What fun! A science experiment in movie form. Thesis: Gamers are professional athletes. Conclusion: False. Revised thesis: Expert gamers are professional athletes. Conclusion: False. Revised, revised thesis: Expert gamers, given simulations of exacting verisimilitude, can -with certain sports- be trained to become professional athletes: True, but not women apparently – except for that one weird chick, but they cut her before shit got real.
Gran Turismo is a video game. And now it’s going to be confused not only with a movie, but with professional racecar driving, which is a neat trick. But this whole thing is about a video game, a video game proving so realistic that Nissan got the bright idea to create GT Academy – a transitional campground for turning expert Gran Turismo players into real life racecar drivers. And -lo and behold- the skills are, indeed, translatable -to an extent.
In many way, this is a buddy pic about two guys, one an expert gamer kid, Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe), and the other, Jack Salter (David Harbour), a middle-aged, multi-level burnout. What’s remarkable is that PlayStation programs a racing simulation so realistic that the skills could be translated. The film makes no bones about the danger involved. When you crash in a simulation, you reset the machine and go again. When you crash in real life, well, let’s just say the consequences are a smidge greater.
Early on, we see the seeds of this project bearing fruit as Cardiff teen Jann eludes the police in a dadmobile. Huh, maybe the kid can really drive. Did video games do that? Meanwhile, Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom), the ridiculous executive who planned GT Academy, has to locate an expert trainer. Turns out nobody qualified wants the job. Hard to believe. I mean, it sounds so perfect – “Well, I train professional racers for a living, but I’ll stop doing that to focus on video game addicted amateurs, sure.” Jack Salter -a former pro racer turned mechanic- has one-too-many conversations with a professional ego and decides he’s in. He makes it clear from the outset that he thinks all of the GT Academy kids will fail.
And there’s the set-up: Jack Salter v. Gamers. And Jack ain’t wrong; at this point, none of them are professional athletes. But if you can teach pilots how to fly on a simulator, yo
u can certainly teach gamers how to drive racecars, right? Jann doesn’t lack for issues; he’s too tall, doesn’t have any family support for this venture, and needs a Kenny G or Enya fix whenever stressed. However, there’s something to be said for any kid who finds going 200 MPH “downtime.”
A few months ago, Creed III came out and embarrassed the sporting world with its lack of respect for professionalism. I believe Gran Tursimo is the answer to Creed III. Here, here, here is exactly what it takes to go from amateur to professional. You log thousands of hours in a chair, then you get private sessions with an expert, and, if you survive that, then and only then do you get to race – and even so, initially you’ll be outclassed and humiliated; there’s a learning curve to all applied professionalism. That’s the way professionalism works. You don’t just enter the ring with the heavyweight champion of the world on the strength of “I was a good amateur boxer a decade ago” and expect to go toe-to-toe. Shame on you, Creed III. And this real-life story is proof of your failure.
Gran Turismo compares well with Ford v Ferrari, the last big film we had on this subject. The latter is a more complex film, but it all still comes down to standard David v Goliath sporting stuff. Here? We like David; we’re iffy on Goliath, so, sure, go kid, go. Gran Turismo will sell itself on racing and racing and racing and this idea that you, too, are not that far removed from professional athletics. Ha! The film earns our attention not with the polish and shine of superfast cars and the pretty young people driving them, but more so on the surrogate father/son relationship between David Harbour and Archie Madekwe. This is where the film earns its stripes, not on the racetrack.
The once was a kid from Wales
Whose gaming was off the scales
So he got a chance
To do the pro dance
And now he drives like there’s wind at his *sales*
Rated PG-13, 134 Minutes
Director: Neill Blomkamp
Writer: Jason Hall, Zach Baylin, Alex Tse
Genre: This didn’t really happen, did it?
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Gamers
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Professional athletes
