As a sim racing enthusiast, I was initially skeptical of the new “”Gran Turismo”” film. For those of you who aren’t complete nerds, “Gran Turismo” is a virtual car racing simulator, known for its accurate car models and physics. The film, jointly created by Sony Productions and Colombia Pictures, is based on a true story. Now, did this movie accurately portray the incredible story of Jann Mardenborough, or was it an expensive publicity stunt?
The movie begins in Mardenborough’s bedroom showing him racing on “Gran Turismo.” Mardenborough is immediately portrayed as a great “Gran Turismo” player, as he talks about having beaten everyone in his town. Meanwhile, Danny Moore, the academy director, has just pitched his GT Academy idea to Nissan. Mardenborough is then invited to compete in a qualifying race to be accepted to GT Academy. He wins the race and enters the academy where he competes against other sim racers and emerges triumphant.
GT Academy, of course, was a real program, developed by Nissan, to find talent from the sim racing world and give them a chance in a real race car. The portrayal of this academy was completely accurate.
Following his victory, Mardenborough joins a racing series with Nissan. Halfway through the series, Mardenborough arrives at a race track called Nurburgring. Here he suffers a huge crash, where a spectator is killed. Mardenborough feels conflicted about racing again, and GT Academy is in danger of being shut down.
“Gran Turismo” did include Mardenborough’s freak accident at the Nurburgring Nordschleife, where, as the film correctly depicted, a spectator died. Unsurprisingly, Mardenborough had been helping work on the movie and he felt very strongly that his darkest moment would be included.
After Mardenbourough’s accident, Jack Salter, his coach, convinces him to give racing one more shot, at The 24 Hours of Le Mans. Mardenborough will compete for Team Nissan, and he needs to finish at least 3rd to keep GT Academy alive. After a long, hard fought race, Mardenborough powers through the field, and finishes third. Cue the credit reel.
One inaccurate aspect in the film was the presence of CAPA Racing and their infamous driver, Nicholas Capa, a driver who doesn’t deserve his seat and is feeding off of his dad’s money. While racing, he is slow and dangerous, and is shown multiple times putting many driver’s lives at risk to inconvenience Mardenborough.
The film was truthful in portraying Mardenborough’s father, Steve Mardenborough, as a soccer player who played on several different soccer clubs for three different countries: Wales, England, and Sweden.
We’re on a streak of correct details in the movie, so it’s time to break that up. Mardenborough’s parents were portrayed as unsupportive of their son in his quest to become a race car driver. However in real life, his parents were very supportive despite being worried for his safety.
“Hey mum, I kinda won GT Academy,” said Mardenborough via a phone call with his mother while atop the GT Academy podium.
So all in all, there were many details “Gran Turismo” didn’t get right, but the overall message and story being told was understandable and didn’t feel too sugarcoated.
