Polyphony Digital

Background
Polyphony Digital is a Japanese first-party internal video game development studio that was originally established as a development group within Sony Computer Entertainment under the name "Polys Entertainment". The studio was founded on April 2, 1998 after the success of Gran Turismo in Japan. The company is mostly known for Gran Turismo racing game series, which became the most successful racing series for the PlayStation. The series is designed to be a realistic driving simulator, in which it offers realistic driving physics.

1st Logo (December 16, 1994-November 1996)
Visuals: On a black background, we see a still image of the company's logo, which is "POLY'S" in a thick multi-colored font with a distorted look to it and a triangle acting as the apostrophe. On the bottom, the text reads as follows:

New Generation Game Making Project. Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. & Bandit Inc.

Variant: On Motor Toon Grand Prix 2, the text "New Generation Game Making Project." is replaced by the text in a thinner font as follows:

SCEI Software Development Div. #1 Bandit Inc. Opus Corp.

Technique: None.

Audio: None. Audio Variants: On the original Japanese version of Motor Toon Grand Prix, a thud sound can be heard.

Availability: It can be seen on the Japan-only PlayStation game Motor Toon Grand Prix and its sequel, Motor Toon Grand Prix 2 (however in the United States, it was released under its former title, which should not be confused with the original game).

2nd Logo (December 23, 1997)


Visuals: Just an in-credit logo saying "Polys Entertainment". Besides that is a outline of a "p" with an arrow (shaped loosely like an E) inside of it, and below it is the text "SCEI INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT TEAM".

Technique: The fade-in and fade-out of the logo.

Audio: The opening theme of the game.

Availability: The logo can be seen on the Japanese version of the PlayStation game Gran Turismo.

1st Logo (April 22, 1999-November 24, 2010) (still variants)
Visuals: We see a still image of the company's logo, a purple "P"-like shape with a concentric cross pattern inside of it, and the rest of the negative space filled with vertical lines, on a black background. A stack of two words, "POLYPHONY" and "DIGITAL" can be seen besides the logo.

Variants:
 * On early games developed by the company (specifically Omega Boost and the Japanese version of Gran Turismo 2), a stacked version of the logo was used and the text reads "A Polyphony Digital Production."
 * On the PlayStation 2 video game Gran Turismo 4, the logo fades in and fades out on a white background.
 * On the PlayStation 2 video game Tourist Trophy, the logo fades in on a black background, then it fades out as the intro starts.
 * On the PlayStation 3 video games Gran Turismo HD Concept, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue and Gran Turismo 5, the logo is shown in a small size.
 * On the PlayStation Portable video game Gran Turismo, it is almost the same as the logo used in Gran Turismo HD Concept, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue and Gran Turismo 5, albeit the logo is resized in a large size in order to compensate with the low screen resolution of the PSP.

Technique: Depends on the variant.

Audio: None or the opening theme of the game.

Availability:
 * The stacked version can only be found on Omega Boost and the Japanese version of Gran Turismo 2.
 * The white background variant of the logo can be found on all releases of the PlayStation 2 video game Gran Turismo 4.
 * The small version can be found on Gran Turismo HD Concept, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue and Gran Turismo 5. The latter two can easily be found either via online shopping websites or via thrift stores.

2nd Logo (December 11, 1999)


Visuals: On a live-action background, we see a scenery that's set in dusk. Then, as the company's logo fade in, the background changes to a fountain.

Technique: The fade-in and fade-out.

Audio: The opening theme of the game.

Availability: The logo can be seen on the Japanese release of Gran Turismo 2.

3rd Logo (December 23, 1999-February 18, 2000)


Visuals: On a dark background, we see a light from a projector moving towards left. As the light moves, a bright vertical line can be seen, which moves towards left and then it moves towards right, which reveals the company's logo.

Variant: On Gran Turismo 2000, the logo starts out as normal, but it stops halfway through after the vertical line reached the letter "P" of the Polyphony Digital logo.

Technique: The projector's light flickering and moving and the bright vertical line moving towards from right to left and left to right.

Audio: The opening theme of the game.

Audio Variants:
 * On the North American version of Gran Turismo 2, the song "My Favourite Game" by The Cardigans is used as the game's opening theme. On the European version of the game, the Faithless remix of the song is used as its opening theme. Additionally, the North American version of the game features the sound of an old film projector that can be heard throughout the game's intro.
 * On Gran Turismo 2000, the song "Mirage" by Daiki Kasho is used as the game's opening theme.

Availability: The variant used on the European and North American versions of the PlayStation game Gran Turismo 2 can still be found in used video game stores, pawn shops, flea markets, thrift stores and/or eBay listings. As for the Gran Turismo 2000 variant, it is known to be extremely rare, given that the game was only released in a form of a demo that was given away to attendees during the PlayStation Festival 2000 event in Japan from February 18, 2000 to February 20, 2000. Given that the demo only had a limited amount of copies available and a lack of other releases, it can be considered the rarest and most sought-after game in the Gran Turismo franchise.

4th Logo (April 28-July 20, 2001)


Visuals: On a -colored background that looks like the interior of a fuel tank, we can see a trail that appears to be the symbol of the logo. As the logo transforms into the symbol, the text of the logo and the camera begins to move, which turns the logo into its 2D form. The logo then glows in a color.

Technique: The logo extruding and the camera moving.

Audio: It starts with ambient noise, which iss followed by a choir and a dreamy synth note.

Availability: It can be seen on all releases of Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec for the PlayStation 2.

5th Logo (January 1-May 16, 2002)


Visuals: On a grid-like background, we see some sketches of a car (some parts of the grid would light up and dim). Then as the camera moves to the next background, the grid disappears, which fades into a background of a tree moving during rainy weather. Then it transitions to a background of a road that has some leaves scattered on it, with a car moving towards the screen. Then we see a digital-based speedometer on the background moving up to 98.1 kilometers per hour. After that, we see a background of a car's gear stick with the company's logo being formed and it fades out after the background is changed to a water-like background.

Technique: The animation of the grid-like background, the leaves moving and the formation of the company's logo.

Audio: The opening theme of the game.

Availability: This logo can only be seen on Gran Turismo Concept 2001 Tokyo and Gran Turismo Concept 2002 Tokyo-Seoul for the PlayStation 2.

6th Logo (July 17, 2002)


Visuals: We see a world map that is moving to the right. The text of the city names "DETROIT", "GENEVA" and "TOKYO" can be seen as the circle ripples on those cities on the map. Then, the background fades out to an airplane's tail fin that has the company's logo in a stacked variant.

Technique: The world map and the plane moving.

Audio: The opening theme of the game.

Availability: This logo can only be seen on Gran Turismo Concept 2002 Tokyo-Geneva for the PlayStation 2.

7th Logo (December 4, 2003)


Visuals: On a black background, we see a light that moves to the left. Then the company's logo distorts until it fades into its 2D form.

Technique: The light moving to the left and the logo distorting.

Audio: An echoing beep sound, which is followed by a synth note.

Availability: This logo can only be seen on Gran Turismo 4 Prologue.

8th Logo (November 24, 2010-October 20, 2011)
Visuals: On a space background, we see the camera moving towards the globe with the company's logo fading in.

Variants: On the "Spec 2.0" update of Gran Turismo 5, the globe has been updated to include clouds.

Technique: The background and logo fading in and the camera moving towards the globe.

Audio: The opening theme of the game.

Availability: Can be seen on the PlayStation 3 video game Gran Turismo 5 and its "Spec 2.0" update.

9th Logo (December 6, 2013-)
Visuals: Same as the 2nd logo, except that the logo is shown in a white color.

Variants: Up until to the release of "Update 1.46" of Gran Turismo Sport for the PlayStation 4, the company's logo fades in on a black background. Then, the background fades in to a statue with the camera and the laser moving up. The logo disappears as the laser touches the logo.

Technique: The logo fading in and out.

Audio: None or the opening theme of the game.

Availability: Can be seen on Gran Turismo 6 for the PlayStation 3 and Gran Turismo Sport for the PlayStation 4, though the logo was removed in a patch ("Update 1.46"), which is replaced by a new intro. The logo also appears on the 2022 PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 video game Gran Turismo 7.

Legacy: Same as the 2nd Polyphony Digital logo.