Sony recently released a trailer for their Gran Turismo movie which at first sight seemed pretty strange. But taking a closer look it becomes apparent that the movie has an interesting take that has never been done before. Not only are racing movies relatively rare because they can be a tad uninspiring, a sim-racing game really doesn’t lend itself to movies.
Gran Turismo remains an impressive video game that gives many gamers their first taste of sim racing. More importantly, it’s the closest that many gamers will ever get to a real race car. But what if sim racing was more than a game, what if it was a path real racing? Well that’s what we’re about to explore with the Gran Turismo movie.
Gran Turismo Overview
Although Sony just released a trailer for the new Gran Turismo movie, it has actually been in the works since 2013. This is incredibly surprising because of the number of games that have released since then. But this game really isn’t about any games and is more about the story of a racer.
Now that may sound confusing since you never actually see any characters in the game. More importantly, the game lacks any type of story like Gran Turismo’s competitor Forza Horizon. Therefore it seems like it will be hard to attract audiences considering there is no investment in the story.
The Real Story
If you just watched the Gran Turismo trailer you may be confused. There was little information about a story or plot and instead the game focused on speed and racing. That really is where sim racing games shine. They don’t worry about providing a plot or character backstories.
The Gran Turismo movie’s protagonist is Jahn Mardenborough who is a teenager that wants to drive race cars. He is an avid player of the Gran Turismo series and ends up playing in a series of competitions and eventually goes on to racing school to become a driver.
While the trailer doesn’t introduce any of this plot, it does promise plenty of action and a romance story as well. For racing and gaming fans this actually sounds like an ideal story that has never been told. But only time will tell if this is a story that people are interested in hearing, or if it will end up failing like so many other movies based on video games.
Release Details
There aren’t too many details about the movie right now. However, it will release in August of this year and is being developed by PlayStation Productions and Columbia Pictures. The movie’s cast has a mix of American and British actors like Orlando Bloom and David Harbour.
With about eight months until release it is very likely that Sony will release a lot more content leading up to the premiere. Most notable will probably be some added content to Gran Turismo 7 that will tie into the movie.
What is Gran Turismo?
Gran Turismo is a sim racing series on PlayStation consoles. It has been around since the 1990s and the original PlayStation. What set Gran Turismo apart from other racing franchises like Cruisin’ or Mario Kart is that it was designed as a simulated racing experience rather than an arcade racer.
Arcade racers are a ton of fun to play, but forego a realistic driving experience in favor of over the top action. Colorful karts and outlandish cars are replaced with actual race cars from major manufacturers. The tracks are also based on real race courses. Although GranTurismo is a game, it is also designed to make the player feel like they are behind the wheel of a real race car.
Will it Be Any Good?
The plot actually sounds really promising, but if you watched the 60-second trailer you probably had no idea what the story was about. Sony will need to really amp up marketing for the movie and convince theater-goers why they should see this. With that in mind, sim racing games really don’t lend themselves well to movies, but the story of a young drive may succeed in capturing movie-goers imagination.
The biggest red flag is that the movie is based on a video game. We know that Columbia Pictures can successfully make a good movie. However, movies and TV shows based on video games are notoriously bad. With previous tie-ins like The Witcher, Assassins Creed, and Hitman; it is understandable to be leery of the genre.
The biggest reason that these shows and movies tend to fail is because gamers already know what happens and they want the movie to play out like the game. But oftentimes directors and actors want to put their own spin on the project and this is where things really start to fall apart.
The good news is that Gran Turismo won’t be based on a game with an established story. This allows for plenty of creative freedom in telling a unique story that no one has heard before. Plus, the racing shots do look very impressive so it should at least be fun to watch.
