What’s up with Nike and Jordan in Vision Gran Turismo?

Shoe cars?

Sony and Polyphony Digital came out with a few surprises for the Gran Turismo franchise at their gamescom press conference yesterday. In addition to the announcement of a Gran Turismo movie, another item that had social network users scratching their heads was the appearance of Air Jordan and Nike logos in the debut trailer of Vision Gran Turismo. Most wondered how shoe brands would relate to a racing game.

At a press meeting today, Polyphony Digital boss Kazunori Yamauchi explained that the Air Jordan design studio would be joining major car manufacturers in creating a custom design to appear in upcoming game Vision Gran Turismo. The designer of the famed shoe, Tinker Hatfield, will be providing an original car design for the game.

As for Nike’s involvement, though unrelated to the Jordan work, they too will be providing a vehicle design for VGT. Yamauchi reminded that Nike supplied designs for their Nike 1 vehicle in Gran Turismo 4. They’ll return in Vision Gran Turismo with its follow-up, the Nike 2.

I still have hopes of racing in a shoe, though.