movie reviews gran turismo

Gran Turismo

Certain films are so close to being good, so close to achieving a rare level of brilliance, your anger springs from said work not reaching those heights. Director Neill Blomkamp ’s “Gran Turismo,” a crowd-pleasing, genre-bending sports drama, approaches wonder with an odd tepidness; it maneuvers around any modicum of character development by taking all-too simple routes and swerves away from formal experimentation, opting instead for simple enjoyment.

And yet, I can’t say I wasn’t invested in every race, lap, and turn. Nor can I say the climax didn’t successfully tug my heart toward an emotional response as the intrepid Jann Mardenborough ( Archie Madekwe ), a teenager who rose from gamer to real-life car racer, passed the finish line.

“Gran Turismo” is an uncommon yet familiar biopic, a video game-inspired narrative with unique strengths and recurrent weaknesses. For one, as Mardenborough likes to say, the property the film takes inspiration from isn’t a game; it’s a simulator. Players can customize vehicles to startling specific details through a seemingly infinite library of parts to imitate a range of makes and models that rival professional drivers (Blomkamp attempts to visualize such realism by having transparent VFX cars envelop Mardenborough whenever he plays).

Marketing extraordinaire Danny Moore ( Orlando Bloom ) knows the potentiality of such skill: He goes to GT proposing a competition in which the top seven gamers will train to become an actual racer for the Nissan team. He also recruits seasoned veteran crew chief and former driver Jack Salter ( David Harbour ) as a trainer. Moore’s venture brings heavy risk. And yet, when Jack asks Moore what the marketer gets out of this, Moore doesn’t have an answer. Despite Bloom’s inspired take, the wobbly, incomprehensible motivations of Moore only offer frustration.

Mardenborough’s desires are clearer cut: He wants to work on real cars. His father, Steve ( Djimon Hounsou ), a former professional footballer presently relegated to menial jobs, wants his son to be practical, lest he end up like his old man, filled with broken dreams. We don’t get much screen time or interiority from any Mardenborough family member. He has a doting, understanding mother ( Geri Halliwell ) and a partying immature brother ( Daniel Puig ), but they only fulfill the basic duty of filling out morsels of screen time. At a party, Mardenborough meets Audrey ( Maeve Courtier-Lilley ), whom he’ll keep up vicariously via Instagram. It’s disappointing that she never evolves narratively beyond being the dream girl on Mardenborough’s screen.

The young gamers turned drivers in the GT Academy are similarly thinly sketched. They’re inchoate obstacles who, once again, merely round out the biopic’s run time. The Academy’s more pressing narrative function is to serve as a site for Mardenborough and Jack’s budding rapport. The latter is skeptical that these keyboard warriors possess the physical and competitive acumen to become professionals. Jason Hall and Zach Baylin ’s script plays an exhausting game of keep-away about Jack’s tragic backstory (are we supposed to believe that Mardenborough, a perpetually online teenager, didn’t Google his trainer?).

“Gran Turismo” doesn’t really kick into gear until Mardenborough moves past the Academy to real racing, where he competes against teams hostile to simulator racers. It’s difficult not to hear characters say that sim drivers will never replace real drivers without thinking about the real-life struggle SAG-AFTRA and WGA face against AI, even if Mardenborough is a real person. Blomkamp portrays people like Mardenborough as plucky outsiders, not unlike the bobsledders in “ Cool Runnings .” The film’s use of common sports movie tropes unexpectedly aligning with real-world concerns makes for uneasy tension.

Those tropes keep the viewer engaged even when the on-screen storytelling doesn’t wholly deserve it. While you’d expect editors Colby Parker, Jr. and Austyn Daines , along with cinematographer Jacques Jouffret , to match real gameplay rhythms and virtual visuals, the freeze frames that tell viewers what lap we’re on crush the pace, and the information provided is often repetitive to the dialogue.

Even so, tropes are tropes because they work. For Mardenborough and Jack, it’s us against the world. A rivalry between Mardenborough and an ultra-rich racing team adds a dash of tension; a tragic crash gives Mardenborough a comeback story; a harrowing speech by the ever-dependable Hounsou puts the finishing touches on this underdog story and fully invests the viewer in the cares of an unassuming teenager. While “Gran Turismo” has greater issues than what’s outlined here, some nitpicky, others larger in scope—Madekwe as a lead is low-key to the point of invisibility—Blomkamp furnishes just enough cautionary thrills.

In theaters Friday, August 25th.

Robert Daniels

Robert Daniels is an Associate Editor at RogerEbert.com. Based in Chicago, he is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) and Critics Choice Association (CCA) and regularly contributes to the New York Times , IndieWire , and Screen Daily . He has covered film festivals ranging from Cannes to Sundance to Toronto. He has also written for the Criterion Collection, the Los Angeles Times , and Rolling Stone about Black American pop culture and issues of representation.

Archie Madekwe as Jann Mardenborough
David Harbour as Jack Salter
Orlando Bloom as Danny Moore
Darren Barnet as Matty Davis
Geri Halliwell as Lesley Mardenborough
Djimon Hounsou as Steve Mardenborough
Daniel Puig as
Josha Stradowski as Nicholas Capa
Thomas Kretschmann as
Maeve Courtier-Lilley as
Emelia Hartford as

Writer (story by)

Andrew Kawczynski
Lorne Balfe
Colby Parker Jr.

Cinematographer

Jacques Jouffret
Zach Baylin
Neill Blomkamp

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Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story Reviews

Even though Gran Turismo struggles with sticking to its strengths and maintaining efficient pacing, it still does an adequate job of championing a modern globe-trotting underdog tale.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 17, 2024

It’s an advertisement for a video game that actively seeks to separate failure (gaming) from success (not gaming). Jann’s steadfast refusal to not be “just a gamer” becomes such a rallying cry that it feels unintentionally insulting.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Jul 3, 2024

I enjoyed the inspirational guidance of Jack Salter (David Harbour), as he guided the young, inexperienced driver to trust his instincts and believe in himself.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 13, 2024

I enjoyed the rapport between Madekwe + Harbour as underdogs in elite racing. The racing scenes are well-staged and use CGI in an effective way to showcase the video game elements.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Feb 2, 2024

Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story, the melodramatic biopic adaptation of the video game released in a dozen countries before its arrival in the United States, disappointed international critics. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Jan 18, 2024

The inspiring story of a video gamer who makes his dream of being a race car driver come true.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Dec 24, 2023

This sports biopic disguised as a video game adaptation incorporates many of the tropes we are familiar with, but still manages to succeed at pulling the right heart strings.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 20, 2023

Gran Turismo is perhaps a more basic film for Blomkamp, but a welcome reminder that his breakthrough first feature District 9 wasn’t a fluke.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 17, 2023

Although the screenplay is predictable and structured in a conventional form, Neil BlonKap's performance saves the movie. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Oct 20, 2023

Gran Turismo made me remember just how fun it is to play the game and made me turn it on when I got home, dreaming of being a race car driver again.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Oct 5, 2023

The story is let down by an incredibly slow start, although it just narrowly squeaks by as it crosses the finish line.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Sep 28, 2023

...a rousing crowd pleaser - dented and battered perhaps - but mostly intact.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 24, 2023

While not as good as two other recent car-racing movies, Ron Howard’s ‘Rush’ and James Mangold’s ‘Ford V. Ferrari,’ ‘Gran Turismo’ is still a fairly effective underdog story with some cool driving scenes.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 17, 2023

The underlying message is the improbable suggestion that a video game can lead to a glamorous, exciting, well-paid profession.

Full Review | Sep 17, 2023

A return to form for Neill Blomkamp.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Sep 14, 2023

Neill embraces the fact that his movie is based on a game but also doesn’t limit himself to it. Gran Turismo is not ashamed of being a video game movie, and its very story is a celebration of the people who play the games.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 14, 2023

It's "Top Gun" meets "The Hill." Fun and inspiring!

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 13, 2023

[Race car driver Jann] Mardenborough's triumph of talent, will and perseverance is precisely the feel-good, adrenaline-pumping film audiences need to finish off the summer blockbuster season on the highest podium.

Full Review | Sep 12, 2023

It is a human interest story at its heart and that's part of the problem because I really liked this guy's story, but we really don't get enough. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: C | Sep 12, 2023

The chief joy derived in “Gran Turismo,” — aside from the delight Blomkamp shows in editing together tight racing sequences — is watching Harbour tear through all the gruff-but-lovable coaching cliches and find the battered, vulnerable heart within.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 10, 2023

The Gran Turismo movie drives a real-life story into gamer cringe territory

Jann Mardenborough’s gamer-to-racer arc is inspiring, but the movie is fighting an old culture war

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by Oli Welsh

Archie Madekwe as Jann Mardenborough behind the wheel of a car with a Gran Turismo decal on the windscreen

A little way into the movie Gran Turismo, the unlikely brand extension of Sony’s sim racing games accidentally satirizes itself. “This whole thing is a marketing extravaganza!” excitable auto executive Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom) shouts at salty racing coach Jack Salter (David Harbour). They’re aboard a helicopter wheeling above a racetrack, where Salter’s students in the GT Academy — a real-life program intended to turn players of Sony’s Gran Turismo games into actual racing drivers — are being put through their paces. The helicopter is an absurd bit of theater for the TV cameras, and Salter knows it. But he’s powerless to resist the marketing apparatus around him.

So are the people behind the Gran Turismo movie. The familiar phrase “based on a true story” is slathered all over its marketing — in some cases, even presented as part of the film’s official title. That awkward straining for legitimacy echoes throughout the film. In a year when confident, authentic video game adaptations have risen to the top of the heap both in theatrical release and on television , and Greta Gerwig has turned cinema-as-sponcon into a multifaceted art form , Sony’s movie brings us crashing back down to Earth.

Directed by Neill Blomkamp ( District 9 and Elysium director, tech innovator , and wannabe video game creator ), Gran Turismo is a broad, trashy, true-ish sports drama that has a lot less in common with The Last of Us or The Super Mario Bros. Movie than it does with triumph-of-the-brand advertorial like Air , Ben Affleck’s biography of a sneaker . Its closest cousin is Tetris , Apple’s retelling of Nintendo’s tussle with the Soviet Union over the marketing rights to the classic puzzle game. Just like Tetris , Gran Turismo solves the conundrum of how to adapt a game without any characters: by unearthing a compelling human story behind it. And just like Tetris , it strays pretty far from both truth and plausibility in its overcooked take on real-life events — then self-consciously frames those events with video game-y graphics, to remind everyone of their unreal inspiration.

A helicopter buzzes a row of white Nissan racing cars in the Gran Turismo movie

Gran Turismo is a fictionalized account of the rise of Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe), a British teen who dreamed of being a racing driver as he played racing games in his bedroom, then made that dream into a reality. In 2011, he won the GT Academy’s top prize: a contract to drive for a real Nissan motorsports team. Since then, he built a reasonable career as a pro: He raced in the 24 Hours of Le Mans several times, and went on to compete in Japan’s Super GT series.

The movie compresses, reorders, and massages the details of his story until they (a) resemble the tried-and-true beats of a sports biopic, and (b) serve the needs of the production’s marketing partners. After all, it wouldn’t do to show Mardenborough practicing on a period-appropriate PlayStation 3 rather than a modern-era PS5, or driving open-wheel Formula 3 cars around dreary British motordromes instead of racing a branded Nissan around glitzy Abu Dhabi. The movie has some laughable inventions, like a police chase around the streets of Cardiff that’s more Grand Theft Auto than Gran Turismo. (“Cop avoidance achieved!” shouts the on-screen graphic.)

But the big moments are all true, or true enough. The GT Academy program was indeed the brainchild of a Nissan U.K. marketing exec, who had to convince both Gran Turismo mastermind Kazunori Yamauchi and Nissan’s motorsports division of its genius. That actual exec, Darren Cox, may not have looked as slick as Orlando Bloom does in the role, but he was as persuasive a salesman. (Still is, if his producer credit alongside Mardenborough and Yamauchi is anything to go by.) Mardenborough did indeed score third place in his class at Le Mans, compete in an all-GT Academy team of sim drivers, and survive a horrific accident, as the film shows — albeit not in the order the film shows it, or under the circumstances the filmmakers contrive.

David Harbour’s race engineer Jack Salter reassures racing driver Jann Mardenboroguh (Archie Madekwe), both wearing Nissan racing suits, in Gran Turismo

There is one particularly troubling aspect to the way American Sniper co-writer Jason Hall and Creed III co-writer Zach Baylin frame the accident, a freak occurrence at the Nürburgring circuit that killed a spectator. While the crash did happen pretty much as depicted, Hall and Baylin’s screenplay time-shifts it in order to stage it as a defining, motivating setback on Mardenborough’s hero’s journey to his Le Mans podium. The actual accident happened years later — arguably a tasteless reframing of a fatal event.

The film’s best invention is Harbour’s character — chief engineer Jack Salter, whom Nissan drafts to train the young racers and keep them safe. There’s nothing original about the character or his arc: He’s a cussed has-been who coulda been a contender, straight out of the sports-movie playbook. But Harbour invests him with an ornery warmth, and he both works up all the biggest laughs and creates the film’s most touching moments with Madekwe.

The film’s script reduces most other characters to ciphers whose only role is to illustrate one gamer’s rise to greatness. The most egregious example of this is perfunctory love interest Audrey (Maeve Courtier-Lilley). Mardenborough’s parents, Steve (Djimon Hounsou, wearing his most disapproving frown) and Lesley (a rather sweet Geri Halliwell-Horner — yes, Ginger Spice) might have had more to them in some drafts, but they’re given short shrift in the edit.

A team of young racers wearing overalls walk down a corridor in the Gran Turismo movie

Meanwhile, Gran Turismo fans will enjoy seeing Yamauchi (as played by Giri/Haji ’s Takehiro Hira) gazing stoically upon press conferences, racing cars, and the curve of the asphalt. The film’s relationship to the games is the oddest thing about it. It opens with a minutes-long ad for the series, and closes with credits featuring manufactured footage of Polyphony Digital engineers scanning in cars’ bodywork and recording their engines’ growls, as if the games’ authenticity still needed underlining. The script is awash with back-of-the-box talking points about the games’ realism, while sound effects and graphics get callouts.

And the movie’s whole premise is the realization of Yamauchi’s long-held dream that his love of cars and motorsports could bleed out of his games and enter the real world. In his pitch meeting at the start of the movie, Danny’s lament about the decline of car culture — “people would rather be on their phone in the back of an Uber than behind the wheel” — could have come directly from Yamauchi’s most recent press tour .

And yet there’s nothing of the games’ spirit here. Gran Turismo games express their automotive passion in a way that’s scholarly, precise, tasteful, and a little quirky. They’re scored with elevator jazz and presented with exquisite finesse. They find their excitement in moments of thrilling verisimilitude: reflections gliding across paintwork or car suspensions shuddering over curbs. By contrast, Blomkamp’s movie is brash and amped-up. (Though it does have a pretty good running joke involving the Muzak stylings of Enya and Kenny G.) His direction of the racing scenes (much of them shot practically rather than built digitally ) apes camera angles from the games, but cuts them together in a frenetic, noisy style that’s enthralling at the start of the film and wearyingly samey by the end. It honestly feels more like a Forza or Need for Speed movie than a Gran Turismo adaptation.

A dynamic low shot of a racing cars at speed, led by a white Nissan, in the Gran Turismo movie

Worse, the games’ cool self-possession is completely lost amid the insecure gamer power fantasy that has blighted video game-themed movies from Pixels and Ready Player One in the 2010s all the way back to The Wizard and The Last Starfighter in the 1980s. In this fantasy, a nerdy boy gets mocked for playing with his joystick in his bedroom, but he eventually uses gaming skills to save the day, win the prize, and get the hot girl, proving the doubters (usually his parents) wrong. Mardenborough’s story is unfortunately a perfect vehicle for this narrative, and the filmmakers lean into it in the most cringeworthy way — not just in the cheesy graphics and lines like “How are we doing, gamers?” and “Press play, dude!” but in setting up the primary antagonist as a preening racer who leads an entirely fictitious campaign against sim drivers infiltrating the sport.

Gamers aren’t an oppressed minority anymore — if they ever were in any venue outside of their own heads and the media reflecting their fantasies. This kind of aggrieved posturing isn’t a good look in 2023. Geek culture won. Mardenborough’s story is real, and has a much more significant dimension than victory in some imagined gaming culture war. Games gave this kid from a low-income family a viable and affordable route into one of the world’s most elitist sports. Gran Turismo could have used this inspiring true story to show how video games open up possibilities and remove barriers in the real world. Instead, it just uses it to score points.

Gran Turismo opens in U.S. theaters on Aug. 25.

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‘gran turismo’ review: orlando bloom and david harbour in neill blomkamp’s dynamic race car movie.

Archie Madekwe co-stars alongside Djimon Hounsou and Geri Halliwell Horner in this feature sourced from the archives of Sony’s long-running PlayStation video game franchise.

By Justin Lowe

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While writer-director Neill Blomkamp ’s expertise with genre material — from his international breakthrough, sci-fi revelation District 9 (2009), to dystopian dramas Elysium (2013) and Chappie (2015) — makes him a good fit for an action-oriented sports biopic, it’s perhaps his background as a visual effects artist that proves his greatest asset in bringing Gran Turismo to the screen.

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Review: A gamer gets behind the wheel in the slick ‘Gran Turismo,’ an ad for big dreams (and cars)

A young man in a racing jumpsuit is coached, trackside, by an older veteran in a headset.

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The visual exterior of Neill Blomkamp ’s video-game adaptation “Gran Turismo” mimics that of a race car itself: shiny, colorful, chrome. There’s a real surface appeal to this movie, which is based on the remarkable true story of Jann Mardenborough, an English gamer and fan of the “Gran Turismo” driving simulator (billed here as the most accurate), who won a Nissan-sponsored driving academy and has since gone on to become a successful race-car driver himself — on real tracks, not virtual ones. But pop the hood on this bad boy and there’s an undeniable cynicism undergirding this vehicle. A movie about a publicity stunt is still just a publicity stunt.

If you start pulling apart this rousing, if formulaic, sports flick, it’ll all come undone. (One may even question the worthiness of gas-guzzling motorsports, and why we’d celebrate them on screen at all in this day and age.) “Gran Turismo” does attempt to get ahead of the craven capitalism on display with Orlando Bloom ’s knowing portrayal of Nissan marketing exec Danny Moore (a version of GT Academy founder Darren Cox). Bloom — and the script by Jason Hall, Zach Baylin and Alex Tse — positions Danny as savvy but smarmy: an outside-the-box innovator with visions of “untapped demographics” dancing in his head.

Danny flashes a sharky grin at Nissan execs while describing the gamers in whom “Gran Turismo” has “ignited a passion for driving.” He cooks up the scheme for the gamer-to-racer driving academy, and though winning is winning, he still wants the most camera-ready driver behind the wheel of the first Nissan Motorsports vehicle, even if he isn’t quite ready for the track. Danny is a bit of an antagonist, allowing the audience to scoff at his business-oriented motivation while also knowing that the entire endeavor of this film is meant to be an advertisement for the “Gran Turismo” game and Nissan cars.

The fastest driver in the academy is a tall, quiet kid from Cardiff, Wales, the son of a former footballer, searching for his purpose in life. Archie Madekwe plays determined driving-enthusiast Jann with a shy charm, and if “Gran Turismo” works, it’s due to Madekwe’s performance, as well as the gruff and grounded presence of David Harbour as Jack Salter, a former race-car driver and engineer tapped to train the gamers.

As a piece of purely mechanical, revved-up entertainment, “Gran Turismo” really does work. Audience members will raise their hands with full-throated cheers every time Jann inches up higher in the rankings, such is the appeal of Madekwe’s earnest performance. Blomkamp ( “District 9” ) lays out the stakes with simple but effective visual storytelling. He utilizes the saturated color palette to allow us to easily locate Jann and his foes in the race, while putting game iconography and graphics to work to illustrate how Jann sees the track, thanks to his hours on the simulator.

The script is standard sports-movie fare without much subtext. In the mouth of anyone other than Harbour, some of these motivational lines would be real clangers, but he sells the material with his rugged soulfulness, and there’s true chemistry between him and Madekwe, as the unlikely sports star and his demanding coach. Djimon Hounsou plays Jann’s father, and it’s a great, emotional role for the actor, as the dad who doesn’t understand his son’s dream. And yes, that is Geri Halliwell Horner, a.k.a. Ginger Spice, playing Jann’s mother. Fun fact: The real Mardenborough also serves as his character’s driving double in the film.

“Gran Turismo” bears comparison to that other recent racing film, “Ford v Ferrari,” and not just because both films feature their climaxes at the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans race. Both films are also stories of personal determination, individual achievement and overcoming obstacles, but are inextricably linked to the desire to sell more cars. These inspiring tales have capitalist ends and origins, but then again, that’s the business of motorsports, already saturated with sponsorships, product placement and advertising.

The writers of “Gran Turismo” don’t attempt to interrogate the business, and why would they? In the end, as entertaining as the movie is, it feels like a custom wrap on a sports car: merely an ad stuck onto Mardenborough’s unique journey to the track.

Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.

'Gran Turismo'

Rating: PG-13, for intense action and some strong language Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes Playing: Opens Aug. 25 in wide release

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But the film is inspired by the career of pro driver Jann Mardenborough (played by Archie Madekwe of Midsommar ), and the career of this mixed-race Brit, along with others, helps mark changing times in both the sport and the country itself. It’s a positive-minded film, one with an upbeat attitude, even if a significant part of it addresses a tragic accident that also figures in the film.

What’s fresh and even a bit provocative here is a challenge that’s posed both to the characters and filmmakers: Do you want to remain an observer and an amateur, no matter how good you really are, or do you want to wade into the fray, put yourself on the line and possibly take charge? It’s the difference between playing the game and actually designing it, of going along with things or assuming some control yourself.

Blomkamp ( District 9, Elysium ) and his collaborators no doubt had fun deciding what to include in this fast-moving yarn. There are amusing little scenes from some of the characters’ youths, vignettes from their home lives and an abiding impression that, in another life, the director might easily have done other things; he probably still will.

A large contingent of people come and go through the young man’s life before he can finally decide what he wants to do with his obvious talent, and there are any number of compelling scenes that swiftly convey aspects of his rather tumultuous inner world. When Mardenborough decides once and for all what he — almost inevitably — will do, Gran Turismo takes off to a much higher level, on a road that brings him to Le Mans, which provides the setting for the film’s exceptionally exciting and yet carefully measured climax. That the filmmakers could actually manage to so comprehensively film this enormous race is very impressive.

The film touches on many aspects of life, big and small, and Blomkamp keeps things running at a brisk clip.

Title: Gran Turismo Distributor: Sony Release date: August 25, 2023 Director: Neill Blomkamp Screenwriters: Jason Hall, Zach Baylin Cast: Archie Madekwe, David Harbour , Orlando Bloom , Geri Horner Rating: PG-13 Running time: 2 hr 15 min

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Gran Turismo: The Movie

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Gran Turismo Movie Review

Gran Turismo Is Luxuriously Familiar

Behold: a video-game adaptation, a coming-of-age tale, and an inspirational sports biopic, in one sleek package.

Two men on a race course in conversation, in "Gran Turismo"

This year’s zippy The Super Mario Bros. Movie aside, video games have historically yielded less-than-satisfactory film adaptations. For the most part, they range from forgettable ( Assassin’s Creed ) to regrettable ( Uncharted ), the storytelling never quite capturing the thrill of actually interacting with a game.

Perhaps that’s why Gran Turismo —a new film based on a PlayStation racing franchise that began in 1997—seems so eager to define itself as anything but a game adaptation. Featuring dialogue that repeatedly reminds the audience that its source material is a “racing simulator,” the film positions the game as merely a narrative framework for a more intimate story. The movie is not about the game per se, but is instead based on the story of a real-life gamer: Jann Mardenborough, a teenager who became a professional driver after years of honing his skills on his PlayStation. The result is a mishmash of subgenres that, surprisingly, works.

Sure, the film is still a brand-extension exercise: There are close-ups of fancy logos (Porsche! Moët & Chandon! TAG Heuer!) as well as Orlando Bloom playing a Nissan executive who launches the program that recruits gamers to drive real cars. But its overall presentation is humbler than one might expect. The film does not appear to be setting up sequels through cliffhangers, or spin-offs through its characters. It doesn’t transform races into over-the-top, gravity-defying set pieces—the sight of vehicles kept literally on the ground might feel refreshing to anyone who’s watched Fast X .

Instead, Gran Turismo adds an intriguing twist to the classic underdog sports tale. Jann (played by Archie Madekwe) is a racer whose strongest asset in a life-threatening sport is his understanding of a video game. The film illustrates this using a neat effect: When on a real track, he envisions the path before him as a digital outline. When traveling at actual high-octane speeds, he imagines sitting in front of his console, helmetless and ensconced in his bedroom. Sports dramas usually feature a hero passionately transforming themselves, physically and emotionally, into a contender. In Jann’s case, training also means learning to see his sport as more than a series of predictable inputs.

Read: The never-ending quest to make a great video-game movie

Helping him is a former professional racer and grizzled father figure named Jack Salter ( Stranger Things ’ David Harbour), a character invented for the film. Jack lends gravity to an otherwise mostly conventional mentor-mentee relationship; he is haunted by how thin the line between confidence and cockiness can be in the sport. Through his bond with Jann, the film lightly interrogates why anyone would want to strap themselves into an automobile hurtling down a closed loop at breakneck speed.

But not for too long, because, oh, those cars! The real stars of Gran Turismo are the vehicles—sleek steel marvels captured lovingly by the director, Neill Blomkamp, who seems to prefer filming machines to flesh-and-blood characters. He indulges in seat-rattling sound, sweeping drone shots, and immersive camerawork to place the viewer on the asphalt alongside Jann. The point of these kinetic, stylish sequences is not just to sell the cars; they convey the excitement and danger inherent to motorsports. The images of drivers rushing into frame, vehicles sliding within inches of one another, are genuinely scary. And a scene of Jann crashing off course and accidentally killing a spectator—a real-life incident that occurred in 2015—is particularly visceral to watch.

The cars are, in fact, more memorable than most of the characters—but that’s okay. Gran Turismo is satisfyingly simple, its ensemble an embodiment of well-worn tropes: the underdog, the jaded coach, the parents who struggle to accept their wunderkind son’s dreams. There are perhaps too many subplots—Jann has a love interest as well as a series of interchangeable rivals, most of whom become allies kind of out of nowhere—but the film is essentially cinematic comfort food. Every clichéd motivational line of dialogue and thinly drawn supporting character reassures the viewer that Jann, despite hazards and tragedy, is headed for success. That’s not a spoiler: Gran Turismo telegraphs its feel-good finish from the starting line.

In that sense, the film reminded me not just of video-game adaptations, sports biopics, and racing thrillers, but of coming-of-age movies— The Karate Kid rather than Le Mans . As I watched Gran Turismo , I was also surprised that I hadn’t seen something like it in some time: a summer crowd-pleaser that uses a splashy backdrop to tell a familiar but enjoyably emotional story. In an ever-expanding field of blockbusters trying to outdo one another in stunts, stakes, and silliness, a movie that hums along so inoffensively can feel like a luxury.

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‘Gran Turismo’ Review: Once Upon a Pair of Sticks

A popular racing video game series gets turned into an underdog sports drama in this big-screen adaptation.

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The actor Archie Madekwe sits at the wheel of a racecar wearing a black uniform.

By Nicolas Rapold

Since the late 1990s, the Gran Turismo racing games for PlayStation have brought in billions of dollars, rivaling the box-office bounties of some movie franchises. It was only a matter of time before a movie offshoot arrived, following in the tracks of other live-action adaptations of PlayStation games, including last year’s “Uncharted.” “Gran Turismo” the movie tells the true (but unlikely) story of Jann Mardenborough, a Gran Turismo maven who became a professional racer of actual cars on actual tracks.

Mardenborough’s leap from pixels to asphalt was an effective advertisement for Gran Turismo as more than a game, but his transition wasn’t all smooth. In the director Neill Blomkamp’s dutiful telling, Jann (Archie Madekwe), a teenager from Cardiff, Wales, faces doubters and steep learning curves to go with the racetrack curves. His underdog story — can this digital driver make it in the real world? — doubles as an old-fashioned tale of a young man proving his worth to his family and other skeptics.

Madekwe’s Jann is so unassuming that every step in his journey comes as a pleasant surprise. After Jann’s father (Djimon Hounsou) says there’s no future in gaming and brings Jann to his job at a rail yard, Jann goes off and wins a contest held by Nissan to recruit promising Gran Turismo players. (His mother, played by Geri Halliwell Horner, is a bit more encouraging.) He earns a spot in the company’s racing academy, which is overseen by a hard-nosed engineer, Jack (David Harbour), and an unctuous marketer, Danny (Orlando Bloom). Once again Jann exceeds expectations and beats out a more TV-ready competitor for the chance to race professionally.

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‘Gran Turismo’ Review: A Race-Car Drama Dazzling Enough to Put the Audience in the Driver’s Seat

Director Neill Blomkamp makes his best film in telling the true story of a gamer-turned-driver.

By Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

Chief Film Critic

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A documentary on Gran Turismo's creator is available for free on YouTube

“ Gran Turismo ” is a race-car movie that gives the audience a contact high. That’s what you tend to want from an action drama about gleaming supercars zooming around labyrinthine tracks at 300 kilometers per hour. But there’s an innocence to this one, and a surprise authenticity. It’s like a “Fast and Furious” movie made without cynicism, and it gets to you.

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The director, Neill Blomkamp, is a filmmaker I’ve never much cared for. I thought “District 9” was frenzied and overblown, and he lost me with the lushly derivative “Elysium” and the mechanistic “Chappie.” But “Gran Turismo,” Blomkamp’s first major feature in eight years, is easily his best. It’s made with a spontaneous humanistic grace, and the racing sequences, which dominate the movie because they’re truly the story it’s telling, are dazzlingly directed and edited. “Gran Turismo” puts the audience in the driver’s seat more than just about any race-car movie I can think of, and it puts us everywhere else as well. We experience the races from on high, from right next to the cars, from just above the track, the camera swooping forward. We see freeze-frames of Jann’s position (an arrow will point to him and say “fourth place”), diagrams of his split-second passing technique, and shots that imagine his car as a rapidly assembling video-game hologram. It’s all edited together like a “Mad Max” film, with a kaleidoscopic precision nearly metaphysical in its irony: The movie employs a heightened video-game aesthetic to make the races more real.

The sleaze-lite Danny has tapped Jack Salter (David Harbour), a retired racing veteran, to be the GT Academy’s trainer and drill sergeant, and Harbour knows how to spin each line so that it’s spikier than the last. Jann wins the GT Academy competition, of course, but that’s just the first of many tests. And the film doesn’t make any of it look too easy. The established racers don’t want to compete with sim racers, and their ruthlessness is palpable. The races are fights , vivid in their danger. Jann learns in training that he has to commit to passing someone, but in the middle of a race “to pass or not to pass” becomes a scary question. Is it worth risking your life to move one car ahead?

At one point there’s a cataclysmic accident, and we see how instantly even a good racer can fall into the abyss. This results in maybe a bit too much handwringing, but it sets up a satisfying grand finale, set at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in France. “Gran Turismo” is about racing, about healing, about fathers and sons, about facing down your competitors until that moment when you dare to thread the needle of fate.

Reviewed at Regal Union Square, Aug. 7, 2023. MPA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 134 MIN.

Production: A Sony Pictures Releasing release of a Columbia Pictures, PlayStation Productions, 2.0 Entertainment production. Producers: Doug Belgrad, Asad Qizilbash, Carter Swan, Dana Brunetti. Executive producers: Jason Hall, Matthew Hirsch, Hermen Hulst, Kazunori Yamauchi.
Crew: Director: Neill Blomkamp. Screenplay: Jason Hall, Zach Baylin. Camera: Jacques Jouffret. Editors: Austyn Daines, Colby Parker Jr. Music: Lorne Balfe, Andrew Kawczynski.
With: Archie Madekwe, David Harbour, Orlando Bloom, Djimon Hounsou, Geri Halliwell-Horner, Maeve Courtier-Lilley, Takehiro Hira, Darren Barnet, Josha Stradowski.

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Gran turismo.

Common Sense Says
Parents Say 24 Reviews
Kids Say 18 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Intense crashes in exhilarating game-based racing flick.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 11+?

Based on the popular video game franchise, the movie doubles as an ad for the ga

Several intense car crashes, including a first-person point of view from inside

Language includes "a--holes," "bitch," "bulls--t," "goddamn," "pr--ks," a use of

A crush. A kiss.

Reference to champagne being "for winners." Until that happens, characters drink

Any Positive Content?

Jann is a positive role model who's a great example of perseverance. He knows hi

Success requires conviction and commitment. A quote on a sign in the background

Main character Jann (British-born actor Archie Madekwe, who's of Nigerian and Sw

Products & Purchases

Based on the popular video game franchise , the movie doubles as an ad for the game, and the story acknowledges that the creation of the GT Academy was a marketing stunt. And, true to professional racing, brand names are seen everywhere, particularly those associated with cars (such as Michelin) and alcohol (Moet-Chandon in particular). Expensive sports cars like Porsche, Ferrari, and McLaren are treated with high esteem; Porsche gets so much positive attention that it's likely product placement. The most mentioned brand is Nissan, the car company sponsoring the GT Academy.

Violence & Scariness

Several intense car crashes, including a first-person point of view from inside the vehicle. Reference to the (real-life) death of a person who isn't introduced on-screen.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Language includes "a--holes," "bitch," "bulls--t," "goddamn," "pr--ks," a use of "f--k," and the abbreviation "NFW." After Jann's first race, a person off camera can be heard congratulating him by saying "you broke your cherry." "Jesus Christ!" and "God!" are used as exclamations or to express disbelief.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Reference to champagne being "for winners." Until that happens, characters drink beer.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Role Models

Jann is a positive role model who's a great example of perseverance. He knows his passion and sticks to his goals. Humble and polite, he puts in hard work, believes in himself, respects and listens to his coach, and knows himself well enough to know how he can remain calm and focused. Chief engineer Jeff Salton demonstrates integrity, even if doing the right thing means that he might not achieve his goal.

Positive Messages

Success requires conviction and commitment. A quote on a sign in the background sums it up: "The winner ain't the one with the fastest car, it's the one who refuses to lose." Teamwork is important.

Diverse Representations

Main character Jann (British-born actor Archie Madekwe, who's of Nigerian and Swiss descent) and his brother are biracial, and their loving, present father is played by Black actor Djimon Hounsou, who was born in Benin and grew up in France. Finalists at GT Academy come from all over the world and are diverse in terms of gender and race, including characters of South Asian, East Asian, and Latino descent. Gran Turismo video game creator Kazunori Yamucki is Japanese, as are the Nissan executives. Jann's hometown friend is Indian English. While most of the primary filmmakers are White men, three are of Asian descent.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Parents need to know that Gran Turismo is director Neill Blomkamp 's exciting, fact-based action drama about gamer-turned-professional race car driver Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe). While kids might use Jann's story to counter parental arguments against playing tons of video games, he's clearly a positive role model: He exemplifies perseverance, gratitude, and humility. Expect to see intense crashes on the race track, including some scenes shown from a first-person point of view. Brand names (especially cars and alcohol) are everywhere, and champagne is positioned as a drink for winners. Characters kiss and use strong language ("bulls--t," "goddamn," a use of "f--k it," etc.). There's a strong message about success requiring commitment, and watching the movie's events unfold might help kids believe that, with conviction, even their loftiest dream could come true. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Three Gran Turismo main characters standing behind two race cars

Parent and Kid Reviews

Parents say (24)
Kids say (18)

Based on 24 parent reviews

Gran Turismo high speed fun!

Overall good movie, what's the story.

Avid gamer Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe) dreams of driving real race cars. His fantasy moves into reality when he takes first place in a Gran Turismo game tournament. Motorsport marketing executive Danny Moore ( Orlando Bloom ) designed the competition to find the best couch-surfing gamers from around the world and turn them into top-ranking professional race car drivers. Unfortunately, that's a feat that GT Academy racing coach ( David Harbour ) doubts is possible.

Is It Any Good?

A fist pump of aspiration, this fact-based biopic does laps around other sports movies -- at least, it will for teens who connect with the gaming aspect. Director Neill Blomkamp 's fans know that he's a master at elevating emotions, and in Gran Turismo, he delivers plenty -- including hope, disappointment, fluttery feelings of love, devastation, anticipation, trepidation, and the euphoria of unlikely success. What's more, leaning into the movie's gaming roots, he allows you to feel the experience as if it's happening to you.

Some of that experience -- just like watching a Formula One race in real life -- can occasionally drag (especially in the middle), but it's all a vital part of the process: The only way to get to the phenomenal, exciting ending is for the wheels to ride across every bit of road to get there. Jann encounters some serious real-life adversity that's likely to put the brakes on kids thinking of following his career path. (Parents may find themselves relating more to Jann's father, Steve, played by Djimon Hounsou , who's frustrated that his son spends all his time gaming and rides him to get a job.) But Jann's difficulties make the finish a knuckle-gnawer, fueled by a surge of adrenaline. You'll likely end the film feeling completely pumped, wondering what impossibility you can accomplish. Just wait to look up Jann's full story until a few days later, as some elements are fictionalized for the film.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about how Gran Turismo compares to other sports movies you've seen. How true do you think it is to what happened in real life? Why might filmmakers decide to change the facts in movies based on true stories?

How can video game skills be adapted for use in the real world? Are there any games that have led you to pursue the game's activity offline?

How does Jann demonstrate perseverance , humility , and gratitude ? How does Jack Salton demonstrate integrity ? Why are these important character strengths?

Could Jann have succeeded without Jack? Could Jack have coached another gamer to the same level of success? Describe what worked for these two and why teamwork is a vital life skill.

What's your "impossible" dream? What would it take to make it real?

Movie Details

In theaters : August 25, 2023
On DVD or streaming : November 7, 2023
Cast : Archie Madekwe , David Harbour , Orlando Bloom
Director : Neill Blomkamp
Inclusion Information : Black actors
Studio : Columbia Pictures
Genre : Action/Adventure
Topics : Cars and Trucks , Great Boy Role Models
Character Strengths : Gratitude , Humility , Integrity , Perseverance , Teamwork
Run time : 135 minutes
MPAA rating : PG-13
MPAA explanation : intense action and some strong language
Award : Common Sense Selection
Last updated : August 18, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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Gran Turismo Review: A Thrilling Adaptation of Playstation's Hit Racing Simulator

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Gran Turismo tells the incredible true story of how an avid young fan of Playstation's hit racing simulator became a professional racer on the international circuit. Jann Mardenborough's rise from an armchair gamer in his bedroom to hurtling around a racetrack in Formula One and Indy cars is the stuff of dreams. His improbable success and rise to fame isn't without setbacks as family, competitors, and even his own pit crew have little faith. The film inspires and works on an emotional level, but kicks exhaust as a thrilling sports adventure. The superbly shot, realistic racing scenes will have audiences gripping their chairs in white-knuckle excitement.

Nissan marketing executive Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom) flies to Japan for a meeting with the motorsport division. He's got a wild idea. Moore wants a partnership between the Gran Turismo videogame creators and Nissan to establish a racing academy. The best online players will then get a chance to compete for a professional racing license. This qualification would allow their winner to be sponsored by Nissan and race against the world's best drivers.

Meanwhile, in Cardiff, Wales, 20-year-old Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe) shreds other Gran Turismo racers online. He burns digital asphalt with his prized gaming chair and steering wheel. This behavior perplexes his stern father, who believes Jann's wasting valuable time on a foolish hobby. Steve (Djimon Hounsou), a former professional soccer player turned train construction worker, chides his oldest son. Jann needs to go back to college or come to work at the yard with him. Leslie (Geri Halliwell), Jann's mother, is the only family member with an inkling of understanding for his lifelong passion.

Tough Competition

Danny approaches seasoned pit crew boss Jack Salter (David Harbour) with his idea for GT Academy. Jack thinks it's a terrible idea and that these kids are going to get killed. Playing a videogame is nothing like driving at 150 miles per hour under extreme physical duress. Jack reluctantly agrees to take the job as lead trainer at GT Academy. He's done running the pit for arrogant racing champion Nicholas Capa (Josha Stradowski).

Related: Exclusive: David Harbour Revs Up Gran Turismo

Back in Cardiff, Jann is stunned to be chosen as a European finalist for GT Academy. He quits his job as a retail clerk and fully commits to the rare opportunity, which infuriates his father. Jann quickly learns that a real race car is a dangerous endeavor. He struggles against the other racers and faces scathing criticism from Jack — you don't belong here; go home before you get hurt. But Jann refuses to quit and proves that his impressive simulator skills are relevant on the racetrack.

Gran Turismo doesn't look like a CGI videogame. Director Neill Blomkamp ( District 9, Elysium ) eschews cartoonish visual effects for practical racing with spectacular camera placement. He deftly cuts between inside shots of the cockpit to killer exteriors of the cars zipping by each other. Blomkamp also uses drones to weave over and between the racers when they take hairpin turns.

Slick editing gives multiple perspectives as Jann, Jack in the pit, Danny, and even his parents watch the races with bated breath. The only time you really see computerized effects is when Jann visualizes the videogame racing line and various parts of the engine. This is cleverly done and smartly incorporates the best aspects of the game.

Related: David Harbour's Best Performances, Ranked

Realistic Racing

Gran Turismo surprises with sincere drama and depth. These aren't cookie-cutter characters going through the motions. Jann's tumultuous relationship with his father is mirrored with Jack. Their lack of initial support pushes Jann harder. He's not overconfident but clearly understands where failure leads. Jack's harsh persona mellows as Jann begins to display significant ability. He becomes a dedicated mentor who sees that Jann does belong and has earned his chance. This could have been sappy and contrived but feels honest.

There's also another factor, as Danny worries about Jann's reserved personality. A subplot has him supporting other more outgoing competitors. Jack refuses to let GT Academy become a popularity contest. He doesn't care who's the most handsome or TV ready. Jann's the best racer and deserves their support. There's a sense of triumph when all the doubters get behind Jann, but he faces new obstacles from cutthroat professional drivers.

Racing and car films have been utterly disappointing as of late. Fast X had me laughing out loud from its utter absurdity. Gran Turismo reflects the source material's ethos by taking the experience seriously. The greatest compliment is that it serves the target audience and neophytes alike. Fans of the game are going to be overjoyed. Those who've never held a Playstation controller can also watch and be thoroughly entertained. Gran Turismo aims for realism and accomplishes that goal on all fronts.

Gran Turismo is a production of Columbia Pictures, PlayStation Productions, and 2.0 Entertainment. It will be released theatrically in the US on August 25th from Sony Pictures . You can watch the trailer below.

Gran Turismo

Based on the video game franchise and the true story surrounding it, Gran Turismo is a film adaptation arriving in 2023 from PlayStation Productions. The story will center around a teenage Gran Turismo player whose consistent winning streak in the games put him through a series of Nissan competitions, where he eventually became a real-life professional driver.

Movie and TV Reviews

Gran Turismo movie review: we watched it so you really don't have to

Who better to send to see the new GT film than someone who hasn’t played it since the dawn of the millennium? Erm...

Now I must admit straight away that I haven’t actually played Gran Turismo in at least two decades. I got bored trying to score my International B licence and doing enough races round the Autumn Ring to try and save up for a brakes upgrade to my wheezing Mazda Demio. The anarchic Grand Theft Auto was much more fun when that came along, then Rollercoaster Tycoon stole my heart. Smash cut to the present (cinema term) and I’ve missed something important – Gran Turismo is emphatically a driving simulator now (and I know because a character clarifies every few minutes), and despite being 25 years old, car company executives have never heard of it.

I went in cold, expecting Jumanji -style nonsense (a group of kids get sucked into the game and can’t leave until they’ve completed their International B licence) or a Billy Elliott story of redemption against the odds. A youngster from the mean streets of Tokyo elbows his way through the street scene until he earns enough money to buy a Ford GT. Once he’s completed his International B licence, of course, in the second act’s perilous denouement.

Tonally Gran Turismo struggles to decide whether it’s going to be a drama, comedy (though I think I laughed in all the wrong places), action special or a touching tribute to geeks worldwide. It opens with a loving homage to game creator Kazunori Yamauchi, then we’re whisked over to Cardiff, where Djimon Hounsou (really too good for this, but those bills have to be paid) is shouting at his son Jann Mardenborough for playing too much on his computer instead of trying to be a footballer. Jann is played by an endearing Archie Madekwe – looking forward to seeing him in a good film – who at 6ft5in is approximately three times the size of actual Jann Mardenborough.

But in your face, Dad, because Jann wins a magical golden ticket to a computer games boot camp organised by a mad twitching Legolas and an extended montage where that gruff bloke from Stranger Things shouts abuse at teary eyed gamers from a helicopter. Ginger Spice is in the film too, playing Jann’s mum, which mostly involves reacting to news footage of her son’s races from her couch in Cardiff, like a sort of cinematic Gogglebox . Her powerhouse line in the first half of the movie is “Well, these lentils are nice”, which an actor of any calibre would be pushed to sell.

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Anyway, everything turns out fine, as Jann – guided by the spirit of Kenny G – survives some made up high stakes races that are admittedly beautifully translated to the screen, with some innovative use of drones and first-person cameras that communicate some of the visceral feel of real-life (not computer game) racing. It's a shame, then, that the realistic action is rendered void by the unforgivable use of that awful extra gear, where all overtaking is done by mashing the accelerator and finding a magical extra cog. So the racing action is entertaining, but the Gran Turismo movie ultimately fails to tell us exactly why anyone actually enjoys playing the Gran Turismo game. Maybe the Jumanji version would have been better...

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DVD & Streaming

Gran Turismo

Action/Adventure , Drama

Content Caution

In Theaters

August 25, 2023
Archie Madekwe as Jann Mardenborough; Orlando Bloom as Danny Moore; David Harbour as Jack Salter; Djimon Hounsou as Steve Mardenborough; Geri Horner as Lesley Mardenborough; Josha Stradowski as Nicholas Capa; Daniel Puig as Coby Mardenborough; Maeve Courtier-Lilley as Audrey

Home Release Date

September 26, 2023
Neill Blomkamp

Distributor

Columbia Pictures

Movie Review

Jann Mardenborough hasn’t been able to get it in gear since he graduated from high school. He tried college for a little bit, but it didn’t work. So, at this point he’s stuck in a dead-end job selling socks and underwear at a local department store in Wales.

The 20-year-old’s parents are pushing him to go back to college, to have some kind of plan for his future. Maybe follow a dream. But frankly, the only dream he’s really interested in has to do with cars.

And I’m not talking your average run-to-the-supermarket kind of people-mover. No, Jann is enamored with the kind of majestic machines that he drives in PS3’s über-popular Gran Turismo racing game. He can build ‘em. He can fine tune ‘em. And he can race ‘em better than anyone.

Of course, in the non-digital world, pro racing is a pretty exclusive club. Its members breathe rarefied- and very expensive air. And Jann’s middle-class father is quick to remind his son that a dream needs to be at least somewhere close to the realm of reality. Otherwise, it’s like spitting into the wind. No matter how good you may be at some silly game.

What Jann doesn’t know, however, is that a marketing guy named Danny Moore is also reaching for a dream at that moment in time. He’s pushing a wild idea to the big wigs at Nissan Motor Corp.

Danny knows for a fact that Gran Turismo —an incredibly accurate driving sim created by Kazunori Yamauchi—has inspired 80 million gamers to love cars in its 20+ year history up to that point. So why not connect all that passion and all those car lovers to Nissan, he asks? Why not put together a GT Academy for great Gran Turismo players and find the best of the best? Then put that guy or gal on Nissan’s real-world pro circuit.

In Danny’s estimation, that would make for a marketing dream.

Of course, as you may have heard, a dream needs to be somewhere in the realm of reality. And everybody tells Danny that his dream is crazy. Nobody thinks it’s possible. Drivers in that pro class are rare. They’re elite athletes.

Gamers, on the other hand, are guys and gals sitting in a dark room with too many chip and cookie crumbs on their shirt fronts. The whole cockamamie concept is nothing but nonsense.

However, the Nissan execs … give the project a green light.

And just like that, Danny Moore and Jann Mardenborough both get a shot at accomplishing something quite impossible.

Positive Elements

Early on, Jann and his dad, Steve, are somewhat at odds. Steve thinks Jann’s video game obsession is a worthless waste of time. But even more than that, he’s earnestly concerned for his son’s future. Steve knows how his own lack of planning as a young man hurt some aspects of his life. And he desperately wants to spare Jann that same pain.

That causes a real rift between the two, and Jann lashes verbally at his dad. “I’m doing this whether you believe in me or not,” he proclaims.

Ultimately though, Steve recognizes Jann’s passion and hard work, and he does all he can to support his son. Jann’s mom follows suit. And the couple invests hard earned money to fly to Jann’s side in support. Jann and his dad tearfully embrace and voice their love for one another.

Jack Slater, a former pro racer who steps into the role of engineer for the gamer drivers project, is another adult who speaks positively into Jann’s life. Initially he doesn’t think it’s remotely possible that a gamer of any stripe can actually become a real racer. But as he works with Jann, he becomes a great source of encouragement and seasoned insight. He becomes a mentor for the young driver.

Spiritual Elements

Sexual & romantic content.

Jann has a crush on a local twenty-something, Audrey, who lives in his neighborhood. And the two have a very nice friendship, though they seem to be two ships passing in the night. With time, though, Jann realizes that he’d like them to be something more and Audrey declares that she wants that, too. The two get together in Tokyo. They date, go to a dance club and kiss. And they kiss later after a race as well.

Jann is on his laptop watching a racing video when his younger brother walks in and asks, “Is that porn?”

When Jann finally drives well enough to earn his pro license, his pit crew chief makes a sexual quip about Jann attaining maturity in a real race.

Violent Content

Early on, Jack Slater voices his disapproval at the idea of strapping a gamer to a “200 mile-per-hour rocket” of a car. And we see cases where he is proven quite right. There are a number of crashes that damage or demolish cars and send young wannabes home.

There are a several crashes involving pro racers as well. We learn that it was a crash and a fellow racer’s death that ended Jack’s own pro racing career.

One of the most devastating crashes onscreen involves a driver who smashes into a wall and barely crawls out of the intensely burning wreck that’s caused.

The second-worst accident involves Jann. His car is swept up into the air and tumbles end over end into the surrounding barriers and nearby spectators. We’re told that one spectator died as a result. And we see the emotional agony Jann goes through, bruised and bloodied in a hospital bed, because of his part in that death.

Jack points out that the crash was not Jann’s fault. But it could impact Jann’s ability to move forward, he says, much like many devastating moments in life. “The crash won’t define you, but how you respond to it will.”

In several instances, Nick Capa, a privileged pro whom Jack Slater used to work for, makes foolish and potentially deadly choices to demonstrate his superiority to Jann. He thumps Jack’s car with his own vehicle. In one case, it sends Jann skidding off the course. In another, Capa wrecks his own vehicle in the process.

Crude or Profane Language

Language is the biggest red flag for young viewers here (especially all those kids who would love to go see a game-related movie about fast cars). There are 10 s-words, two (or perhaps three) f-words, and several uses each uses of the words “b–ch,” “d–n” and “a–hole.” God’s and Jesus’ names are misused six times (two of those blending God with “d–n”). Somebody calls a group of drivers “pr-cks.”

Drug & Alcohol Content

A group of teens and twenty-somethings drink beer at a street party. Several of them become very drunk. Jann, who’s sober, drives two of them (one of whom is his brother) home.

Several adults drink beer on a jet and in a restaurant. Jann is in the group. Later he and others drink champagne and spray bottles of the stuff over a crowd of people.

Other Noteworthy Elements

Jann’s brother and friend, decide to pass beers between two moving cars—despite Jann’s warnings not to. The shenanigans almost cause an accident, and police then pull the two cars over. But Jann decides to run from police and out-maneuvers them. (Which the movie winks at and praises him for with a video game-like award of “Cop Avoidance.”)

A number of racers and pit crew members are smug and make it very clear (verbally and physically) that Jann is not wanted on the race circuit.

During their strength and endurance practice, some of the gamer drivers bend over in pain. One vomits.

As a racing movie with a video game heart, Gran Turismo picks its lane and hits its line very well.

The film is based, remarkably, on a true story that took place in 2011. It’s fun, tightly paced and gives viewers a real sense of the speed of a race and the incredible effort needed to be a real-world pro racer. I also enjoyed how director Blomkamp sweetened the visual pot with CGI special effects and graphics designed to appeal to the gamers in the crowd.

However, viewers revving their engines for a family outing need to keep in mind that there are a few things here that could be worthy of a yellow flag. As you might expect, there are fiery car wrecks and vehicles hurtling into spectators and scenery. But you might not expect the fiery language that hits viewers at speed, ready to scorch young ears in the family pit crew.

Too bad the PG-13 rated movie’s makers didn’t take a cue from the E-rated game’s creators on that front.

After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.

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Gran Turismo Review

Gran Turismo

“This entire thing is a marketing extravaganza!” hails Orlando Bloom, part way through Gran Turismo . It’s rare that a movie says the quiet part out loud. For while this makes admirable gestures towards the noble intentions of reach-for-your-dreams sports-movie feel-goodery, it’s very hard to shake the feeling that it is simply a highly elaborate corporate branding exercise, the smell of the ink from rubber-stamping approval never far away.

Gran Turismo was never one of those video games that lent itself to a big-screen adaptation. There is no story mode there. It is literally just cars going around a racetrack. Sensibly, a story mode is found in Jann Mardenborough (a likably boyish Archie Madekwe), a real-life player of the game who graduated from the GT Academy, which trained top-rated gamers to become professional race car drivers. This also means the game can feature in the film – a lot. The main character here is not Jann, but Gran Turismo itself.

For most of the film there’s a complete dearth of tension.

After a pre-titles sizzle reel summarising the brand (one that wouldn’t look out of place in a shareholder meeting), we meet Bloom’s slimy Nissan marketing exec Danny Moore. Danny is a simple man with a simple dream: to make use of a vast untapped car market in the gaming world, via the GT Academy. In a heartwarming tale of corporate synergy, Nissan promptly agrees to sponsor a racing team with Gran Turismo players. The grand inciting incident of this entire film is therefore essentially: how do we increase our annual profits?

Then we switch to Cardiff (or a version of Cardiff where Welsh accents are curiously absent). There, Jann spends all his spare time playing Gran Turismo , dreaming of something more. Director Neill Blomkamp – seemingly in journeyman mode here, the sharp satire of District 9 AWOL – makes some bells-and-whistles efforts to make the gaming and driving feel engaging, but outside of Top Gear , you need more than swooping drones and close-ups of pistons.

For most of the film there’s a complete dearth of tension. You know he’s going to win all the races, because why would they make a film about the guy who came last? The only actual drama comes with a couple of nasty crashes – including one genuine tragedy – which emphasises the real danger of the real-life sport. Performances from David Harbour (as Jann’s father figure) and a never-better Djimon Hounsou (as Jann’s actual father), meanwhile, lend some much-needed heart and gravity.

Otherwise, it’s just the usual Top Gun - Rocky - Mighty Ducks formula, plus as many licensed logos in the frame as can be fitted. Gran Turismo , the characters frequently like to remind us, is not a game — it’s a racing simulator. You could just as easily level that this isn’t really a film – it’s mostly just a film simulator.

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Gran Turismo 7 can run at 60fps in 8K on PS5 Pro

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Gran Turismo 7

The PlayStation 5 Pro is coming soon, and as we edge towards the release of Sony’s $700 console, further details are starting to emerge.

Principally, for sim racers, improvements to Gran Turismo 7 ’s visual fidelity are the main highlight.

For all six of you with an 8K display, Polyphony Digital’s race will run at that resolution natively, alongside adding ray-traced lighting in-race for the first time on the PS5 Pro.

Native 4K at 60fps is already possible on a standard PS5 with GT7 – but ray tracing capped the output at 30fps and was not possible during on-track action.

Now it has been confirmed that it will maintain 60 frames per second even at the highest resolution – although the implementation has been dubbed ‘experimental’.

“Gran Turismo 7 will feature experimental support for 8K/60fps output,” said Shuichi Takano, Main Programmer at Polyphony Digital

“Players will be able to see the precisely modelled cars and tracks in unprecedented detail and clarity, with a breathtaking sense of presence.”

Even at 4K, further visual enhancements are expected when using a Pro.

“PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution on PS5 Pro is also effective on 4K sources, allowing for even more detail and higher image quality than ever before,” continued Takano.

The PS5 Pro will be released 7th November 2024, and an update to Gran Turismo 7 is expected in time for the launch. The Crew Motorfest and EA SPORTS F1 24 are also expected to receive a performance boost when played on the latest machine.

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Gran Turismo movie review & film summary (2023)
Director Neill Blomkamp 's "Gran Turismo," a crowd-pleasing, genre-bending sports drama, approaches wonder with an odd tepidness; it maneuvers around any modicum of character development by taking all-too simple routes and swerves away from formal experimentation, opting instead for simple enjoyment. And yet, I can't say I wasn't ...
Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story
Rated: 1.5/4 Aug 30, 2023 Full Review Yasmine Kandil Discussing Film Even though Gran Turismo struggles with sticking to its strengths and maintaining efficient pacing, it still does an adequate ...
Gran Turismo Movie Review
Posted: Aug 9, 2023 6:50 pm. Gran Turismo plays in select theaters beginning August 11, before opening wide August 25. Gran Turismo is a slick, watchable hunk of cross-promotional pablum - a ...
Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story
The racing scenes are well-staged and use CGI in an effective way to showcase the video game elements. Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Feb 2, 2024. Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story, the ...
Gran Turismo (2023)
Gran Turismo: Directed by Neill Blomkamp. With David Harbour, Orlando Bloom, Archie Madekwe, Takehiro Hira. Based on the unbelievable, inspiring true story of a team of underdogs - a struggling, working-class gamer, a failed former race car driver, and an idealistic motorsport exec - who risk it all to take on the most elite sport in the world.
Gran Turismo review: A real-life gamer-to-racer story veers ...
Gran Turismo is a fictionalized account of the rise of Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe), a British teen who dreamed of being a racing driver as he played racing games in his bedroom, then made ...
'Gran Turismo' Review: Orlando Bloom and David Harbour in Neill
'Gran Turismo' Review: Orlando Bloom and David Harbour in Neill Blomkamp's Dynamic Race Car Movie. Archie Madekwe co-stars alongside Djimon Hounsou and Geri Halliwell Horner in this feature ...
'Gran Turismo' review: Slick fun as gamer becomes racer
Review: A gamer gets behind the wheel in the slick 'Gran Turismo,' an ad for big dreams (and cars) Archie Madekwe, left, and David Harbour in the movie "Gran Turismo.". The visual exterior ...
'Gran Turismo' Movie Review: Fresh & Provocative Race-Car Drama
That the filmmakers could actually manage to so comprehensively film this enormous race is very impressive. The film touches on many aspects of life, big and small, and Blomkamp keeps things ...
Gran Turismo: The Movie [Reviews]
Gran Turismo Movie Review. 6. ... the film is the ultimate wish fulfillment tale of a teenage Gran Turismo player whose gaming skills won a series of Nissan competitions to become an actual ...
'Gran Turismo' Is Luxuriously Familiar
The real stars of Gran Turismo are the vehicles—sleek steel marvels captured lovingly by the director, Neill Blomkamp, who seems to prefer filming machines to flesh-and-blood characters. He ...
'Gran Turismo' Review: Once Upon a Pair of Sticks
When the novelty of watching a gamer become a driver wears off, we're left with an adequate racing drama in a medium built for so much more. Gran Turismo. Rated PG-13 for intense action and some ...
'Gran Turismo' Review: Puts the Audience in the Driver's Seat
Director Neill Blomkamp makes his best film in telling the true story of a gamer-turned-driver. " Gran Turismo " is a race-car movie that gives the audience a contact high. That's what you ...
Gran Turismo Reviews
Gran Turismo is a piece of salesmanship that never stops selling — the movie constantly reminds us how much the real races resemble the accurate simulation of the game, and even the Sony Walkman gets a fair amount of screen time — but the vroom-vroom of it all delivers enough adrenaline and character-building to make this a solidly entertaining piece of late-summer cinema.
Gran Turismo (2023)
7/10. An underdog story full of momentum. ethanbresnett 7 August 2023. Gran Turismo is a terrifically executed sports movie, fizzing with energy and momentum from start to finish. It follows the story of Jann Mardenborough, a gamer who always dreamed of becoming a professional racer.
'Gran Turismo' turns gamers into race car drivers in a slow ...
As underdog car-racing movies go, think of "Gran Turismo" as "Nerd v. Ferrari." ... Review by Brian Lowry, CNN 3 minute read Published 8:14 PM EDT, Thu August 24, 2023 Link Copied! ...
Gran Turismo Movie Review
Based on 23 parent reviews. Zack K. Adult. August 13, 2023. age 10+. Gran Turismo high speed fun! Gran Turismo is a good underdog sports movie, based on the life of Jann Mardenborough. A gamer turned racer who went against his parents wishes to chase his dream. It's a good movie to take the family to.
Gran Turismo Review: A Thrilling Adaptation of Playstation's ...
Gran Turismo is a production of Columbia Pictures, PlayStation Productions, and 2.0 Entertainment. ... Movie and TV Reviews. Gran Turismo (2023) Your changes have been saved. Email is sent.
Gran Turismo movie review: we watched it so you really don't have to
A youngster from the mean streets of Tokyo elbows his way through the street scene until he earns enough money to buy a Ford GT. Once he's completed his International B licence, of course, in ...
Gran Turismo
As a racing movie with a video game heart, Gran Turismo picks its lane and hits its line very well. The film is based, remarkably, on a true story that took place in 2011. It's fun, tightly paced and gives viewers a real sense of the speed of a race and the incredible effort needed to be a real-world pro racer.
Gran Turismo Review
Published on 08 08 2023. Original Title: Gran Turismo. "This entire thing is a marketing extravaganza!" hails Orlando Bloom, part way through Gran Turismo. It's rare that a movie says the ...
Gran Turismo (film)
Gran Turismo [a] is a 2023 American biographical sports drama film directed by Neill Blomkamp from a screenplay by Jason Hall and Zach Baylin.Produced by Columbia Pictures, PlayStation Productions, and 2.0 Entertainment, it is based on the racing simulation video game series of the same name developed by Polyphony Digital.It depicts a highly sensationalized account of real life British ...
Neill Blomkamp's 'Gran Turismo' Review thread : r/movies
Gran Turismo. Rotten Tomatoes 60% (174 Reviews) . Gran Turismo's brisk action and feel-good underdog drama are undermined by its loose telling of the fact-based story, but this is still a generally solid racing movie.
Gran Turismo (film)
Gran Turismo is een Amerikaanse biografische sport-dramafilm uit 2023, geregisseerd door Neill Blomkamp.De film is geproduceerd door Columbia Pictures, PlayStation Productions en 2.0 Entertainment en is zowel gebaseerd op de racesimulatie-computerspelserie met dezelfde naam als op het waargebeurde verhaal van Jann Mardenborough, een tiener Gran Turismo-speler die een professioneel autocoureur ...
Gran Turismo 7 can run at 60fps in 8K on PS5 Pro
Reviews. Mid-range marvel: MOZA GS V2P GT Wheel review. New and Improved? MOZA CRP2 Load Cell Pedals review. Evolution, not revolution: MOZA's reworked R12 Direct Drive Wheel Base review. ... The PS5 Pro will be released 7th November 2024, and an update to Gran Turismo 7 is expected in time for the launch. The Crew Motorfest and EA SPORTS F1 ...

Gran Turismo

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