The ‘Gran Turismo’ video game series is one of the most best-selling video game franchises under the PlayStation brand, selling more than 90 million units worldwide.
Did you know that something called the GT Academy (a.k.a. Nissan PlayStation GT Academy) was a program funded by Nissan and Sony International and it provided skilled game players an opportunity to earn a real-life professional racing career with Nissan?
I’ll admit I never heard of it until I saw the trailers for this movie. In this movie, you will see a true story of one player who ended up going through the GT Academy and is today a pro race car driver.
‘Gran Turismo’ marks the true story of unlikely underdogs — a working-class gamer, a former race car driver and an idealistic motor-sport executive — who risk it all to take on the most elite sport in the world.
‘Gran Turismo’ is a fast-paced flick that delivers some great racing fun and is truly a fun time on the big screen.
The story is really interesting and can be a little inspiring. In this movie, you see the main
character, and then-eventual racer Jann Mardenborough, doing all he can to pursue his ultimate dream of becoming a race car driver, despite the initial disapproval of his father.
The racing sequences are really adrenaline-pumping and quite entertaining. Some of the racing moments can look visually amazing, especially when we see Mardenborough imagining himself back in his room playing the game, while racing on the actual track. A little bit of this was shown in the trailers, but once you see the full sequence, it looks really great.
Like most underdog sports movies, ‘Gran Turismo’ can be a little on the predictable side and follows a similar formula. But, you’ll still have such a great time watching it anyway. The father-son plot featured in the movie can be a little emotional and is a real nice touch for the movie.
And, before I wrap up my thoughts, David Harbour (who is mainly known for ‘Stranger Things,’ ‘Hellboy,’ and a few other movies) really steals the show in some scenes and can be really hilarious as well! Fun fact for the movie — the real Jann Mardenborough also performed some of the racing stunts in the movie!
Overall, ‘Gran Turismo’ is a great fun flick that fans of the video game series and racing fans should really enjoy. It seems that movies that are based on video games are starting to get better and better!
The cast: David Harbour as Jack Salter; Orlando Bloom as Danny Moore; Archie Madekwe as Jann Mardenborough; Takehiro Hira as Kazunori Yamauchi; Darren Barney as Matty Davis; Geri Horner as Lesly Mardenborough; Josa Stradowski as Nicholas Capa; Daniel Puig as Coby Mardenborough, Akie Kotabe as Akira Akiba; Thomas Kretschmann as Patrice Capa and Djimon Hounsou as Steve Mardenborough.
‘Gran Turismo’ is written by Jason Hall (Thank You For Your Service; American Sniper) and Zach Baylin (King Richard; Creed III) and directed by Neill Blomkamp (Demonic; Chappie; Elysium; District 9).
‘Gran Turismo’ is rated PG-13 for intense action and some strong language and has a running time of 135 minutes.
Keep on checking my Wyoming County Press Examiner reviews Facebook page to see what I will be checking out next!
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