Gran Turismo movie review: here’s what Drive thinks

From the outset, can I just say how awesome it is to see motorsport hitting the big screen? In recent years we’ve seen well-produced car movies such as The Art of Racing in the Rain and the iconic Ford vs Ferrari story in blockbuster form, but now in 2023 we have the Gran Turismo franchise immortalised in a film adaptation.

It’s not often you see films strictly about cars, but as a car enthusiast, every time one premieres it’s straight to the cinema for a viewing, as was the case with the new Gran Turismo movie.

Directed by Canadian Neill Blomkamp of District 9 and Elysium, the Gran Turismo film chronicles the real-life story of Jann Mardenborough, a Gran Turismo player, who became one of the most competitive gamers on the platform, worked his way up the ranks of real, genuine motorsport categories as a factory Nissan driver after winning the GT Academy online racing simulator competition.

Archie Madekwe plays teenager Mardenborough, the lead character in the film who participates in GT Academy, a competition designed by the Gran Turismo creators to hunt down the best simulation racers in the world in order to see whether they can cut it racing in real life.

Mardenborough competes against 90,000 other entrants that are whittled down to a final selection, who are then honed by down-and-out racing engineer Jack Salter (played by David Harbour) and managed by Nissan marketing executive Danny Moore (played by Orlando Bloom).

Early scenes have the film start out like a Nissan and Gran Turismo marketing manager’s fever dream, with countless features of the Nissan logo, Nissan cars, and too many Gran Turismo references to count. Of course, the entire film centres around the titular racing game, though the film simply could have done the talking for the brand rather than have it mentioned copious times throughout the film.

The cinematography is arguably the highlight of the film. Excellent camera shots show the close-up-and-personal aspects of what it’s really like to pilot a race car, while detail shots of pistons pumping, wheels turning, and even leaf litter blowing across racetracks are visually stunning.

A considered effort is made to use Gran Turismo-specific camera angles, such as the 'high follow' perspective – this is a unique reference to the racing game and looks cool when used in the right moment.

Sound design is equally brilliant overall. Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 race cars sound exactly as you’d expect them to, and even though these are minor details, they make the difference to racing game nerds like me.

There was plenty of opportunity for the film to come across as cringe-worthy and cheesy in the telling of the story, and while there are definitely wince-inducing lines delivered by David Harbour (“you mad bro?”), the overall story is well portrayed by Archie Madekwe and supporting actors like Orlando Bloom.

It doesn’t always stick to the real-life story – racing enthusiasts might have to shut out glaringly obvious breaches of racing conventions – but the stitched-together timeline of events as shown in the film sums up the story well.

Again, it’s simply entertaining as an automotive enthusiast just to see motorsport featured in film. But the way Gran Turismo shows off the world of racing to the average punter is not only entertaining, but it also manages to make the intricacies of racing approachable to everyone.

We don’t have a dedicated film-rating scale at Drive, but if Fast and the Furious X (2023) represents a one-star rating and Rush (2013) represents a perfect 10, I can comfortably afford Gran Turismo a 7/10 rating.

You can catch Gran Turismo in cinemas from this Thursday 10, August 2023.