Movie news site Deadline is reporting that director Neil Blomkamp has been attached to Sony's attempt to get a movie based on Gran Turismo off the ground, with a supposed August 11, 2023 release date. It'll be a collaboration between Sony's PlayStation Productions and Columbia Pictures divisions, which previously worked together on the adaptation of Uncharted.
Here's what Deadline says is the logline for the movie: "Based on a true story, the film is the ultimate wish fulfillment tale of a teenage Gran Turismo player whose gaming skills won a series of Nissan competitions to become an actual professional race car driver."
"But Jon," I hear you say, "Why are you reporting this? Gran Turismo 7 isn't on PC." Well, it's an excuse to speculate on that point: Sony has been bringing ever-more of its exclusive lineup to PC, and we are eternal optimists. A Gran Turismo PC release has traditionally seemed like an impossibility, but we once thought the same about God of War, Uncharted, and The Last of Us.
The story isn't actually an adaptation of Gran Turismo, a racing sim which doesn't really have a story, but instead is based on GT Academy, a 2008 to 2016 program that saw the world's top Gran Turismo players compete in real life races for a spot on a racing team.
Several GT Academy winners have gone on to fairly successful racing careers and are still professional racers today. Some, like many real-life drivers both present and past, also spend time competing in esports tournaments via games like iRacing and Gran Turismo.
As far as Blomkamp being involved, well, that's slightly weird. He's so far really only made sci-fi and horror movies. There's a lot of mechanical technology in District 9 (a mech) and Chappie (Chappie), though, so perhaps he'll be well suited to the special effects side of directing videogame and real-life car racing.
