1up has a new article on GT4:
On Kaz's position at Sony, I had no idea he has such a high position there:
"Yamauchi is the president of Polyphony but is also a senior vice president of SCEI, and as such, is deeply involved in numerous projects outside of Gran Turismo. "He has a lot of say in everything," Imasaki reveals. "I guess that's what comes from being the guy behind a franchise that's now sold more than 36 million copies."
It also looks like PD will be sharing their technology with other Sony teams:
"He's very influential on both the hardware and software sides of the business, and just recently, he's become much more involved with other first-party teams to encourage the sharing of technology. You'll actually start to see some of the fruits of this next year."
The removal of the online mode:
"I actually have a working disc of the online version on my desk right now,"
"The problem is that when you have such a beautiful game, you really want to be able to keep everything within your control. Yamauchi is a perfectionist, and he wants to make sure that the game retains its beauty and doesn't go out with any weird bugs that would make the experience seem less real. I think it was a wise decision for him to pull the online mode when he did because it has really helped keep the project on schedule. A lot of online games are released and make you live with a lot of problems. The GT team members are very critical of their own work, they're artists, and they're very concerned about maintaining the Gran Turismo magic in every mode."
http://ps2.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3137554&did=3
Also Motor Trend magazine put Kaz at number 17 on the top 50 most influential people in the automative industry.
And fellow AW11 owners aren't the most abundant thing, so it'd be like... "fancy meeting you here" 
