√Sony’s ‘Gran Turismo’ movie enters production, due in cinemas next year

The ‘Gran Turismo’ video game is scheduled to debut on the silver screen next year, with a new film detailing the true story of a gamer who became a professional racing driver.

Sony has announced it has begun filming of the ‘Gran Turismo’ movie – inspired by the iconic racing game franchise – which is due to depict a story of how a teenager went from playing video games to becoming a real-world racer.

Gran Turismo is the world’s second best-selling racing video game – behind Need for Speed – with Sony selling more than 80 million copies for its various generations of PlayStation gaming consoles since 1997.

While a Gran Turismo film was originally announced in 2013, the project seemingly never developed further. A Gran Turismo movie project resurfaced in May this year, when overseas reports claimed it had finally been given the green light, for release next year.

In a post on social media platform Twitter, Sony Pictures – the Japanese company’s US-based film division – has confirmed filming of the long-awaited movie has started.

Filming is now underway on #GranTurismoMovie – based on the inspiring true story of a Gran Turismo player, Jann Mardenborough, who won a series of gaming competitions leading him to become an actual professional racecar driver. ???????? pic.twitter.com/gV13gEg2G5
— Sony Pictures (@SonyPictures) November 12, 2022

As previously reported, the Gran Turismo film is based on the true story of Jann Mardenborough – a British teenager who won a Gran Turismo video game competition to earn a chance to race in real life.

In 2011, Mardenborough participated against more than 90,000 other gamers in the Nissan and Sony-backed GT Academy competition, with the then-19-year-old winning the grand prize of driving for the Japanese car-maker in the (real-life) Dubai 24 Hour endurance race.

The Briton has since raced in multiple real-world racing championships, including the open-wheel GP3 and GP2 Series (the pathway to Formula One) and Japan’s Super GT touring-car competition.

Mardenborough will be played by Archie Madekwe, while the Hollywood stars Orlando Bloom (The Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean) and David Harbour (Stranger Things) have also been cast.

Sony has confirmed Gran Turismo will be directed by Neill Blomkamp, whose previous works include District 9 and Elysium.

A theatrical release of the Gran Turismo film is scheduled for August 11, 2023.

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