Gran Turismo to stream on THIS OTT platform after exiting Netflix
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After streaming on Netflix for about a year, Gran Turismo will be exiting the OTT giant library on November 24, 2024. Beginning November 25, 2024, the film will stream on SonyLIV (OTTplay Premium). Based on a script by Jason Hall and Zach Baylin, Gran Turismo is Neill Blomkamp's 2023 biographical sports drama film. The film is a collaboration between Polyphony Digital's racing simulation video game franchise and Columbia Pictures, PlayStation Productions, and 2.0 Entertainment. A highly sensationalised version of the story depicts Jann Mardenborough, a real-life British youngster who played Gran Turismo and became a professional racecar driver. David Harbour, Orlando Bloom, Darren Barnet, Geri Halliwell Horner, Djimon Hounsou, and Archie Madekwe feature as Mardenborough in the film.
Sensationalised true story
Based on a true story, Gran Turismo follows a group of unlikely underdogs as they take on legendary racecar driver David Harbour, struggling working-class gamer Archie Madekwe, and an idealistic motorsport boss Orlando Bloom. As a team, they're taking a chance on the world's most prestigious sport. The plot of Gran Turismo is exciting, motivating, and full of action, and it shows that with inner motivation, nothing is impossible.
Despite a $60 million budget, it has made $122 million worldwide. Some critics praised Blomkamp's direction and racing scenes in the film, while others criticized the script and the storyline's reliance on Mardenborough's incident at the Nürburgring Nordschleife.
Film's cast and characters
Archie Madekwe plays the role of Jann Mardenborough, a young sales associate who loves racing video games like Gran Turismo and wants to be a professional driver. As Madekwe's stunt double, Jann Mardenborough plays a self-portrait.
Former professional racer and mechanic Jack Salter (David Harbour) trains Jann at the GT Academy. Orlando Bloom plays Nissan marketing executive Danny Moore.
Takehiro Hira portrays Kazunori Yamauchi, the man behind Gran Turismo. The real Yamauchi made a brief appearance in Tokyo, cooking sushi.
Darren Barnet portrays Matty Davis, a talented GT Academy driver who faced Jann and later partnered with him at Le Mans.
Depiction of Nürburgring crash sparks controversy
Most critics lauded Blomkamp's direction and the racing sequences, particularly during the final 24-hour race in France. Critics pointed out that Gran Turismo is a cautionary tale about adapting source material that doesn't always go together in a storyline.
Many viewers felt that the film's focus on Mardenborough's crash at the Nürburgring Nordschleife detracted from the story. In this scene, he painstakingly recreated an accident from 2015 in which his Nissan GT-R Nismo leaped into the air at the infamous Flugplatz curve and landed on onlookers below. Almost immediately, the accident claimed the life of one spectator and sent several others to the hospital with critical and life-threatening injuries. Gran Turismo portrayed this accident as a traumatic experience for Mardenborough, which affected his racing ability in his first 24 Hours of Le Mans run. Actually, he made his Le Mans début almost two years before the accident.
The use of a lifeless spectator in the film drew mixed criticism, with some calling it "tasteless" or "reprehensible."
