The Last Stardriver
Sony Interactive Entertainment’s premier driving simulator, Gran Turismo, is getting ready to burn rubber on the big screen. According to a new report from the Tinseltown insiders over at Deadline, Columbia Pictures is scoping a summer 2023 release date for the fast and furious movie adaptation.
Directed by Neil Blomkamp, (the big chair behind the great District 9 and the abominable CHAPPiE), Gran Turismo has something of a strange plot concept. Reportedly, the movie will follow the exploit of the world’s greatest Gran Turismo player, who transitions their digital racing skills onto the real-world professional car racing circuit. Think The Last Starfighter, but without the world-saving angle.
As cheesy as that premise sounds, it is, surprisingly, an adaptation of a true story. British racing driver Jann Mardenborough legitimately won a Nissan-sponsored GT Academy contest in 2011, securing themselves a scholarship in the Nissan’s Driver Development Programme. Since the competition, Mardenborough has gone on to compete in numerous major race tournaments including Japan’s GT Super series and the famous 24-hour Le Mans rally.
Personally, I prefer my driving movies to focus on people in pleather flame trousers stealing DVD players, but each to their own. Gran Turismo is the latest in a series of film and TV adaptations based on PlayStation properties. Live-action takes on The Last of Us, God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Twisted Metal are already in the works, while the Tom Holland vehicle Uncharted launched earlier in 2022.
Gran Turismo is tentatively scheduled to arrive in theaters August 11, 2023.
