Gran Turismo Review: A Surprisingly Authentic Adaptation

At first glance, it might have seemed odd for Sony to adapt the Gran Turismo simulation racing PlayStation franchise ahead of some of its other more storied franchises. But the Gran Turismo movie isn’t a direct adaptation of the games. Instead, it’s a biopic. The film follows professional driver Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe) in the early stages of his career as he upskills his history with the Gran Turismo games into the chance to compete against the world’s best professional drivers. 

Directed by Neill Blomkamp, Gran Turismo feels like a weird combination of a few different movies. It achieves what a successful video game adaptation should set out to do, as at times, you do feel like you are watching the game play out on screen. In fact, at times, you are watching the gameplay on screen. Gran Turismo 7 gets so much screen time that it gave me a hankering to reinstall it. Unfortunately, with the amount of gameplay, Sony branding, and sponsored vehicles, the movie does feel like one giant ad. 

For the most part, the story is your average by-the-numbers sports narrative. Mardenborough, through passion and determination, works his way up from being an incredibly skilled player of the game to becoming an actual professional driver. After achieving one of the fastest times on a track, Mardenborough competes in Gran Turismo 7 against other players and ends up winning a spot at GT Academy. The GT Academy acts as a sort of boot camp trial for a handful of players from around the world to see if they have what it takes to drive professionally. 

Performance On and Off the Track

David Harbour plays Jack Salter, the GT Academy trainer that goes on to train Mardenborough. He plays the gruff retired driver role well, and the scenes where he and Madekwe go back and forth are some of the best ones in the film. Orlando Bloom plays Danny Moore, the marketer in charge of GT Academy. His performance is fine, but he, unfortunately, feels like an inconsequential side character by the end of the film. The focus on Jann pays off, and the games aren’t focused on any characters, so from an adaptation standpoint, Gran Turismo makes sense.

What might be the film’s biggest mark against it is that Gran Turismo doesn’t know what it is at times. The movie seems to be set in the present as Gran Turismo 7 is being played on a PlayStation 5. But Mardenborough’s father Steve (Djimon Hounsou), is holding onto the antiquated notion that people who spend their time playing games to the level that Jann does won’t amount to anything. This point feels anachronistic and cringeworthy for every minute it’s explored on screen because eSports isn’t exactly a brand-new idea. However, the emotional beat does eventually kick in between Steve and his son, so Hounsou doesn’t feel wasted by the end of the film.

There are other story elements that feel shoehorned in as well, like Jann’s relationship with Audrey (Maeve Courtier-Lilley). Gran Turismo shines when someone’s on the track or trying to get on the track. Everything else bogs down the film’s 134-minute runtime. With that being said, not all of what makes the film feel a tad confusing is bad. There are a few quirky scenes that are fun enough to make up for their flaws, like when Jann listens to jazz before a race. 

A Celebration of Gran Turismo

Surprisingly, the area in which Gran Turismo succeeds the most is as an adaptation of the video games. When you boot up Gran Turismo 7, you are greeted with a history of competitive racing. The movie accomplishes the exact same feeling you get watching that sequence. The film takes the viewer to several different courses from around the world that you can compete in from the game, using the sound effects and elements of the HUD to make you feel like you are somewhat immersed in the experience while watching drivers race on the real tracks.

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Gran Turismo: The Truth Behind the Movie

It brings an authenticity to Gran Turismo that would have sorely been missing otherwise. The game’s graphics aren’t just used to enhance the races either, they’re used in some clever ways, which we won’t spoil here. The soundtrack and score fit the movie well, too – the only time a song felt out of place was when it was used as a joke.  The movie looks fantastic, with most scenes letting the cars and courses shine. One shot, in particular, stood out, in which we see just how far behind Jann is on one of the tracks.

It was also really surprising to see Polyphony Digital, the developers of Gran Turismo, treated with respect, with the CEO Kazunori Yamauchi played by Takehiro Hira. The emotional throughline of the movie delivers a riveting third act which is only enhanced by your investment. If you love the Gran Turismo franchise and racing in general, this adaptation should land for you, and it might even end up being one of your favorite films. But, if you have no interest in racing and have never played the games, you might walk away feeling like the movie didn’t do enough to keep your attention.