Photo by IGN
Story by Larry Rincon
Movie premieres are always big, exclusive events meant to market a movie further, but it is very rare for a movie to premiere on a race track. Of course, when your movie is based on a racing game that turned a simple gamer into a race car driver, there are no limitations to how you can make it memorable.
On July 30 of this year, “Gran Turismo” premiered on the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. However, since then the film had early access screening from August 11 until it was finally released in the United States on Aug. 25.
As stated before, “Gran Turismo” tells the story of Jann Mardenborough, who spends his time playing a PlayStation game called — you guessed it —“Gran Turismo.” Sony and Nissan end up working together to take the best players from the game and offer them the opportunity to become real race car drivers under Nissan. Mardenborough, of course, manages to take a spot in this competition until ultimately he wins the competition and races for Nissan.
Most times I wouldn’t go into a lot of the details of the movie, however, since “Gran Turismo” is based on a true story. Most of what is included in this movie can easily be found with a quick google search.
I typically hate documentary, biopic styled films. Anything “based on a true story” is so reliant on playing off of empathy that I find them to be really boring. If you’re anything like me, I can reassure you by saying that “Gran Turismo” plays a lot into the drama, and the addition of the VFX, audio and cast makes it worth the watch.
Let me explain what I mean by that. The moments when Mardenborough gets into that competitive zone when gaming, his surroundings would disappear and suddenly he’s in a car. The virtual effects added would literally build a car in front of your eyes. Then, when he needs to clear his head when he’s actually racing, the virtual effects come in again and disassemble his car until he’s back in his regular gaming chair.
Another aspect that helped hand in hand with the effects was the sound.
I know that when you’re driving and you see a fancy sports car or even a regular sedan rev their car it can be annoying. For some reason though, hearing the engine and the acceleration alongside the sounds of the individual pieces locking into place was very pleasing to my ears.
You get actual adrenaline from just watching this movie. Watching the races gets you excited, so at no point do you ever lose interest in the story. Your eyes don’t leave the screen.
The cast for this movie is another good aspect of this movie. In all honesty, I do think that a major selling point for “Gran Turismo” was the cast. They got two really huge actors: David Harbour and Orlando Bloom. Orlando Bloom’s character, Danny Moore, was based on the founder of GT Academy, Darren Cox. GT Academy being the televised program where the different players competed in. Bloom’s character pitched the idea to Nissan executives, but as the movie developed he was more focused on being able to market their winning racer than actually help them become racers.
This is where David Harbour’s character comes into play. Harbour plays the role of Jack Salter, a race car driver who became a mechanic after an accident on the tracks. His attitude was very pessimistic with him constantly talking about how gamers can’t drive professional sports cars. With that being said, his character eventually did become a very important figure in Mardenborough’s career.
Finally, I want to mention the actual Jann Mardenborough. If you think he didn’t make some sort of cameo in a movie about his life then guess again. One of the main aspects that had attracted me to this film in the first place was the stuntmen.
The real Mardenborough did all the stunts for the actor Archie Madekwe. Anytime Madekwe is supposed to be driving, the actual Jann is in his place driving the car.
It’s really hard to critique a movie when there is a story that took place in real life serving as its base. However, I will say that there is a lot people can learn from Jann’s story.
If you love something, pursue it. You never know what kind of opportunities are waiting for you. People may look down on you for having a passion for something that seems unattainable, but being able to prove yourself is worth that dedication.
To contact Lifestyles Editor Destiny Mizell, email lifestyles@mtsusidelines.com. For more news, visit www.mtsusidelines.com, or follow us on Facebook at MTSU Sidelines or on X at @MTSUSidelines.
