GRAN TURISMO

GRAN TURISMO is a sports drama about a young man in Wales who’s one of the top players on the best, most elaborate car racing video game and becomes part of the Nissan car company’s racing team in Europe. Based on a true story, GRAN TURISMO is a superbly entertaining movie with terrific racing scenes (some of the best ever), but it fools around with the timeline of the young driver’s early racing career to increase the story’s tension, and its morally uplifting, pro-family, capitalist messages are marred by seven strong profanities and other foul language, so MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.

At 19, Jann Mardenborough is a college dropout living in Wales with his parents in 2011. He spends much of his time playing GRAN TURISMO, a Japanese racing game that’s the most realistic simulated racing game on the market. His father, Steve, is a former soccer star who wishes his son would occupy his time with more normal pursuits. However, Jann has become one of the top GRAN TURISMO players in the world.

Meanwhile, an English marketing expert working for Nissan, Danny Moore, convinces the Japanese board to hold a contest of the best GRAN TURISMO players where the top winner will become part of Nissan’s GT racing team. There’s one condition, however. Danny must get a top chief engineer and mechanic on board who can train the players to drive really well, without killing themselves. Danny asks many top people for the job, but he can only convince skeptical, irascible Jack Salter to head the GT Academy. Danny promises to give Jack final say in the way the contest is run and if anyone makes the cut.

Naturally, Jann is picked to compete. However, he’s not so good at first. In fact, at a crucial point, his car spins out of control. Jann tells Jack he felt a mechanical problem with the brakes. He impresses Jack when he turns out to be right.

From that point forward, Jann holds his own with the other students. However, he barely wins the final determining race by less than one second. So, the question becomes, Can Jann cut it on the European circuit without killing himself? The first hurdle he faces is getting his racing license by coming in fourth at a major race.

Meanwhile, Jann’s parents are afraid their son may seriously hurt himself, or worse.

GRAN TURISMO is remarkably entertaining. The racing scenes are terrific, some of the best ever put on film. David Harbour almost steals the show as Jack Salter. However, his strong chemistry with Archie Madekwe, the young man playing Jann, also helps keep viewers enthralled. As played by Archie, Jann is a guy you can cheer, no matter the challenges and trials he faces. That said, the movie changes the order of the car races in Jann’s story, to make the story more dramatic. For example, one perilous moment occurred two years AFTER the events depicted in the movie take place. Also, looking at Jann’s actual racing career, it looks like it didn’t really take that long for Jann to distinguish himself on the European Circuit. However, the events in the movie where Jann switches to racing Formula One cars seem fairly accurate.

GRAN TURISMO has a strong moral worldview with strong pro-capitalist elements. Jann works hard to excel and become the driver Team Nissan needs him to be. Also, the movie tells a strong story of father and son conflict that’s resolved in a powerful way by the time the movie ends. In addition, the bonds that grow between Jann and his mentor, Jack, are also heartwarming. Finally, Jann achieves success through hard work, merit, raw nerve, grit, perseverance, and disciplined focus. He doesn’t cheat, even though his main rival does.

GRAN TURISMO is a fairly wholesome movie in general. However, it does have about 30 obscenities and profanities, including one “f” word and several strong profanities. It also has some intense racing scenes and scary crashes. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.