The first sneak peek at Neill Blomkamp’s adaptation of Gran Turismo has pulled in, showcasing what looks to be incredible action cinematography and thrilling race sequences.
Through weaved interview clips, main cast members tell us that Gran Turismo is “a movie based on a true life story with heart-pounding action and drama…And it’s badass race car action you’re gonna feel like you’re in the middle of…The audience is gonna feel every jolt, every thrill of this racing at 200 miles per hour.” And based on the accompanying clips, it may not be just hype.
Gran Turismo is based on the popular video game series, which debuted in 1997 and has several entries under its hood, with the most recent coming out last year.
“Based on the true story of Jann Mardenborough, the film is the ultimate wish fulfillment tale of a teenage Gran Turismo player whose gaming skills won a series of Nissan competitions to become an actual professional racecar driver.”
Gran Turismo stars Archie Madekwe as Mardenborough, David Harbour as his trainer, Orlando Bloom as an executive and Darren Barnet as his rival.
Mardenborough is something of an icon within both the GT racing and video game communities, competing in the Nissan PlayStation GT Academy, which saw players starting behind a video game controller before eventually being put behind the wheel to compete in actual vehicles. In 2011, Mardenborough became the youngest winner, edging out a starting pool of 90,000 entrants.
In November, Sony announced that filming on Gran Turismo was underway, teasing with a photo of some of the cars used in the movie. Gran Turismo arrives in theaters on August 11th.
Neill Blomkamp is no stranger to action, having helmed 2009’s District 9, 2013’s Elysium and 2015’s Chappie. Venturing outside of the sci-fi world will be a major step for the director, however, so he’ll need to be much more grounded with his upcoming venture.
What do you think of the sneak peek at Gran Turismo? Do you think it will be a faithful adaptation of the video games? Is Neill Blomkamp a good choice for director? Let us know below!