After all, racing movies are not new, and Gran Turismo isn’t the first attempt to make a film out of a popular video game series. 2014’s Aaron Paul-led live-action adaptation of Need for Speed was largely panned for going the way of Vin Diesel’s Fast and Furious franchise. Even though most probably would prefer not to see Gran Turismo go in that direction, it also seemed inevitable - until now. According to a Deadline report, Neill Blomkamp will direct the Gran Turismo movie, which will be “based on a true story” and tell the “tale of a teenage Gran Turismo player whose gaming skills won a series of Nissan competitions to become an actual professional race car driver.” If that all sounds familiar, it’s probably because you might have heard of the same exact thing happening to several gamers in real life. GT Academy is a series of competitions held by Polyphony Digital where the best GT racers get a chance to drive a real car in an actual competitive race. Jann Mardenborough, for example, won the 2011 Gran Turismo Academy search, and later raced the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2013. Mardenborough later raced across the world, particularly, the Super Formula in 2017 where he scored a pole position. We wouldn’t be surprised if the Gran Turismo movie is a documentary-style film drawing from Mardenborough’s experience of going pro after his stint at the GT Academy. Thankfully, with a release date already set, we should start hearing about Blomkamp’s Gran Turismo film soon. The Gran Turismo movie is just one of the several live-action adaptations of PlayStation IPs in development. The Gran Turismo “reveal” was accompanied by reports that Netflix had secured the rights to do a Horizon series that would run in parallel with the games. Meanwhile, the Anthony Mackie-led Twisted Metal show has found a home in Peacock.
