Based on the true story of Jann Mardenborough, the film is the ultimate wish fulfillment tale of a teenage Gran Turismo player whose gaming skills won a series of Nissan competitions to become an actual professional racecar driver.
United Press International:
Dexerto:Story is fine, if formulaic, but the most important component does not work. The biggest problem with Gran Turismo is the incomprehensible racing sequences.
Fiction Horizon:Gran Turismo is the new Days of Thunder: pulse-racing action, vapid writing, and still a winner. Ka-chow.
VitalThrills:A visceral and entertaining pedal to the metal racing movie.
DailyTelegraph:Confident and competent, Neill Blomkamp's adaptation of the popular racing game is a 100-minute commercial for Sony which still manages to have more under the hood than you would expect.
EmpireMagazine:The thrill of the games is matched fleetingly here at best, because it feels like a simulator being put through a simulator, and not all the effects are up to snuff. Script-wise, we don't just get Formula One, but formulae two through infinity.
Daily Express UK:Despite some warm performances, it's very hard to ignore the feeling that this is largely just two hours of product placement.
London Evening Standard:Despite Blomkamp's disinterested driving, the pivotal races are still rousing enough by the final lap that Mardenborough never becomes hard to root for.
Independent UK:Shame on you, Sony.
Polygon:Nothing here feels real or tangible. You could argue that makes for a better recreation of the game – but then why bother heading to the cinema when you simply could stay home and hop on a controller?
Total Film:Gran Turismo could have used this inspiring true story to show how video games open up possibilities and remove barriers in the real world. Instead, it just uses it to score points.
ComingSoon:Fast, furious and based on fact, this pleasingly lateral adaptation embellishes a console-jockey favourite with familiar sports-movie archetypes.
Screen International:With the racing scenes directed to perfection and an airtight script from Jason Hall and Zach Baylin, Gran Turismo is living proof that a video game movie can be thrilling, emotional, and a spectacular time at the movies.
Variety:The picture could be considered a simulation itself, mimicking the crowd-pleasing rush of a sports drama, but without enough heart or soul in the tank.
IndieWire:It's made with a spontaneous humanistic grace, and the racing sequences, which dominate the movie because they're truly the story it's telling, are dazzlingly directed and edited.
FlickFeast:"Gran Turismo" is what happens when talented filmmakers take on ridiculous projects and do a great job.
Guardian:There is a line repeated throughout the movie, that "champagne is for the podium". Perhaps keep the champage on ice, for while Gran Turismo is an inspiring, exciting ride, it is not quite worthy of that podium finish.
This is a simulation of cinema, with scarcely a human fingerprint anywhere on its chassis.
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