News culture This video game adaptation climbed onto the Amazon Prime Video podium: rated 65%, it was not a success in the cinema!
Published on 01/21/2025 at 7:23 p.m.
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Gran Turismo, the film, has had a journey strewn with pitfalls. If the film adaptation of the video game struggled to convince in theaters, it found a second wind in streaming, attracting an audience looking for strong emotions.
-The film adaptation of the popular PlayStation car racing simulation game, Gran Turismo, found a second life on the Amazon Prime Video podium after a mixed reception in theaters. The franchise, a cornerstone of driving simulation games since its 1997 debut on the PS One, took an unusual leap into cinema by focusing on a true story. The film centers on Jann Mardenborough, an avid Gran Turismo gamer who moves from the virtual world to the reality of professional auto racing through a competition organized by PlayStation and Nissan. This story, a true “poor man made rich” tale, served as the basis for the film’s plot and allowed it to move beyond the confines of its video game origins. The film features an impressive cast, including Orlando Bloom, David Harbor and Djimon Hounsou, with Neill Blomkamp at the helm as director. Despite the star-studded presence, the film struggled to fully captivate audiences and critics upon its theatrical release.
Some praised the film for its engaging racing sequences but others criticized it for its over-reliance on clichés and for struggling to distance itself from its source material, noting some obvious references to gaming. The film’s reception was indeed mixed, as evidenced by a score of 47% on Metacritic and 65% on Rotten Tomatoes, although it achieved a much higher audience score of 98%. According to several reviews, the film’s strengths include the on-screen duo of Madekwe and Harbor as underdogs in elite races, as well as the effective use of CGI to present video game elements. Julian Lytle of Geek Girl Riot, noted that Gran Turismo reminded him how fun the video game was and made him want to play it again. Neal Pollack of Book & Film Globe said that, while not as good as other recent racing films, Gran Turismo is “still a pretty effective underdog story with some cool driving scenes“. Although some critics found the story predictable, others, such as Mark Jackson of the Epoch Times, found it “fun and inspiring”, while Candice McMillan of Seattle Refined called it an enjoyable, adrenaline-packed film.
A complicated shoot
Gran Turismo aimed to capture the high-octane excitement of auto racing through extended drone shots, rapid editing, and close-ups of the cars. But this demanding production had an impact on the actors. David Harbour, known for his role in Stranger Things, described the experience of being a passenger in a race car as “horrible“. Similarly, Archie Madekwe, who plays the main character, Jann Mardenborough, admitted that he was not “built correctly” for racing, comparing the experience of getting into a racing car to that of entering a “torture machine” and even vomit between takes.
