Gran Turismo review
An enjoyable ride for the fans, just a shame about all the ads
When it comes to adaptations of video games for the big screen, studios always had to make a choice: they could either try to stick to the original material as closely as possible (satisfying fans and risking alienating mainstream moviegoers in the process) or they could use that original material as context creatively to deliver something more accessible to the masses (risking disappointing fans in the process). So what if one strived to create a film based on Gran Turismo — one of the most famous PlayStation properties of all time, but a driving game that provides no actual story to build a script around, no specific memorable scenes or sequences to recreate, no particular characters to focus on?
How does one go about making a GT movie?
The answer: one looks at the cultural value of Gran Turismo, at interesting human stories within the context of the video game and, obviously, at the exciting aspects of racing themselves. That’s what Sony Pictures went for with the Gran Turismo movie and the end result was worth the wait… mostly.
