Solid cast, awesome graphics and high stakes headline the latest gaming franchise movie crossover
Gran Turismo has long been one of the world’s biggest motorsport gaming franchises and its big-screen movie adaptation has been almost as long in the making.
More than a decade in fact, since Sony Pictures told us way back in 2013 that it was developing a full-length feature film inspired by the popular video game.
The inaugural Gran Turismo movie will be one of at least five car-related films coming to cinemas in 2023, and now Sony has released the first full-length trailer ahead of its official debut on August 10.
The cast includes Orlando Bloom, Geri Halliwell Horner, David Harbour, Archie Madekwe, Darren Barnet and Djimon Hounsou and, as you might expect, there’s plenty of drama, action and tension.
The Gran Turismo film is based on the true story of Jann Mardenborough, the British teenager who earned himself a professional racing gig after winning the now-defunct Nissan GT Academy in 2011.
David Harbour’s character is tasked with turning the miserly gamers into elite athletes capable of meeting the physical demands of motor racing and so begins the usual array of training and showdown snippets, along with a series of in-game cinematics and glimpses of the movie’s climax.
Romance and family tension also make a brief cameo and tick off the remaining boxes needed for a high-octane blockbuster.
Nissan sponsored the real GT Academy and so the presence of myriad R35 GT-Rs and some Nissan LMP cars shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, though trainspotters will no doubt notice the Lamborghini Huracans, Audi R8s, Aston Martin Vantages, Porsche 911s and other GT-spec racers throughout both the trailer and film.
This isn’t the first time a big-name gaming franchise has been adapted to the big screen in recent memory: DreamWorks had a crack at it in 2014 with the release of the disappointing Need for Speed, a movie that motoring and gaming buffs alike tend to shun these days.
Hopefully Sony pulls this one off.
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Keyword: WATCH: The full Gran Turismo trailer has just dropped