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'Gran Turismo' Movie Release Date Confirmed, and It's Based on a True Story

District 9's Neill Blomkamp will direct a film based on the Sony PlayStation racing game.

Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
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Some fancy cars racing.
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Some fancy cars racing.

Racing game Gran Turismo is being adapted, sort of.

Sony

Sony has confirmed a release date and plot details for a Gran Turismo movie, revealing it'll be based on real-life adventures of a player of the popular racing game.

The flick will be directed by District 9 helmer Neill Blomkamp and will be released on Aug. 11, 2023.

The Gran Turismo series of racing games began in 1997, and don't really have a plot or characters that can be adapted. So the movie draws on a true story described by Sony as "the ultimate wish fulfilment tale of a teenage Gran Turismo player whose gaming skills won a series of Nissan competitions to become an actual professional race car driver." 

Following the box office success of big-screen PlayStation adaptations Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Uncharted -- both released this year to become two of the most successful game adaptations of all time -- Sony has a ton of other games being adapted. Other PlayStation adaptations include TV shows based on Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War (Amazon Prime Video), The Last of Us (HBO), Twisted Metal (Peacock) and Ghost of Tsushima.

The most recent game in the racing series was 2022's Gran Turismo 7 for the PlayStation 5

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