Review: Gran Turismo - A Polished Racing Experience for the Big Screen

Davey Euwema reviews the Gran Turismo movie, centered around gamer-turned-racer Jann Mardenborough...

In recent years, a number of talented sim racers have taken the huge leap from virtual racing to the real thing. Tim Heinemann (podium finisher in DTM) and James Baldwin (British GT race winner) immediately spring to mind as strong examples.

Over a decade before them, however, one British driver made the similar but then largely unprecedented step from the screen to the cockpit of a real-life race car.

The 2023 film 'Gran Turismo', directed by Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Elysium), focuses on British gamer-turned-racer Jann Mardenborough.

Mardenborough, played by Archie Madekwe, is a talented sim racer who signs up for the GT Academy initiative dreamt up by marketing executive Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom).

Moore, who avid sports car racing fans might recognize as the fictionalized version of former Nissan global motorsports boss Darren Cox, pitches the idea of an academy effort to convert the world's best Gran Turismo players into real-life racing drivers.

After getting the green light from Nissan management, Moore attempts to enlist former racing driver turned mechanic Jack Salter (David Harbour) as the GT Academy's chief engineer.

Salter, working for the wealthy Capa Racing organization, reluctantly agrees after he gets fed up with the verbal abuse from the team's brash and arrogant star driver Nicholas Capa (Josha Stradowski).

Harbour grills the GT Academy rookies in an attempt to toughen them up for the demands of the racing world, but through the course of the story gradually develops a bond with Academy winner Mardenborough.

The growing relationship between the two characters is one of the film's highlights and serves as a driving force for the remainder of the plot. Within that, the performance from Madekwe as Mardenborough also stands out.

The film's many racing scenes are packed with action, but still shot in such a way that it doesn't become confusing or overwhelming to the casual viewer. The occasional addition of Gran Turismo-style graphics during races are a nice touch.

Eagle-eyed viewers will also spot the inclusion of some brief footage from real-life racing series, including Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe and Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS.

The film also does not shy away from the darker side of the industry, as proven by the inclusion of Mardenborough's horrific 2015 Nordschleife crash that resulted in the death of a spectator.

Add to that some pretty convincing set and costume design and the film gives a decent insight into what goes on behind the scenes of the sports car racing world.

That being said, motorsport fans viewing the film will have to reckon with a number of significant inaccuracies peppered throughout.

Most severely, the movie takes some serious liberties with the timeline of events regarding Mardenborough's career. The aforementioned crash at the Nürburgring is framed as an important narrative element and motivational factor for the main character to race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

In reality, Mardenborough had already raced at Le Mans twice (including an LMP2 class podium with Greaves Motorsport on debut in 2013) by the time of the crash, which occurred at a later stage in his career.

Notably, the film also portrays Mardenborough as the first-ever GT Academy winner, while that honor fell to Spanish driver Lucas Ordonez. Mardenborough and Ordonez actually shared a Zytek Z11SN Nissan at Le Mans in 2013.

Speaking of Le Mans: while the film does a good job of capturing the atmosphere of Le Mans (complete with flag ceremony and Patrouille de France flyover), it shouldn't take long for any viewer with a keen eye and a basic knowledge of the sport to realize that it is in fact the Hungaroring masquerading as the Circuit de La Sarthe.

The Hungarian venue actually makes two imposter appearances throughout the course of the film, as it is also portrayed as Silverstone during the GT Academy scenes.

The choice of vehicles for some of the racing scenes is also questionable, with Mardenborough's Nissan GT-R GT3 NISMO going toe-to-toe with a much slower Aston Martin Vantage GT4 during the early races.

At Le Mans, Team Nissan's Ligier JS PX (the 850-horsepower track day special launched in 2021), races directly with cars as varied as the Audi R18 e-tron quattro, Ligier JS P2 and even some LMP3 cars.

However, while more hardcore racing enthusiasts are likely to notice these flaws, it's likely to have little effect on the overall enjoyment for the more casual audience that this film clearly tries to speak to.

And to be fair, this film does not pretend to be a product catered to the die-hards, but a story-driven racing movie that everyone can enjoy.

At that, it does a more than solid job. And at the end of the day, the more people get introduced to this sport, the better.

Gran Turismo releases on Friday, Aug. 25 in U.S. theaters