There are Orlando Bloom and David Harbor (the sheriff Hopper’s Stranger Things) and director Neill Blomkamp is there, but they are not the protagonists of the film. The protagonist of Grand Touringis the young man Archie Madekwe as Jann Mardenborough and interprets the true story. Yes: the film is based on, inspired by, dedicated in some way to the PlayStation video game series of the same name. But no: it’s not a simple commercial operation or a mediocre work like lo Street Fighter con Jean-Claude Van Damme or any Super Mario. It’s a great film, it turned out really well and maybe it has only one flaw. But that’s not really a flaw.
We previewed it in Amsterdam during the European leg of the GT World Seriesthe world championship of gamers of Gran Turismo 7: already released in the United States, it will arrive in Italy on September 20th.
Science and science fiction 40 years after the Terminator, James Cameron and the fear of AI: “I warned you, you didn’t listen to me” by Emanuele Capone 31 July 2023 Kazunori Yamauchi (in the center), creator of Gran Turismo, before the screening of the film
What is Gran Turismo (the movie) about
The film tells precisely the story of Mardenborough, which in 2011 he won the GT Academythe training program created by Sony Interactive Entertainment and Polyphony Digital (the developers of the video game) in collaboration with Nissan: beating 90,000 other participants, Mardenborough had the opportunity to become a professional racing driver (which is what he still does today), compete in the Dubai 24 Hours and also become a test driver in Formula E. He was able to bring his passion from the virtual world to the real one, which is what all those who dedicate themselves to driving simulations unconsciously dream of.
In just over two hoursBlomkamp’s film follows his story, from his bedroom in his parents’ house in Cardiff to his first podiums, through the rivalry with his footballer brother, the misunderstandings with the familyGT Academy qualifications and of course love for a girl.
The movie is maybe a little slow in the first 20-30 minutesbut becomes more convincing and exciting as Mardenborough navigates his way into the difficult and unwelcoming world of competition, always seen as a fish out of water, because “are you the one from video games?” and “you should go back to playing”.
youtube: the Gran Turismo trailer
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Gran Turismo’s flaw (and 3 reasons to watch it)
One thing we have noticed is that in Blomkamp’s film there are many references to the world of video games but there is very little video game. There is little Grand Touringin the movie about Grand Touring: except for some transition effects between some cars, especially at the beginning, and for some nice animations in some driving sessions, the game is there but you can’t see it. It is the starting point, the heart of the story, yet little is said about it: there are more races in the real world than races in the virtual world.
It feels more like a car movie than a video game movie, which may sound like a flaw but it’s not really a flaw – it’s more a feature. And perhaps also a stylistic and editorial choice: not making it a film for gaming nerds makes it probably more appealing to a wider audience and potentially widens the audience of people who might choose to go see it and find it enjoyable.
Because of reasons to appreciate it, Grand Touring, there are many. We have noticed 3 in particular: first of all, it should be seen to celebrate the fact that a video game, born over 25 years ago on the first PlayStation and in its own way a niche product within a niche (not just a driving game, but also a simulation driving game), has had such global success that it convinced Hollywood to dedicate a film to it.
Then there’s the fact that the story, however fictionalized, is true or in any case it is based on a true story: what we see in the film, net of poetic licenses or the somewhat clichéd ending, really happened, however incredible it may seem. Connected to this is the third reason, which is success representation of the parent-child relationship: all gamers have ever heard their dad or mom tell them “don’t play all day, do something serious”. It also happened in Mardenborough, which eventually did “something serious” and how. And he did it precisely because he was playing all day.
@capoema