Gran Turismo the movie is better than it should be. Yes, I just said that. I really had no expectations going into it knowing that it was basically based on the popular PlayStation driving simulator game. I mean, how good could it really be, and then I became pleasantly surprised by how good the movie truly is. It is based on a real story about the Nissan driving academy which gave a chance to real-life simulator drivers who had played Gran Turismo. Could they make an actual race car driver from someone who had only driven some of the world’s best racetracks in a simulator? Turns out, they could, and this movie is the story of how that happened. At first glance, the story seems heavily fictionalized even though it says it’s based on a true story. Of course, liberties are always taken in movies that are based on a true story, but Gran Turismo is far from being fiction. Jann Mardenborough who was a true racing gamer and had the perfect setup actually became a race car driver. He actually raced at Le Man’s and placed in the top three. This movie is essentially his story and while his story is interesting enough, there’s so much more that made this movie better.

Why is Gran Turismo worth seeing? First, it has some of the best driving scenes ever in a movie. Just like driving in a simulator, you feel like you’re really driving these tracks. It is shot very well. It also helps to have a great cast like David Harbour who plays the racing coach and Orlando Bloom who plays the guy who had the crazy idea to build an academy with Sim drivers and actually make them race car drivers. Newcomer Archie Madekwe does a fabulous job playing Jann Mardenborough.

A great cast always makes a movie better. But I think the one thing that really makes this an awesome racing movie is it feels like you are in the car and racing along with the drivers. Films like Days of Thunder have great shots, but you don’t really feel like you’re in the car with them. The experience is very different compared to Gran Turismo which I think the ultimate metaphor within the film is it feels like you’re in a driving simulator. So, you get a lot of great action scenes that you don’t normally see in racing movies. The story is very emotional because just like in real life, Jan’s father a former English football player who is working at the train station doesn’t see how playing a driving simulator can lead to better opportunities, so you get the father-son relationship right off the bat that gives you a great emotional connection to the characters. One of the most important aspects of the film is it doesn’t shy away from the horrific crash that nearly ended Jann Mardenborough’s career. It’s a very important part of the story because he had to learn to get past all the fear that comes with knowing that a race car driver could easily die. There’s also a lot of wonderful humor that balances out the great action scenes. There’s an awful lot to like about this movie, especially with the fact that the writers didn’t have to make up a story based on a racing video game.

I don’t have many criticisms of this movie. Obviously, it doesn’t tell the whole story regarding Jann Mardenborough and everything he went through in the academy and his first races, the film covers important highlights of his journey, are we still get an emotional story along with great action scenes. I do feel like they could have told more of his story while in the academy, but to make a 2-hour movie you have to kind of gloss over a lot of what happened. He just makes us the audience want to know more. There certainly could have been more backstory to David Harbour’s character’s story, maybe a few flashback scenes to his racing days. I certainly would have liked to know more about his story since his character is an integral part of the main character’s story. Perhaps we’ll get a director’s cut that has some of that stuff. However, overall, this is a great racing movie, and the fact that we get to see a variety of different cars that come from the game concluding how the game is developed makes the film even better. It will certainly make you want to play Gran Turismo. The filmmakers do a great job crafting a great and inspiring story that easily connects you to the characters while at the same time giving you inside and what it feels like to be an actual race car more than what other racing movies have done. The movie shouldn’t be this good because video game movies don’t have a great track record, but it is that good and should be seen on the big screen. I love to be surprised by movies and this one certainly did that for me. With a great cast and great racing scenes, Gran Turismo puts you right in the middle of the action and connects you to the characters more than most racing movies. No offense to Days of Thunder which I do love, but there isn’t that much of an emotional connection to the character in that film. Essentially, it’s the Top Gun of racing. Gran Turismo as a racing movie is very different… I like to think of it as the Rudy of racing movies. The filmmakers knocked it out of the park with this one and my love for the Gran Turismo video game has been renewed. Yes, go see this in the theater, you will not be disappointed. And just for a fun fact most of the stunt driving in the film was done by the actual driver that the movie is based on… that makes this movie even more cool!