Senna to be honoured by Gran Turismo

FORMULA 1 legend Ayrton Senna is to be honoured by PlayStation franchise phenomenon Gran Turismo to coincide with the 20th anniversary of his death.

May 2014 will see the milestone marked by the inclusion of Senna and one of his cars within Gran Turismo 6, after special instruction from the game’s creator and enduring Senna fan, Kazunori Yamauchi.

“There were two things that I learned from Ayrton Senna,” he said at the game’s international launch at the Ascari Race Resort in Spain. “One of those is just how incredible motor racing is, and the other is how he strived for perfection.”

“I was really young when I watched him, and I was deeply affected by his drive for perfection. There was a time when about 90% of the things in my mind were about Ayrton Senna.”

Teaser screen shots in a special preview trailer for the game, which was shown to journalists from all over the world, showed Senna’s black and gold Lotus car leaving a pit garage to head out onto the track, being driving by what appeared to be a rendering of the man himself.

The real Lotus raced by Senna was at the Gran Turismo 6 launch and completed several laps of the Ascari circuit before being pulled back into the pits to protect its fragile components.

Gran Turismo's gesture will be made in conjunction with, and with the full blessing of, the Ayrton Senna foundation.

Many racing experts feel that Senna was the most naturally talented driver ever to race in Formula 1.

However, his own fiery desire to win by a crushing margin led to several high-profile crashes, some of which ultimately cost him championships.

His death in 1994 sparked global outrage about safety in Formula 1, and the sweeping changes that followed mean that today he is still the last person to have suffered fatal injuries while racing an F1 car.

By Press Association reporter