The Gran Turismo movie’s most important true story: Its hero really does love Kenny G

polygon.com:

A decade ago, when Sony Pictures first announced its plan to adapt the PlayStation racing sim Gran Turismo into a movie, fans of the franchise were bemused. Two big questions — How? And why? — were quickly answered: The Gran Turismo movie would be based not on the video game, but on the real-life story of a player turned professional racer.

Originally, the idea was to tell the story of Lucas Ordóñez, the Spanish race car driver who entered professional racing by winning a spot at GT Academy, the program that attempted to mold real-life racers out of virtual drivers. Over time, producers found a new subject: British racer Jann Mardenborough. He won GT Academy a few years after Ordóñez, and went on to enjoy a longer racing career, ending up in the Super GT championship in Japan.

Directed by District 9 writer-director and Oats Studios founder Neill Blomkamp, Gran Turismo is advertised as “based on a true story,” but it takes some cinematic liberties with Mardenborough’s journey from gamer to racer. We recently spoke to Mardenborough about his influence on the film, his history with the Gran Turismo games, his affection for cars, and whether he really does have a predilection for the smooth jazz of saxophonist Kenny G, or if that was just put into the movie for comic relief.

This interview has been edited for clarity and concision.

Polygon: Which Gran Turismo game did you start with?

Jann Mardenborough: Kind of lucky story, really. I found [Gran Turismo] when I was 8 years old. But it wasn’t my console and it wasn’t my game. So in the U.K., we have this strange celebration every year called Bonfire Night, because we somehow want to celebrate a man who tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament. So now we have a fireworks