Well, this movie has come out of no where. Sony dropped the first trailer for the upcoming Gran Turismo movie earlier today, offering a deeper look at the playstation adaptation. The trailer gives viewers a glimpse at some of the cars that will appear in the movie, as well as an idea of the narrative.
Director Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Chappie, Elysium) has teased the movie will feature some intense racing as well as character work that propels the movie. And by the looks of it, this trailer shows how it balances all those elements.
Gran Turismo is not the first racing game series adapted into a live-action film, but it does seem quite a bit different from those we’ve seen in the past. Instead of trying to build a new narrative around the Gran Turismo video games, Sony has opted to adapt the real-life story of Jann Mardenborough. Mardenborough started out as a fan of the PlayStation video games, but ended up becoming a professional racing driver.
It’s a move unlike anything we’ve seen from a video game adaptation before; the closest comparison might be the documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. It will be interesting to see the finished product, and how it performs at the box office. Sony has been looking for ways to adapt more of its properties into films over the last few years, with Uncharted releasing last year, and an adaptation of Ghost of Tsushima currently in development. There’s also a streaming series based on Twisted Metal set to release later this year.
The Gran Turismo franchise has been one of PlayStation’s most successful, first appearing back in 1997. One of the biggest appeals for any video game adaptation is seeing the source material on the big screen, and that’s part of why The Super Mario Bros. Movie was so successful. Gran Turismo has never offered much in the way of narrative, which required Sony to go a different way when adapting the film. Whether this adaptation will appeal to fans of the series remains to be seen, but the first trailer certainly looks promising!
Gran Turismo is set for release here in Australia on August 10th 2023
Let us know what you think Playstation fans