Ever since I was a young kid, I was always fond of Gran Turismo. It's the first racing simulator game I've ever played at around 15 years old on a playstation one that happened to be in my uncle's house.
The Founder of Gran Turismo is Kazunori Yamauchi who was once a race driver.
Kazunori Yamauchi
The first game he released was Motor Toon Gran Prix which was similar to Mario Cart and it was released in the early 90s.
Motor Toon Gran Prix
Yamauchi became President of Polyphony Digital and would later on release Gran Turismo 1 and the rest is history. Due to the Worldwide success of the game, Yamauchi is widely acclaimed in the Automotive World.
His company would go on to make sequels of Gran Turismo with the latest being Gran Turismo 7. His company has also released a motorcycle variant of the simulation game called Tourist Trophy for the Playstation 2 which was also very successful.
Gran Turismo 7
Fun fact is that there is a non racing game published by his Company called Omega Boost which is shooter game. Though the gameplay was good for the time, reviewers complained about the game being too short with just 9 levels.
Omega Boost
Yamauchi also participated in European racing events such as 24 hours of Nurburgring and has won two races during the 2011 to 2012 series as part of a Team of 4 drivers.