Back in 1997, a Playstation game called Gran Turismo touted itself as “the real driving simulator”. It inspired multiple sequels, with the most recent being 2022’s Playstation 5 release Gran Turismo 7.

2023 also brought the concept to the big screen. Gran Turismo offers an underdog story based on a true tale.

Welsh teen Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe) finds himself without many plans for the future beyond his obsession with Gran Turismo. His father Steve (Djimon Hounsou) tries to get Jann to focus on something other than cars, but he fails.

Jann seems primed to finally use his videogaming skills when a division of Nissan develops “GT Academy”, a place where the top Gran Turismo drivers can train to race for real. Reluctantly coached by former pro Jack Salter (David Harbour), Jann battles to become a winner.

Back in 2009, director Neill Blomkamp made a splash with District 9, his feature debut. He earned an Oscar nomination as screenwriter and the film itself received a Best Picture nod, unusual for a sci-fi effort.

Blomkamp’s subsequent career hasn’t lived up to the promise he showed in 2009, but at the very least, he adds a certain pedigree. With Blomkamp at the helm, Turismo seemed to promise a film that rose above its origins as a glorified videogame promo.

Alas, Blomkamp can’t elevate the material. This means Turismo turns into a mix of cliché underdog story and software advertisement.

Oh, it works well in the latter regard, as the movie sells the videogames in sparkling fashion. The flick definitely made me want to buy the latest iteration of Turismo.

Unfortunately, the movie lays it on too thick. It starts with a superficial history of the game and then touts the products over and over.

Again, this works to some degree. Nonetheless, it becomes tedious and does nothing to overcome the idea that the film exists as promo fodder.

Beyond the basic advertising, Turismo simply finds nothing fresh to do with its narrative. At its core, Jann’s tale comes with compelling elements, and it speaks to every gamer who thought he/she could take those skills to the real world.

Whatever worth the core story boasts fails to come across on the screen. Nothing about Turismo manages to give the oft-told underdog plot new life.

This means trite elements like the disapproving dad and the arrogant rival. Jann himself lacks real dimensionality, and none of the supporting roles broaden matters much.

It doesn’t help that Turismo runs 134 minutes, and that seems a good half-hour too long for this story. Given the simplicity of the plot, we don’t need anywhere close to that running time to flesh out matters, and the movie grows tedious and redundant.

One might hope the racing scenes add verve to the proceedings, but Blomkamp stages them in such a choppy, edit-happy manner that they fail to do much. Occasionally the driving bits show promise, but Blomkamp doesn’t depict them in an exciting way.

We do get a nice cast, though only Harbour brings real spark to his role. As a long-time Spice Girls fan, at least I felt happy to see Geri “Ginger Spice” Halliwell Horner as Jann’s mother.

Otherwise, Turismo becomes a derivative and forgettable flick. Nothing about it stands out from the crowd.

Gran Turismo appears in an aspect ratio of 1.90:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Shot 8K and finished 4K, the movie came with a terrific visual presentation.

At all times, sharpness excelled. The film offered tight, concise imagery without a hint of softness along the way.

I saw no signs of jagged edges or shimmer, and edge haloes also failed to appear. In addition, source flaws never created distractions.

Colors leaned toward a subdued mix of amber and teal. These tones felt well-rendered within stylistic choices.

Blacks seemed deep and dense, while shadows were smooth and clear. This turned into a top-notch image.

In addition, the movie’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack added pizzazz to the proceedings. As expected, the racing scenes offered the greatest sense of activity and involvement, as those used the vehicles to swarm and move around the room in an engulfing manner.

Other scenes created a good sense of the story as well. Most of these sequences focused on environmental information, but they still worked well and delivered a nice experience.

Audio quality succeeded as well, with natural, concise dialogue. Music seemed full and rich.

Effects appeared accurate and distinctive, with nice low-end response. The soundtrack suited the film and added excitement.

Five featurettes appear. The Plan spans six minutes, 16 seconds and offers info from driver Jann Mardenborough, director Neill Blomkamp, producer Doug Belgrad, racing advisor David Perel and actors Archie Madekwe and David Harbour.

“Plan” looks at the real-life story behind the film’s tale. It’s good to hear from the actual Mardenborough and he offers some useful notes, but the featurette lacks a lot of depth.

The Engine runs five minutes, 11 seconds. It brings comments from Madekwe, Blomkamp, makeup department head Tracey Wells, costume designer Terry Anderson, producer Asad Qizilbash, director of photography Jacques Jouffret, and actor Darren Barnet.

With “Engine”, we learn about attempts to make the film seem as realistic and visceral as possible. Like “Plan”, this one mixes insights and fluff.

Next comes The Wheels. In this five-minute, 55-second reel, we hear from Madekwe, Blomkamp, Harbour, Barnet, Qizilbash, Belgrad, and actors Orlando Bloom, Djimon Hounsou, and Geri Halliwell Horner.

In this reel, we find notes about cast, characters and performances. Expect a lot of happy talk.

The Pit Crew fills five minutes, 38 seconds. It involves Belgrad, Madekwe, Harbour, Qizilbash, Perel, Blomkamp, Barnet, Mardenborough, and executive producer Matthew Hirsch.

“Crew” discusses the recreation of the racing sequences. Like the other featurettes, it offers a combination of interesting notes and puffy praise.

Finally, The Garage takes up four minutes, 44 seconds. This one features Belgrad, Blomkamp, Hirsch, and Perel.

As implied by the title, “Garage” tells us about the film’s cars. Once again, we find a mishmash of solid info and fluff.

Five Deleted Scenes fill a total of 11 minutes, 54 seconds. Some of these extend existing sequences while others offer totally new elements.

Do any of them add much? Not really.

We get some moderate exposition that fleshes out a few roles to a minor degree. However, the film already runs far too long, so anything that would bloat it more wouldn’t make sense.

The disc opens with ads for 65, Insidious: The Red Door and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. No trailer for Gran appears here.

Despite the compelling real life story behind Gran Turismo, the end result feels trite. The movie touches on every cliché imaginable and never threatens to turn into anything rich or truly involving. The Blu-ray boasts excellent picture and audio as well as a decent mix of bonus materials. Expect a terrific Blu-ray for a mediocre film.