I know it does not fit your narrative, but GT is likely historically the biggest Sony's first party contributor worldwide.
So if you think they need to have bigger control over their best studio, then think again. Reason Evolution and others were closed is that they were unsuccessful.
And reason Polyphony can do what they want to do is that they are very successful. Very simple.
Revisionist history does not help - GT5 and GT6 had tons of features, more so than any other game in the genre and customers appreciated that and that made them success.
Sure, if you're stuck in the PS2 era.
I was simply observing, that Naughty Dog sold far more units in the PS3 gen than PD.
Yes PD have introduced a lot of new features and I respect them for that, but at the same time they've been floundering in their development.
And a narrative? GTFO with that rubbish.