Aka Gran Turismo: A True Story. There’s no future in racing. Following a pitch by marketing executive Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom), Nismo, the motorsport division of Japanese car manufacturer Nissan establishes the GT (Gran Turismo) Academy to recruit skilled players of the racing simulator Gran Turismo and turn them into real racing drivers. Danny recruits former driver-turned-mechanic Jack Salter (David Harbour) to train the players. Jack is initially hesitant but accepts after tiring of the arrogance of his team’s driver, Nicholas Capa (Josha Stradowski ). Meanwhile in Cardiff, Wales, teenager Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe) a university dropout, clothes shop employee and gamer is an avid player of the racing simulator and wants to become a racing driver despite the disapproval of his former footballer father Steve (Djimon Hounsou). His mother Lesley (Geri Haliwell Horner) suggests he return to college to study engineering and get into the racing business that way. Jann discovers he is eligible for a qualification race to join the GT Academy after setting a time record for a particular track. The night before his race, Jann is invited by his brother Coby (Daniel Puig) to a party and they take their father’s care. Jann flirts with a young woman named Audrey (Maeve Courtier-Lilley) whom he fancies. The gathering breaks up when police arrive and Jann initiates a pursuit after driving away when their friends are pulled over. The brothers escape but are caught returning by their father. Jann offers to take the blame for Coby if he admits that he is the better driver. Jann is brought to his father’s place of employment the following day in an attempt to be taught a life lesson but leaves early to partake in the qualifying race, which he wins, earning a place in GT Academy. At the academy camp, Jack puts the competitors through their paces in various tests, through which ten competitors are narrowed down to five. During one of the tests, Jann crashes with Jack in the car and claims that the brakes were glazed. This is later proven correct by analysts, to Jack’s surprise. The remaining five compete in a final race to determine who will represent Nissan. Jann narrowly wins the race against American competitor Matty Davis (Darren Barnet) but Danny insists Matty should be chosen as the representative due to his better commercial viability but Jann is selected at Jack’s insistence. Jann is told that if he finishes at least fourth in any one of a series of qualifying races, he will earn a professional licence and contract with Nissan. He finishes last in his first professional race at the Red Bull Ring in Austria after Nicholas taps him into a spin. Despite gradually improving over the next few races, he does not finish the penultimate race in Spain. He travels to Dubai for his last qualifying race during which Nicholas takes a corner too fast and crashes. Despite the debris from this crash cracking his windshield, Jann achieves a fourth-place finish and earns his FIA licence. He then travels to Tokyo with Danny and Jack to sign his contract and uses his signing bonus to fly Audrey to Tokyo as they start a relationship. Jann’s first race after signing is at the Nurburgring. He starts the race well and maintains a high position until the front of his car lifts into the air at the Flugplatz corner, hitting a barrier and launching into a crowded spectator area. Jann is airlifted to the Nürburgring Medical Center and is informed while in hospital that a spectator was killed in the crash, to his horror. When Jann is reluctant to return to racing and blames himself for the spectator’s death, Jack returns him to the Nürburgring. He reveals that he was involved in a fatal accident at the 24 Hours of Le Mans which led to a fellow driver dying and subsequently Jack’s retirement from driving. An inquiry clears Jann of any wrongdoing but professional sentiment turns against sim drivers. In response, Danny decides that a sim driver team needs to compete at Le Mans and finish on the podium to prove their viability. Danny enlists Matty and fellow GT Academy participant Antonio Cruz (Pepe Barroso) to make up the three-driver team alongside Jann … It’s like he suddenly remembered he was a racing driver. For petrolheads and gamers alike, this alternative sports biopic based on a true story written by Jason Hall and Zach Baylin has a lot to offer – a dream job for a kid whose life is dedicated to a simulation of it in the video game created by Kazanori Yamauchi, played here by Takehiro Hira. After a half hour setup, in which our hero is supposedly the offspring of the world’s least likely couple, he comes into the purview of a nasty looking man who’s hiding his own hurt under a cloak of viciousness. You’ve got instincts that can’t be taught. As the narrative demands, the key relationship here is of course with mentor Salter, the tough but decent father figure that Jann lacks at home and who of course is concealing the tragedy that led to his own retirement (perhaps the internet didn’t work a decade ago so Jann has to wait until the 70th minute for Salter to tell him). A wonderful running joke is Jann’s need to listen to MOR music to keep his nerves in check – while he has Enya and Kenny G in his ears, Salter is playing Black Sabbath on an old school Walkman: that leads to a change in song choice at the crucial moment on the race track. The other strand is the idea that learning how to drive on a simulator video game is not a bad thing (what else …) even if there are no real bumps on this road that can’t be straightened out. Anyone looking for a deep and meaningful discussion of the existential or actual gap between reality and simulation may look elsewhere – or find that this constitutes proof that there is no difference whatsoever. Of course this is all predicated on the fairy tale model, nowadays that means transposing things from self-imposed lockdown life to doing things for real and so it is – oh joy! – that Jann finally races at Le Mans, the ultimate proof of racing prowess. A colourful, splashy tale with so much great coverage by cinematographer Jacques Jouffret blended with game visuals that even a conservative storyline and the questionable use of a real-life tragedy can’t help but entertain once this gets wheels under it. The real Mardenborough performs as his avatar’s stunt double, fact fans. Directed by Neill Blomkamp. Somewhere out in the world there’s a kid who’s faster than all these arseholes
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