What Gran Turismo Gets Wrong (And Right) About The True Story
This article contains spoilers for "Gran Turismo."
Depending on where you live, the new racing movie titled "Gran Turismo: A True Story" in some territories is currently making its way to theaters and is, in fact, based on a true story. You know, just in case that subtitle didn't make it clear. Directed by genre-junkie Neill Blomkamp, the gamer-turned-racer movie (which was reviewed by yours truly here at /Film) takes a slightly more novel approach to breaking the so-called video game curse. By blending its ambitions as a video game adaptation and a sports drama/biopic, the film does its level best to do what protagonist Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe) does and forge its own path altogether by pulling from very real-life events.
As incredible as the premise may seem — involving car company Nissan teaming up with PlayStation to find the best players of the video game franchise "Gran Turismo," put them through a grueling training academy, and then stick them behind the wheels of actual racecars on professional circuits — all of that really did happen. And, yes, this seemingly made-for-movies idea featured its fair share of triumphs and tragedy. But as is usually the case, not everything depicted in "Gran Turismo" went down exactly as it did in reality. Certain individuals were condensed or even invented to fulfill specific narrative purposes, the timeline of events was fudged a bit to line up with a more conventional story arc, and various other liberties were taken to accomplish the film's main goal of, you guessed it, entertaining.
At the end of the day, there are plenty of aspects that the filmmakers faithfully recreated and diverged from with regard to the real story. Whether it worked is, as always, up to you. Here's everything "Gran Turismo" got right and wrong.
Humble beginnings
What teenager out there hasn't dreamed of somehow turning their obsessive hobby into a full-fledged, moneymaking career? That's exactly what happened with the real Jann Mardenborough, the 19-year-old UK native who spent much of his free time playing "Gran Turismo" on his PlayStation at home ... right up until the moment when Sony came calling. Don't let your dreams be just dreams, folks!
Granted, the film slightly exaggerates the exact circumstances of how Mardenborough gained entrance to GT Academy — which aired as a reality TV series — through the online competition. "Gran Turismo" plays up the fraught family dynamics at play, establishing Yann as a disappointing son chafing under the pressure and expectations of his father Steve (portrayed by Djimon Hounsou), a former professional footballer (the real football) who hoped he'd follow in his footsteps. While his father's athletic backstory was absolutely true to life, the early segments of the movie also take a much more cinematic approach. One notable instance involves a police chase through the streets, leading to Yann's father punishing him by bringing him to work at a railroad yard ... right at the moment when he was meant to enter the video game competition.
The actual story, as told by Yann himself in this interview with History.com, was much more mundane: Upon booting up the game, he saw the advertisement for the competition and promptly got to work. Six weeks later, he placed a high enough score to receive an email from Sony, officially inviting him to the next round and a chance to compete. Unlike the film, which made it seem like Yann was the first-ever graduate, the real GT Academy had been operating for three years prior to his joining. But we can forgive that slight alteration in the interest of drama.
The supporting players
Every coming-of-age movie needs a wise and typically older mentor figure, a direct antagonist who may or may not end up joining forces with our hero, and a figurehead calling the shots. "Gran Turismo" packs all of these roles in the form of David Harbour's grizzled and washed-up former racer Jack Salter, Darren Barnet as the pot-stirring GT Academy rival Matty Davis, and Orlando Bloom's smooth-talking marketing executive Danny Moore. Each of them are modeled after actual people — some more loosely than others.
Let's start with Bloom's take on Danny Moore, overtly based on actual GT Academy founder Darren Cox. The main plot of "Gran Turismo" begins with his struggle to sell the industry on his cockamamie idea because, as it turns out, strapping gamers into the roll cage of racecars is kind of a hard pill to swallow. This would seem to be at odds with the real-world figure's rather successful career in the racing industry, having ascended to general manager of Nissan Europe by 2005 and putting him in perfect position to implement this plan. But with the film's version at the end of his rope, he finally turns to his kindred spirit Jack, an industry castoff with a tragic backstory who ultimately agrees to help train the recruits. An amalgamation of numerous individuals, DigitalSpy posits that the fictional character may be based primarily on Gavin Gough, a GT Academy instructor whom Jann has previously credited as a key source of motivation.
Finally, the particulars of Jann's rivalry with Matty Davis may be based in part on fellow driver Bryan Heitkotter. Their rivalry seems to be greatly exaggerated, but they did race together as part of a gamers-only team in Dubai. This seems to have inspired the film's 24 Hours of Le Mans finale.
Wins and losses
For those starting to feel like the "Based on a True Story" subtitle might've been somewhat embellished, fret not! "Gran Turismo" abides by the broad strokes of Jann's unbelievable rags-to-riches story, accurately portraying his climb up the rankings to become a racecar driver as talented as any of the lifelong professionals he came up against. As reflected in the film, he truly did rack up crucial experience and eventually third place (and above) finishes to earn his standing at the podium at the end of races — including key stops at races such as the UK, Dubai, Germany, Tokyo, and France.
But one such race really did end in tragedy, as depicted in frighteningly accurate detail in the movie. The Nürburgring complex in Germany really was the host of one of the most pivotal moments in Jann's life, where his car went airborne on a notoriously tricky section of track and crashed into the stands. One spectator was killed with several others wounded, though Jann himself escaped with only minor injuries. As a consultant on the film, the real-life figure approved and even pushed for this awful event to be depicted in the film ... but the circumstances were drastically altered. As dramatized in the film, this occurs early in Jann's career and almost derails his journey before he ever even got started. In real life, the horrific crash took place years into his career in 2015. This change earned a fair amount of backlash.
In the end, "Gran Turismo" combines fact and fiction to arrive at a more cinematic destination. No exaggeration was needed, however, to bring Jann's incredible true story to life. You can catch the film in theaters now.