Gran Turismo film delves into whether video game car racers are real racers | The DeanBeat

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To some, the premise of the Gran Turismo film is either the dumbest or best idea ever. Can a racing gamer become a pro race car driver?

It’s an absurd notion for a lot of people and pro race car drivers laughed at the idea that someone who raced using a game controller could ever learn how to drive. For the father of a real-world race car driver, the notion was so absurd that he couldn’t bring himself to support his teen-age son’s dream to become a race car driver by being a gamer first. (Beware of spoilers in this story).

That clash is one of many dramas that arise in the well-executed Gran Turismo film which opens in limited theaters in the U.S. on Saturday and then goes wide on August 25. I’ve seen the film and I like how it walks the line on that fundamental premise and how it follows the story of a true sports underdog. Once the boy gets through to his parents, he has to deal with the next drama — real race car drivers hate the idea of “sim” drivers racing real cars.

Directed by District 9 creator Neill Blomkamp, the film is based on the true story of Jann Mardenborough. When we meet him in the film, he’s salivating over a new driving wheel that he just bought for his PlayStation racing game, Gran Turismo, a game series that has sold 90 million copies since it first debuted in 1997. His father, once a competitive soccer player, can’t fathom why Yann doesn’t want to go outside with his brother and play soccer instead of wasting his time on a video game.

Yann keeps telling his dad