Sony has revealed more about the upcoming Gran Turismo movie at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, with director Neill Blomkamp on hand to share his thoughts, along with a sneak peek of the first film footage we’ve seen so far.
The presentation took place as part of a segment during Sony’s live event at CES, with Blomkamp joined on stage by Sanford Panitch, president of Sony Pictures, and one of the film’s producers Asad Qizilbash of PlayStation Productions.
Gran Turismo series creator Kazunori Yamauchi also appeared in a pre-recorded clip, filmed at Monaco last November, ahead of the on-stage activities. In it he reiterated his desire to see Gran Turismo evolve from an automotive and gaming brand into a better-known brand globally, with the movie as a catalyst.
Much of the presentation itself referred to how Sony’s technology division enabled the movie’s production. That included using the full-frame VENICE camera and particularly its detachable “Rialto” sensor which allows the lens and sensor to be up to 18 feet apart. Blomkamp sang the device’s praises, particularly with regards to filming in the compact cockpits of the LMP cars used later in the film.
In addition to the on-stage discussion, Panitch introduced a short video segment which contained members of the cast — David Harbour as “Jack Salter”, Orlando Bloom as “Danny Moore”, and Archie Madekwe as Jann Mardenborough — with some short pieces of the movie.
As well as revealing that Mardenborough will be the lead character of the film rather than just the inspiration, the movie clips featured some portions of the characters playing Gran Turismo in the famous circular pods, some GT3 racing action, and the aforementioned prototype cars from “the film’s third act”.
There’s quite some fan service going on too, with the classic Gran Turismo race start horns, and the recreation of both bumpercam and “coptercam” — the third-person chase camera — familiar to players who’ve been with the series for the past 25 years.
Much of the story is still under wraps, though fans will be familiar with the general gist of Mardenborough being a teenager racing game fan who won GT Academy in 2011 and went on to race in the top class of Le Mans.
The movie will be available, only in cinemas, from August 11, 2023.
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