A hit of motorsport in a summer drought, but Drive-to-Survive vibes and exaggerations send Gran Turismo slightly wide of the Apex…

Gran Turismo: A Brief Film Review – By Joe Murphy

The amount of summer blockbusters this year have left film lovers spoilt for choice. For racing fans, the release of Gran Turismo is something to get us through the Formula 1 summer break.

The movie follows the real life events of Jann Mardenborough and his journey from PlayStation player to real time racer and eventual podium finisher at Le Mans.

The film starts in Cardiff and shows viewers his qualification to the Nissan programme in typical, Hollywood fashion with a last lap pass. In fact, one flaw of the film was the need to include 3 photo finishes to drum up tension, when the real life margins are just as spectacular.

The ups and downs, including a stunning depiction of a real life crash in Germany that took the life of a spectator, end with the British driver finishing third at the 24 hour Le Mans event for Team Nissan.

The film is good and certainly shows the importance of driving simulation games, something which 80 million people partake in. If you know your motorsport, you’ll see that the qualification at Silverstone is very clearly racing the Hungaroring backwards. The dangers of motorsport racing are also heavily on show and not watered down, one of the films strengths. Orlando Bloom acts well, but not in a hugely different manner to his Bill Turner portrayal in Pirates of the Caribbean.

David Harbour also portrays the lead engineer well, although it’s hard to look beyond Hopper. His negativity is brilliant and the real life story of the man behind the actor is worth telling. It is also worth noting that the real life inspiration from this story did his own stunts. One negative is the depiction of professional racers. I’m sure Jann faced people looking down on him, but the drivers in this film are made to look hateful.

Overall a solid 7/10 movie and I’ve avoided giving any major plot twists or character development to leave you something to discover in the cinema. It’s certainly given me my race fix for the day. Now I’m off to play F1 2023!