Yout post comes across as a defense of the result, to which I'll make the sardonic comment: I guess we should remove manual shifting then.
At a time when a new generation isn't casually exposed to the workings of motorsport, car mechanics, and automotive legacies, that's exactly when a full-throated Gran Turismo career experience can, would, and should thrive. Gran Turismo is one of the series that sparked my interest in racing, and cars in general. Reading the instruction manual for the first GT explain why things like tyre squeal often represented a loss of grip that made acceleration and turning less efficient, my eyes were opened to what would end up being my driving style. Bombastic, loud, action-movie style driving was slowly revealed to be wasteful and impotent to me, in a competative setting. The technical explanations were fascinating, and I wouldn't have been exposed to it were it not for the instruction manual for a videogame.
What Yamauchi is saying is just as true now as it was then for me and countless others. That should be the impetus to create, not to omit. If he doesn't understand that, he doesn't deserve to helm the series he birthed. It's apparently outgrown him.