People are referring to the upcoming Gran Turismo film as “Rocky for video games.” Hollywood’s newest hottest trend is video game adaptations, thanks to blockbuster successes such as HBO’s The Last of Us.
In order to work with Sony Pictures on the adaptation of many PlayStation titles, PlayStation even established its own production company, known as PlayStation Productions.
There are currently 10 of them in various stages of development, with the upcoming August release of the Gran Turismo movie being the next one fans will enjoy.
Fans already know how the story unfolds despite the fact that there has only been one brief teaser for the movie, which will most likely be followed by a full trailer in the upcoming weeks.
Since the games don’t have a real plot, Gran Turismo isn’t a game adaptation but rather a true story about the game franchise.
It tells the story of a gamer who became a skilled professional driver in real life after participating in the games and winning a contest related to the series.
The Last Starfighter served as inspiration for the movie, according to Head of PlayStation Productions Asad Qizilbash, who discussed it all on the PlayStation Podcast.
Qizilbash shared that “The way I look at is it’s sort of like Rocky for video games and it’s inspired a little bit by The Last Starfighter as well. It’s an incredible story of these guys are so good as Gran Turismo that they can become professional race car drivers. […] When we developed the script, [Peter Kang] presented the script to [Sony Pictures head] Tom Rothman, Tom absolutely loved it but slid it back over the table and said ‘This is great, but it would be even better if it was a true story.’ Peter slid it back, saying ‘No, it is a true story.’ And Tom said, ‘Ok, we’ve gotta make this.'”
Qizilbash added that they intend to adapt God of War and Horizon as well using the same “formula” that HBO used to make The Last of Us adaptation.
Essentially, they want to stay very true to the original content while still expanding the world through the perspectives of new characters rather than drastically altering the main plot.
Though it’s too soon to tell how they will turn out, things seem to be moving in the right direction so it’s all rather exciting to fans who are looking forward to what’s to come.