Archie Madekwe (Voyagers and Midsommar) stars as Jann Mardenborough, a professional race-car driver who became a motorsport champion at a very young age after getting most of his experience and training from a video game. It seems like an incredible thing that a person could use playing video games as a basis for playing an actual sport. It's not so incredible when one considers all the other details. In 2008, Nissan partnered with Sony PlayStation to create the GT Academy to train gamers to become racers, so it's not as if Jann went straight from his bedroom to Le Mans 24. He did get some training in a real race-car first.
Jann didn't like to play sports, such as soccer or European football, which is what his dad played. He wasn't that kind of physical athlete. Yet, Jann seems as though he's in fairly good shape, but, given what race-car driving entails, it's not as if he needs six-pack abs or bulging biceps. He just needs to be under a certain weight. Jann is chosen to be in GT Academy due to his time on the video game. He had one of the fastest times or highest scores. However, what if Jann had been overweight? In NASCAR, drivers have to weigh under 200 pounds. What if Jann had been over that?
It's also noted that the video game that Jann has been playing is a racing simulator that was designed in Tokyo to be the most authentic and realistic simulator ever. The simulator is called "Gran Turismo" and it's meant to be immersive and extreme in its verisimilitude. It's not as if Jann was trained on Nintendo's Mario Kart or some basic racing game. When airplane pilots train, some start by using a flight simulator, one of high quality and that is advanced. Both Boeing and Quantas Airways have and use simulators, and no one has a problem with that or questions it. To get a pilot's license though, the person has to log a certain number of hours in a real plane, which is the equivalent to what Jann has to do in order to get his FIA license, or his racing license.
The film, written by Jason Hall (American Sniper), Zach Baylin (King Richard) and Alex Tse (Watchmen), seems to be mainly about overcoming this distinction that what Jann did is some unusual or bizarre thing, given the nature of the sport. The sport is about operating a machine. Jann simply learned how to operate that machine in a slightly different manner but a manner not that far off from commercial pilots. Watching Jann overcome this distinction or in reality prejudice is otherwise boring. There's a slight aspect that goes into how using the simulator might provide an advantage that non-gamers might not have, but the film doesn't delve into that too much.
The main conflict that's probably better rendered is the danger of the sport. At one point, someone makes a comment comparing the racers to astronauts in a rocket. Director Neill Blomkamp (District 9) does invoke that feeling several times. Given this film comes in the wake of Ford v Ferrari (2019) or even the franchise that just gave us Fast X (2023), it seems impossible that Blomkamp could do anything more exciting with a guy behind the wheel of an automobile, and for the most part he can't. Where he instead succeeds is selling the danger at least in one crucial moment. It's effective. I'm not sure the film wrestles with the fallout of that danger to an appropriate degree, but the emotional fallout was well sold.
David Harbour (Black Widow and Stranger Things) co-stars as Jack Salter, a mechanic who works as the chief engineer for Nick Capa, a young but already established race-car driver. Jack is recruited by Danny Moore, played by Orlando Bloom (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring), to be the chief engineer for the GT Academy and the eventual race-car team that Nissan will form from it. At first, Jack is skeptical that a gamer can become a racer. This mostly stems from a generational divide. Jack was a race-car driver himself, likely decades ago, and has an old school way of thinking, but certainly recognizes talent when he sees it.
Finally, it's not a mark against the film, but there was a missed opportunity here. As far as I know, Lewis Hamilton is the only Black racer in Formula One. When it comes to NASCAR, there are currently five, Black drivers. There's been less than 20 in the 75-year history of NASCAR. It's pointed out in the film that this sport favors the wealthy. Because of the economics required, impoverished people wouldn't have access to the sport. Given the disparity of poverty for Black people, the lack of Black race-car drivers makes sense. There was a BBC News report in 2018 that Axcil Jefferies was aiming to be Africa's first Black F1 driver. The GT Academy provides an opportunity for minorities who might not otherwise be able to participate on the race track. This film shows that opportunity and the diversity it can provide. Yet, it doesn't underline the disparity.
Rated PG-13 for intense action and some strong language.
Running Time: 2 hrs. and 14 mins.
In theaters.