As far as I can remember, I’ve always been into cars. I recall having suit case like storage bins for the dozens of matchbox and hotwheels toy cars that I collected. And the ones that caught my interest weren’t the frankstein like contraptions like dinosaur’s with wheels; or the “Twin Mill,” which looks like a ‘73 Corvette Stingray, with a longer and sharper looking front fascia, two engines sticking out of each side, and a remarkably shorter trunk that’s tucked over gigantic five spoke low profile wheels.
I was more into the “realistic” looking models, such as a Ferrari F50, a Lamborghini Diablo SV and my personal favorite car to this day, a ’96 Dodge Viper GTS (with the blue paint and white stripes if I’m being especially particular).
So when I finally got into gaming, which was during the beginnings of the Play Station’s reign, the first thing that I played was a demo disk that included Gran Turisimo as one of its game.
Billed as the “real driving simulator” from its incarnation, my horizons were immediately extended to the plethora of vehicle manufactures and sports cars I’ve never seen nor heard of. I was also introduced to an aspect of motorsports that took me on a journey around the world, visiting tracks both fictitious and authentic in its nature, while teaching me about driving mechanics along the way. I remember bragging to my uncle who was visiting during the holidays on how I acquired my B License, that required me to pass a battery of maneuvers that tested my braking, throttle application and cornering ability. For kids, teens and even adults, who never had the opportunity to drive any sort of vehicle, let alone a sports car, on a race track; this introduced a medium that could get any person of average means, as close as possible to the real thing. And without having to leave your couch.
Throughout the next decade , Gran Turisimo continued to re-invent itself, as it continued to refine its driving and tuning dynamics, improve its graphical capabilities, and dramatically expand upon its vehicle and track inventory. It created such an experience, that a question soon arose: would someone be able to apply the skills that they developed while playing this game to an actual car on a real race track? Hence, the inspiration for the movie aptly named, Gran Turisimo.
The movie is loosely based on the TRUE life story of Jann Mardenborough, the son of a former pro Footballer (soccer Player to us Americans) who was able to turn his passion for motorsport and automobiles into a fairly successful career as a professional race car driver. He did this by winning an international online competition held in game within the 5th iteration of the Gran Turisimo franchise. Those who recorded the best laptimes were awarded entry into the GT Academy, a racing school sponsored by Nissan’s racing team, where these online simulation racers competed against each other in a battery of test to see who had what it takes to join the ranks to race professionally for this heralded Japanese auto maker.
The movie would have you believe that he was the first to achieve this feat, that every moment of this journey was dramatic in fashion and occurred in an unbelievable sequence of events. And fact checking the events with the movie and how it played out in real life, Gran Turisimo was fairly accurate in portraying these events of Jann’s life. The problem is, too many unnecessary liberties were taken in the telling of this story.
When it comes to biographical tales, it is quite normal for the writers and the directors of these big screen renditions to exaggerate or downplay certain particulars of the story. Not all aspects of real life translate well to movies/ TV so it is understandable for certain liberties to take place. The problem is that director Neill Blomkamp altered and changed these events in such a way that did not benefit the film. Jann’s father, portrayed by Academy Award nominated actor Djimon Hounsou, was extremely negative and condescending towards his son’s dream. While his father’s disapproval was accurate, the real life Jann Mardenborough stated the movie exaggerated his father’s treatment of the profession. Furthermore, Jann’s entry into the competition was portrayed as him quitting his job at the rail yard, and then racing to the local gaming café on his bike in order to compete in the GT Academy competition in the nick of time. In actuality, none of this occurred as he successfully completed his entry in the confines of his own home on his Playstation 3.
More egregious however, is an event where Jann is racing on the famed German racing circuit, the Nurburgring (nicknamed the green hell), where his car caught too much air under its chassis on an elevated portion of the track, causing his car to launch from the track and flip into the crowd, killing a spectator. While this remarkable, but devastating event was an actual occurrence, this happened well into Jann’s career after he was already established as a professional driver. Yet, the movie had this happening while he was still early into his career and to add additional tension before the film’s final race. The liberties that this movie takes are unnecessary, and consequently cheapens the telling of what is a very unlikely but authentic telling of the classic underdog story from a fresh perspective.
Story elements and pacing aside, what also irritated me with this film is how it was shot. Every racing scene in Gran Turisimo appeared to be jittery, twitchy, and jumpy, leading to a feeling of nausea while watching. Each shot during a racing scene seemed to only last a second or two before switching back and forth between the same, repeated angles.
Racing is interesting enough on its own, and the best moments tend to have some sort of build up. You’d see a driver starting mid pack in a 20 car grid, but slowly gaining places over the course of the race. Or, two drivers, jockeying for position, battling head to head down a ¼ mile straight as a hairpin corner arrives, as you anxiously await who will be the last to brake. Movies like Ford v. Ferrari or Rush, capture this sort of thing perfectly; letting racing scenes marinate on screen for several seconds before switching to a different shot; and allowing the momentum to build throughout the entirety of the set piece before reaching the climax of the race.
There was plenty of attention paid to the strained relationship with Jann’s father, Jann’s racing instructor, Jack Salter (whoactor David Harbour played in animated fashion), and his supposed love interest, that whether she was real or fictitious, added nothing to the movie from a narrative standpoint. Yet, this same appreciation was not given to which should be the main start of the movie… the vehicles.
Yes, there were plenty of different kinds of cars shown in the movie and on display. But Gran Turisimo is all about the automobile and how you can take an everyday car on the street and race it on the track. The real Jann Mardenborough said as much in an interview; that what was most appealing about the game and racing professionally was being able to race everyday cars you could see outside on these amazing race tracks across the globe. The Cars seem to be more of a backdrop than the true stars of the movie.
What it boils down to is that this movie feels like it was developed more as a video game adaptation than a biographical tale. I think most critics and viewers see this film as such, and thus have come to the consensus that this movie is better than it has any right to be. It even has a fairly decent rotten tomato and IMBD score. From the long and often disappointing track record of movies inspired by video games, the bar is often set low for such adaptations. And from that perspective, I can see why this particular spin of the “dreamer turned achiever” story arc was able to exceed expectations; the movie was comprehensible, endearing, fairly well acted and unique enough to maintain interest throughout its 2hr plus runtime. This is something that cannot be said about most video game adaptations.
Yet, the thing is that this movie should be viewed as less of video game adaptation and more of a biographical telling. Truth is often greater than fiction. That is why movies based off of true events tend to be the most popular and lucrative aat the box office. Yet, the approach to the direction, pacing and style of the film leaned more fictional in impression, as opposed to letting the truthfulness of this telling breath unadulterated. I mean, there was a scene of Jann running away from the cops that would have been more appropriate in a Need for Speed adaptation. It just feels to this viewer that the source material wasn’t given enough respect. Like the director and/ or writers thought that the story wasn’t interesting enough on its own, so prototypical, and at time nonsensical, story elements needed to be entered to garner attention.
I recall discussing this film with a trusted sounding board of mines, and he stated that due to dwindling performance of theater released films these days, studios don’t want to take any chances. And that’s exactly what this movie felt like when I watched it… safe. The natural elements of this tremendous story didn’t get a real chance to breath in my opinion. It felt stifled by over dramatization and formulaic story elements. The video game of Gran Turisimo became a tool a select few gamers were able to parlay into a career in motorsports. The movie does try to convey this notation, but I didn’t really feel the authenticity of it as this film felt like it lacked a level of depth to its telling.
Admittedly, I could be viewing this movie too harshly. There are worse movies, and far worse racing movies (any of the Fast and Furious movies post Tokyo Drift can be placed here). Gran Turisimo is not a bad movie. Its bearable. Its ok. Maybe, if I come across it on one of the free streaming platforms that I have, and I want something to play in the background while I’m blogging about something else, I’ll select this film. But this movie doesn’t deserve my full attention again. The story of Jann Mardenborough’s career, Nissan Motorsport and the GT Academy are all truly intriguing. But those elements were mucked up and told in a cliché manner. The thought of what this movie could have been if given more care in the writing, style and direction of its telling, left me underwhelmed with the final result.