Sony is turning PlayStation’s pedal to the metal classic Gran Turismo into a Hollywood film that’s due out next summer.
The racing game, which began its 25th Anniversary year with the release of Gran Turismo 7 in March, will be adapted by Columbia Pictures and PlayStation Productions, with a cinema release planned for August 11.
Following the 2021 release of anUncharted movie, starring Tom Holland, the soon-to-be released The Last of Us TV show for HBO, and amid rumours of a God of War show, Sony is getting behind the wheel of another big franchise adaptation.
Deadline reports the Gran Turismo film – which was first green lit by Sony back in 2013 – will be directed by Neill Blomkamp, the man behind indie hits District 9 and Chappie.
It’ll be based on the true story of a gamer who got a shot on the actual track thanks to his in-game exploits and made a career out of it. There’s no details on the actual plot yet, but the real-life story is actually pretty cool.
Back in 2011, Briton Jann Mardenborough won the Nissan PlayStation GT Academy tournament, which launched a career as a racing driver. He was an active driver up until 2020, according to his Wikipedia page.
In a 2014 interview with the Guardian, Mardenborough said playing Gran Turismo was one hell of a primer for driving an actual GT car at Le Mans. “The controls and physics engines in games these days are crazy, they take real-life data from cars and then put them into code so that the way that the car pitches and brakes and the steering input works very well in racing games.”
Sony is just one of many gaming studios seeking to adapt its top properties for TV or film. For example. the live-action Halo show has been a hit for Paramount Plus (which launches in the UK next week), while Amazon Prime Video is making a Fallout series.
You might like…
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
