‘Gran Turismo’ — A commercial disguised as an underdog story

“Gran Turismo” is different from other video game movies in that it's not really about the video game. There's no lore, special world or main character.

Gran Turismo is a racing simulation game that's come a really long way since its debut in 1997. Today, players can customize elaborate rigs at home with special racing wheels, pedals, seats and seat brackets that could easily set you back hundreds of thousands of pesos.

Archie Madekwe and David Harbour in ‘Gran Truismo’

“Gran Turismo” the movie is actually one really long commercial for PlayStation (and Nissan, Sony, Puma, etc.) disguised as an underdog story. It's based on the career Jann Mardenborough who started out playing video games in his room in Cardiff — until he made the cut to be part of the GT Academy in 2011.

While it doesn't hit the heights of “Top Gun” or “Air” it has elements of both — operating mean machines, competitive peers, corporate marketing and concerned parents. You can find character tropes from both movies. Like Top Gun, the mean machines and the driving/piloting behind it is real. The movie was shot at the Slovakia Ring, the Dubai Autodrome, the Nurburgring, the Red Bull Ring in Austria, and the Hungaroring.

David Harbour who plays chief engineer and mentor Jack Salter says, “We're in the cars, we're doing pit tire changes and gassing up the cars in real-time with other drivers blazing around the track at 200mph. It's really me in a helicopter flying 30 feet above race cars.”

Archie Madekwe who plays Jann Mardenborough didn't know how to drive when he got the role, so while working on another film, he would take driving lessons after hours. What he found “daunting” was playing Gran Turismo vs. an AI. For that, he was trained by “sim driver” David Perel who now races for Ferrari.

With all this training, he has no plans of entering the sport: “It's hot, it's claustrophobic, it's nauseating, it's anxiety-inducing. I'm 6'5 — I can barely fit in the cars. And on top of that, you have to make split-second decisions in the middle of those circumstances. You can lose seven pounds of sweat during a race. It's a total body experience, athleticism to the highest degree.”

Did you know the first-ever Nissan PlayStation GT Academy Asia champion is a Filipino? Jose Gerard Policarpio outraced the pack in Silverstone in 2015. You'll find him in a post on Nismo's Instagram page.

To make the most out of the racing scenes, “Gran Turismo” is best enjoyed at an IMAX cinema. One truly gets the idea of the skills, focus, demands, teamwork, expertise, thrill, risks, fuel and funding it takes to race. Watching all that fuel burn just makes me hope the sport goes carbon neutral in the near future.

Also in the cast are Orlando Bloom as Nissan executive Danny Moore; Geri Halliwell aka Ginger Spice and Djimon Hounsou as Jann's parents. Gran Turismo is directed by Neill Blomkamp (best known for “District 9”).