Why there will be a movie about the PlayStation game Gran Turismo

A movie needs to have a story, so why is Sony Pictures making a feature film about the PlayStations game Gran Turismo? Racing games aren’t known for their twists and turns, but in the history of Gran Turismo, they certainly are.

The plot of the film sounds unbelievable, but it isn’t. Gran Turismo The Movie, as we call the production for a while, is about a young gamer who grows up to be a successful racer. And that’s exactly what happened.

Gran Turismo movie with true story

The Gran Turismo film is based on the story of British racing driver Jann Mardenborough. In 2011, at the age of 19, he participated in GT Academy, a virtual racing competition in the game Gran Turismo 6 on the PlayStation 3.

Participants only had to have a driver’s license to take part. The GT Academy winner has been accepted into Nissan’s Driver Development Program.

Jann Mardenborough was third at Le Mans

Mardenborough won in 2011 and raced in the British GT Championship the following year. In 2013 he even took part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where he and his team finished third in the LMP2 class.

Meanwhile, Mardenborough’s career seems to have stalled a bit. He is now active in Formula E, but only as a simulator driver. From 2016 to 2020 he raced in the Japanese Super GT series in a Nissan GT-R.

Fatal accident on the Nordschleife

The year before he crashed his Nissan on the Nordschleife. The GT3 car flew into the air, rolled over a fence and landed in the crowd. One person died. Mardenborough himself had no injuries.

His last Le Mans appearance was also in 2015, when he jumped behind the wheel of the Nissan GT-R LM Nismo in the premier LMP1 class. The special front-engine, front-wheel drive race car was unreliable and not fast enough.