Sony Pictures’ Gran Turismo movie is set to hit theaters on August 11, 2023, and we now have a trailer showing what to expect.
The short is more of a sneak peek than a trailer. It includes some glimpses into the track action of recent sports car prototypes and GT cars. In the spirit of the Sony video game series on which the film is based, director Neil Blomkamp seems to want a more realistic feel than the Need for Speed movie that premiered in 2014.
Rumored since 2013 and confirmed to be on Sony’s slate in 2022, the film is based on a true story. It will follow the career of British racing driver Jann Mardenborough, who broke into real life racing by playing “Gran Turismo”. Mardenborough is played by Archie Madekwe in the Apple TV+ series “See,” which stars David Harbor of “Stranger Things” fame and Orlando Bloom of “Lord of the Rings” film fame .
For those unfamiliar with the story, “Gran Turismo” publisher Sony Computer Entertainment once held a competition with Nissan called GT Academy. Between 2008 and 2016, it pitted gamers against each other for the chance to become a Nissan factory driver. The race appears to be a factor in the plot of the film, as a number of young drivers in the same racing overalls and a Nissan GT-R can be glimpsed in the trailer.
Mardenborough won the 2011 GT Academy at the age of 19 and went on to compete in the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours, finishing third in the LMP2 class behind GT Academy graduate Lucas Ordoñez. In 2015, he competed at Le Mans in the top LMP1 class with the Nissan Factory Team, driving a Nissan GT-R LM Nismo prototype designed to outdo its older competition with a novel front-wheel-drive design that included downforce-generating ducts opponent.
Things are not going well. Mardenborough and co-drivers Max Chilton and Olivier Pla failed to finish the race in an uncompetitive and unreliable car. Le Mans 2015 ended up being the car’s only race and Martenberg’s most high-profile career moment to date. It’s not exactly a Hollywood ending.