"The Real Driving Simulator" will soon be a real movie, as Sony Pictures and PlayStation Productions are developing a feature film based on the popular PlayStation racing game series Gran Turismo.
According to Deadline, the Gran Turismo film is in "very early development," with Sony eyeing Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Elysium) to direct. That said, plot details are being kept under wraps for the time being. Deadline also put the kibosh on recent rumors that a Gran Turismo television series is in the works, describing them as "not accurate."
The Gran Turismo project marks the latest big-screen collaboration between Sony Pictures and PlayStation Productions, following the Tom Holland-led film adaptation of the action-adventure video game series Uncharted, which released in theaters earlier this year. Uncharted opened to mixed reception, though grossed $400.8 million worldwide.
Earlier today, it was confirmed that two more PlayStation properties are headed to the small screen. A TV series based on the action-adventure video game series God of War is currently in the works for Prime Video, while another series based on the action role-playing game Horizon Zero Dawn is in the works for Netflix. Meanwhile, the Pedro Pascal-led TV series based on PlayStation's The Last of Us is expected to premiere on HBO in 2023.
Created by Kazunori Yamauchi, the Gran Turismo series of racing simulators is developed by Polyphony Digital and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The franchise currently consists of eight main-series entries. The first, simply titled Gran Turismo, released excusively for the original PlayStation in 1997. A sequel, Gran Turismo 2, hit the platform in 1999.
2001's Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec was the series' first entry to release on the PlayStation 2. It was followed by Gran Turismo 4 in 2004. The series made the jump to the PlayStation 3 with 2010's Gran Turismo 5 and 2013's Gran Turismo 6. The online-focused Gran Turismo Sport released exclusively for the PlayStation 4 in 2017. Most recently, Gran Turismo 7 released on the PS4 and PlayStation 5 earlier this year. A number of secondary titles have also been released on the PS2, PS3 and PlayStation Portable over the years.
Sony first announced plans for a Gran Turismo film in 2013. At one point, Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick) was in talks to direct, with Jon and Erich Hoeber (My Spy) later being tapped to pen the screenplay. However, this version of the project was believed to be dead as of 2018.
Source: Deadline