Sony's Gran Turismo video game franchise has been a mainstay pastime among car enthusiasts for well over two decades. The PlayStation-based racing simulator single-handedly made Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) cars popular all around the world, and it's probably why the United States finally got cars like the Subaru WRX, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, or Nissan Z. If you're a fan of the games, you'll probably be excited to hear that Sony is preparing a film adaptation of its popular franchise.
Gran Turismo Is Based On A True Story
Yes, that's right. Gran Turismo will spawn a movie on August 11, 2023. This has been confirmed through a teaser from the official Twitter accounts of Sony and Gran Turismo which shows a clapperboard with four Nissan GT-Rs sitting in the background. The film is based on a true story of an actual Gran Turismo player named Jann Mardenborough, who became a real-life professional racing driver through Sony's GT Academy.
Gran Turismo Will Feature A Solid Cast
One of the stars of this film will be David Harbour, whom you probably know as Hopper from Stranger Things. He will be the coach of Mardenborough. Orlando Bloom and Darren Barnet will also star in the film. Jason Hall and Zach Baylin wrote the script for the movie. The film will be directed by Neill Blomkamp, who is known for his sci-fi works, such as District 9 and Elysium. Of course, Gran Turismo's creator, Kazunori Yamauchi, will be serving as an executive producer.
During an interview with Collider, Harbour said it has been a joy to work with Mardenborough, especially considering the film is based on a true story of his rise from sim racing to becoming a real-life, professional race car driver. He says that with Blomkamp's direction, there's a "visceralness to this movie, to this video game world that is so cool".
Gran Turismo started out life as a PlayStation 1 exclusive in 1997. Its latest release is Gran Turismo 7, which was unveiled earlier this year. Initially, the latest iteration in the franchise was met with mixed reactions due to players needing to "grind" heavily just to progress the storyline and the encouragement of microtransactions. Since then, the game has received updates to remedy these issues and reviews have since become very positive.