Wednesday 16 August 2023

Gran Turismo - The scoop and digest

Sports biopic is a radical departure for Neill Blomkamp.

Archie Madekwe - Jann Mardenborough
David Harbour - Jack Salter
Orlando Bloom - Danny Moore
Djimon Hounsou - Steve Mardenborough
Geri Halliwell Horner - Lesley Mardenborough
Takehiro Hira - Kazanori Yamauchi

Summary

Nissan marketing executive Danny Moore (inspired by Darren Cox) travels to Tokyo and pitches the idea to Polyphony Digital of creating a contest to offer gamers the chance to compete in professional racing.

The board agrees.

Jann Mardenborough is selected to compete for a place at GT Academy and comes first from a field of twenty. 

At Silverstone, chief engineer and former Le Mans driver Jack Salter puts Jann and other qualifiers through vigorous mental and physical training.

After a series of mixed results, Jann is eventually awarded his FIA licence and becomes a race car driver.

Turning dreams into reality

Two hour PlayStation advert takes excessive liberties with the 'truth' and takes product placement to a whole new fucking level.

Madekwe (who served as his own stunt double) is most likable when vulnerable, but Bloom's enthusiasm comes across as fake.

Harbour's fictional character is definitely the highlight, whose sarcasm and dry humour holds shit together.

Unfortunately, former Spice Girl didn't tell us what she wants, what she really really wants.

Racing sequences are initially exciting, but swooping shots of cars going round and round quickly wears thin.

Effect of bodywork materializing around Jann was cool though.

Climatic race is identical in principle to James Mangold's Ford v Ferrari, just set decades apart from each other.

Horror crash in Nürburgring (which resulted in the death a spectator) is used to motivate Jann in a positive way, leading to his third place podium finish at Le Mans.

Freak accident occurred in 2015, not 2013.

Filmmakers have been slammed for rearranging timeline and accused of exploiting a tragedy.

Jann wasn't the first GT Academy winner, and one of two winners of third competition.

Before Jann signs contract with Nissan, Yamauchi says it took ten years to develop Gran Turismo.

In reality, it was five.

Opening states '25 years ago Kazanori Yamauchi wanted to make racing accessible to everyone...'

Original game was released in 1997, not 1998.

To be fair, filming did wrap in 2022.

Le Mans is presented as the culmination of his career, but it was the third time he raced the course and DNF.  However, it was the first time he raced for Nissan.

But the weirdest part is that nobody in Cardiff has a Welsh accent.

What the FUCK?

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