Movie Review: Gran Turismo

There are just two giants when it comes to car racing video games or simulators: Sony’s Gran Turismo and Microsoft’s Forza.

Both franchises have invested millions of dollars and years of meticulous research and attention to detail to create the most cutting-edge and realistic virtual racing experience as possible for the masses.

Both console games go blow for blow in terms of graphics, realism, track variety and vehicle options with every new release, but only one of them has spawned a movie so far.

The first Gran Turismo feature film has been in the works for a decade now and it’s finally here, with all the technical and financial might of Sony behind it.

Loosely retelling the one-in-90,000 story of British Nissan GT Academy winner Jann Mardenborough, Gran Turismo is a high-octane racing film full of wheel-to-wheel action, and it’s one that both racing and gaming fans can unite in enjoying… provided you’re only there for the action.

Racing is of course the crux of the film and what the whole saga – both in reality and on the big screen – is about and so it makes sense for the plot to firmly fixate on that, but it does so at the detriment of other elements.

The first 15-20 minutes feels rushed and underdone with some pretty average script writing and very little background or character establishment, especially for the supporting roles.

Yes it’s a car racing film but you still need characters to like and/or dislike, so another five minutes dedicated to setting the scene in the early stages wouldn’t have gone astray – especially for Archie Madekwe, who plays Mardenborough but comes across as bitchy and one-dimensional throughout the opening act without more context.

Thankfully this improves markedly later on and, while Madekwe ends up doing a decent job once the plots gets into its stride, the real star of the show is David Harbour, who plays Jack Salter and is blessed from the outset with a good script, plenty of character depth and a ripper performance.

Orlando Bloom does a predictably solid job as Danny Moore, the big-screen version of real-life GT Academy founder Darren Cox, while most of the other characters fall into the stale, one-sided trap mentioned earlier.

As you’d expect from Sony and PlayStation, the graphics and sound effects in Gran Turismo are top-notch and could just about pass for actual footage in some instances.

You’re reminded along the way of the movie’s PlayStation roots via gameplay-like cinematography and graphics, but that just adds to the atmosphere of what’s ultimately an easy-to-get-into racing flick.

While we can forgive the opening act for being rushed, there are two things we can’t forgive: a seemingly minor but actually massive attention-to-detail blunder and blatant product placement.

The blunder comes at the start of a GT Academy race, when the drivers are revving up their GT-Rs ready for the start and then slam them into drive – from park – once the lights go green.

Anyone into cars will know that’s a one-way express ticket to an exploded gearbox and the fact the Nissan GT-R has one of the best launch control systems ever seen in a performance vehicle.

The gratuitous sponsored content, meantime, takes the form of completely overdone and incohesive cinematography of certain cars and their branding. For example, rolling golden-hour close-ups and slow-mos showing the curves and badging of the new Porsche 911 GT3 RS during the start of a redemption arc aren’t necessary or relevant.

It might sound like we were disappointed with Gran Turismo, but for the most part we weren’t.

It’s a solid racing flick, free of the far-fetched stunts that other movies in this genre apparently feel obliged to throw in, and makes for an entertaining – if not quite historically accurate – rendition of the most ambitious and successful gamer-to-racer story ever (even if Nissan’s GT Academy program is now defunct).

But it would’ve been even better if the majority of characters had a bit more depth, the corporate box-ticking was less obvious and the GT Academy members actually knew how not to destroy their transmissions.

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