By Kimberly Grant
Twenty-five years ago Kazunori Yamauchi wanted to give the thrill of racing cars to people who couldn’t afford it. His solution? Create a video game simulation of every track and car that could be raced. He called this video game simulation Gran Turismo. I’m sure when Yamauchi conceived of this game he couldn’t fathom that it would become the driver in changing the lives of people from humble beginnings.
Based on a true story, the movie Gran Turismo will be in theaters on August 25.
The Heart of the Story
Written by Jason Hall, Zach Baylin, and Alex Tse, Gran Turismo has the usual story tropes. There’s a beginning, middle, and end. There’s a villain, protagonist, and career rival. The story even has all the feels. There’s triumph, failure, heartache, and even death. It speaks to everyone’s inner most dreams to succeed in a specific career. Gran Turismo shows us what it looks like when a dream becomes a reality in real life.
At the heart of Gran Turismo, it’s about Jann Mardenborough’s (played by Archie Madekwe) rise from gamer to professional race car driver. Before his rise to fame, Jann spent ten years playing Gran Turismo (the game). In fact, he’s one of the best players in the world. Then, an idea from a Nissan marketer takes Jann on an incredible journey. (Side note: the real-life Jann does make an appearance in the film as a stunt double.)
Character is Important
This movie is mostly about Jann. It’s also about the people around him. His mother, Leslie (Geri Halliwell Horner A.K.A. Ginger Spice) just wants her sons to be happy. Jann has a brother, Coby (Daniel Puig) who’s training to be a professional soccer player, like their father Steve (Djimon Hounsou). Steve is a Frenchman of African descent who played for Cardiff City F.C. in his younger days. After retiring from football, Steve works in a railyard. Steve thinks Jann is wasting his time playing video games and not going to college for a respectable trade.
On Jann’s professional family side, he’s got his coach, Jack Slater (David Harbour). Jack is a former professional race car driver turned mechanic, who gives very negative pep talks to his students at the Gran Turismo Academy. The idea for GT Academy comes from an enterprising marketer for Nissan, Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom).
Marketers Come Up With the Darnedest Things
Like we saw recently with Barbie, marketers have to think outside of the box; pun intended. There was quite a bit Barbie product placement that you had to be living under a box to not know Barbie is in theaters. With Gran Turismo, Danny was tasked with getting people excited about Nissan again. Nissan is seeking to get a young demographic more interested in driving than staring at their phones in the back of an Uber.
Danny’s idea was to get young adult gamers who had not driven cars before to compete in professional race car driving for Nissan. The plan was for these gamers to compete against each other at GT Academy and the winner would go on to compete against professional race car drivers. Each step in the training camp provided a golden opportunity to promote Nissan.
Basically, Gran Turismo is the true story about a life-changing PR stunt that grew a mind of its own. If you’re a gamer or lover of fast cars or not into gaming at all, you will enjoy this movie.
Interested in other film reviews, you can read my latest posts on my Entertainment Blog.
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