the Polyphony team are hard at work preparing for the upcoming release of Gran Turismo 5 for the PlayStation 3.