Given the recent success of films adapting video games ranging from Uncharted to Sonic the Hedgehog — to say nothing of a streaming series adapting Halo and Castlevania — it’s not shocking to hear that a lot more video game adaptations are in the works. In some cases, that can mean a fairly direct adaptation — like, say, the Dragon Age series coming to Netflix later this year.
Others seem to be taking a more roundabout route. Deadline has more details on a forthcoming film adaptation of the storied racing game Gran Turismo, from director Neill Blomkamp — currently scheduled for release on August 11, 2023.
As Autoblog notes in its report on the film, the big-screen adaptation will acknowledge its roots in the gaming world in the film’s plot. The film’s main character will be someone who played Gran Turismo in their adolescence and became a professional driver from there.
In terms of what that might mean for the finished film, it sure sounds like an approach that’s taking a step or two beyond simply translating the game to the screen. And that’s an approach that can yield solid results. My own personal favorite film adapting a video game to date has been last year’s Werewolves Within, which took the most basic premise from its source material and turned it into a charming horror-comedy built around a terrific Sam Richardson performance.
If the future of film and television is going to involve a lot more video game adaptations, hopefully we’ll at least get some interesting spins on them. Based on this early information, the film version of Gran Turismo seems to be taking this route.
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