Gran Turismo Trailer Previews Story Of Gamer Who Joins Nissan Race Team

It's based on the true story of Nissan GT Academy winner Jann Mardenborough, who trades sim racing for the real deal.

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Christopher Smith

By: Christopher Smith

May 2, 2023 at 12:48pm ET

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No, this isn't a trailer for a new Gran Turismo video game. There is a major connection to the popular racing franchise, however. In 2008, Nissan and Sony teamed up to create the Nissan GT Academy where gamers could compete in the sim racing world for a chance to join Nissan's real-life race team. Gran Turismo tells the story of Jann Mardenborough, one of the winners in the series.

As such, the trailer features all kinds of automotive action in both the sim world and real world. Mardenborough (played by actor Archie Madekwe) is a young man who's an ace at Gran Turismo and joins the GT Academy, apparently to the dismay of his father (played by Djimon Hounsou in the film). It also seems David Harbour's character Jack Salter isn't pleased about the idea of giving sim racers a seat in real cars, as he tells Danny Moore (played by Orlando Bloom) "It will tear them to pieces." At this point, it's worth noting that the movie is based on a true story, but isn't a documentary by any means.

In the trailer, we see Mardenborough conquer the GT Academy (the only one to make the cut) and join Nissan's racing team. We see him racing the Nissan GT-R against other GT-Rs, against Lamborghinis (portrayed here as the bad guys), and we see LeMans prototypes. This is also where we see a fiery crash, with Mardenborough literally crawling out through the fire. The trailer closes with more cars, more gear changes, smiles, cheers, drama ... you know the drill.

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It's unclear how much creative liberty the movie will take with the real-life story of Mardenborough and the Nissan GT Academy. Among other things, the film highlights Gran Turismo 7 on the PlayStation 5, which is the latest iteration of the gaming franchise. That suggests it's based in the present instead of 2011 when Maradenborough won the championship. It also suggests he was the only winner, when in fact the Nissan GT Academy saw several gamers go on to successful racing careers over its eight-year run. He did experience a bad crash at the Nurburgring, however, killing a spectator while escaping with minor injuries.