Gran Turismo movie UK release date, age rating and more

Of all of the unlikely video game-to-movie crossovers, this is probably the least expected, but the Gran Turismo movie UK release date dropped in 2023 (details below), and here’s everything you need to know about the age rating and more. We’ll take you through the story and cast, which are both way more impressive than expected, as well as the certificate news, trailer and runtime.

This should give you the latest on the release, which is based on the true story of Jann Mardenborough who went from gamer to real racer. It’s directed by Neill Blomcamp (District 9, Elysium, Chappie) and it looks set to become the kind of cinematic experience that made Top Gun Maverick and Avatar The Way of Water such big hits.

Story

The movie’s plot is a biographical sports drama that chronicles the success of teenage Gran Turismo player, Mardenborough, who makes the transition to real life racing. His driving skills in the game led him to taking on a series of competitions that ultimately resulted in him becoming a professional racing driver.

If you haven’t played the game before, it’s essentially Sony PlayStation’s flagship driving game and story has never been a part of the gameplay. For this reason, the idea of a movie crossover seemed very unlikely, but with the efforts of Jann Mardenborough to focus on it seems pretty convincing as a big screen contender.

The British driver goes on to race in the Japanese Super GT Series, but it all started when he won the 3rd ever GT Academy in 2011. The tournament is a way for Gran Turismo players to progress from their PlayStation console to behind the wheel of a racing car and the rest is history.

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Gran Turismo movie UK release date

The Gran Turismo movie UK release date took place on the August 9th, 2023. However, with the volume of films with split international releases over the winter, all bets were off to begin with. It’s arrival in August means that it has made it just in time to make the most of the blockbuster season.

The release comes on the back of the latest game in the series, Gran Turismo 7, which came out in March 2022. The first game in the franchise dates back to 1997 on the original PlayStation console, and it has gone on to be one of the most popular racing games ever.

At the moment, there aren’t any other big movies out during the release date window, so it’s got a very good chance of landing the number 1 spot in North America and the UK. With the cinematic links to Top Gun Maverick and Avatar The Way of Water it’s also got a chance at being a surprise hits of the year if the performances match the visuals in the sneak peek.

If the Gran Turismo movie does come out in the UK at the same time as in the US then it should have a DVD, Blu-ray and digital release date in time for the winter holidays 2023. It’s makes for pretty good timing for the production, so it’s going to be interesting to see how well the film does.

North America release date

As with the UK, the Gran Turismo release date in North America took place on August 9th, 2023. It was initially slated for summer, and while there’s always room for movement things stayed the course for the computer game adaptation.

It was more likely that there could have been some variance with the UK release, but with the current climate the US isn’t exempt from changes. Both The Flash and Aquaman 2 have had big delays and it was a similar case with Avatar 2, so we were all set to keep tabs on things and update you here.

Gran Turismo movie age rating certificate

As you might expect, the Gran Turismo movie age rating was confirmed as we got a little closer to the release date and it came out with a 12A certificate in the UK. This equates to a PG-13 age rating in North America and looking at the movie and comparing it to other similar films over the last few years or so, it always seemed like a good estimate.

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There was an outside chance of it landing as a PG, depending on the language or romance levels, but live action films usually have age ratings of 12 unless they’re Disney flicks like the Aladdin remake. If you look at Ford v Ferrari or Top Gun 2, they’re both 12 certificate films, which added to our projection.

The best counter to this was the Eddie the Eagle film that came out in 2016, which was given a PG in the UK, so it wasn’t completely out of bounds. As mentioned above, a 12 certificate would be equivalent to PG-13 age rating in North America, while a PG is pretty much the same on both sides of the Atlantic.

Cast

The Gran Turismo movie cast is led by relative newcomer Archie Madekwe (Midsommar), who plays Jann Mardenborough. He’s joined by a fair few big Hollywood names, including Orlando Bloom (The Lord of the Rings, Carnival Row) and David Harbour (Black Widow, Violent Night, Stranger Things).

They’ll be joined by Darren Bennet, Djimon Hounsou and just as unexpectedly as the Gran Turismo movie crossover itself, Geri Halliwell Horner. The Spice Girl has had a number of roles in TV and film over the years, but with Christian Horner being her husband she’s might have a lot of racing knowledge to bring to the film.

Runtime

As with the age rating certificate, the Gran Turismo movie runtime was officially announced when the release date is a few weeks away. It came out at 2 hours and 14 minutes long, which is very close to our initial estimate.

This is the first film to be made about the game, so it was hard to predict, but if you look at the examples above, Top Gun Maverick was 2 hours 11 minutes long, Eddie the Eagle was 1 hour 46 minutes and Ford v Ferrari was 2 hours 15 minutes. This pointed to a 2 hour estimate for the runtime.

Trailers

The sneak peek teaser trailer for the Gran Turismo movie landed on the 5th January 2023 and it features a mix of scenes from the film and interviews with the cast. It’s cool to see the cast talking so passionately about the project, but the racing action is the star, much in the same way the aerial combat was the big selling point for Top Gun Maverick.

The camerra work is excellent and the driving looks like it’s about as pro as it gets, which is what fans of the series will expect. The story of Jann Mardenborough’s rise through the ranks is only hinted at, so it’s going to be interesting to see how it all comes together in the full trailer when the release comes around.

It was then followed up with the full trailer in early May 2023, featuring more of the story setup.

Check out our film news section to keep tabs on the latest, or visit the official Sony Pictures website at www.sonypictures.com/movies.