A great movie to pump your adrenaline level

I am pumped with adrenaline as I write this. I could not wait until my feet would move fast enough for me to get from the cinema back home to write this article. Sometimes you are in a moment in your life when the perfect movie appears at the perfect time for you to watch. I am oldschool and I love to go to the cinema. Watching this on a huge screen is a must.

I was lured by three words: race, cars and based on true story. If you have based on true story in the movie trailer you will spark my interest in any type of movie. Probably with horror and true crime you will miss me. But other than that...I am in baby!

I am in awe. I mean wow. Gran Turismo(2023) is based on the true story of a kiddo playing this video game in his room and becoming a real race car driver! Yes baby! Read that again, this happened in real life! Jann Mardenborough is his name and he was born in 1991. In 2011 he became the third and youngest winner of the GT Academy competition, beating 90,000 entrants. This movie is about his journey.

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The plot of the story caught me deeply because it is more than racing. It is about the underdog that dares to dream despite all odds. Jann, the hero of our story, lives in a typical household. His brother is better seen by his dad because he plays in the football team, trying to please his dad by conforming to his wishes. How many men do that all their lives? Sad. We all know how tough it is to be the disappointment of our father. Or of our mother if that is the case. He was mocked for spending hours playing video games. Dreaming to become a race car driver in real life. His father was a football player until himself gave up on his dream, now working at the railways. You see, our biggest critics will always be the parents who gave up on their own dreams and now they are trying to kill ours!

The real life Jann

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I love how the relationship father-son is shown so profoundly throughout the movie! So....How does Jann get there?

Here comes a marketing genius named Danny Moore offering a plan for Nissan to advertise to 80 millions of potential clients sitting in the video game market for Gran Turismo.His plan? To recruit the best players in virtual land and bring them in real life to a training camp in order to make them get their racing licence and race! For real! This happened in real life guys, someone actually believed in this crazy plan, Nissan brought in the cash and the gamers were in! I mean come on!!

The adrenaline is through the roof from the get go. Jann gets the place in the academy by a second. Incredible. There is a girl of course. She is in another town than him, he keeps photos with her in his phone, they talk, they are in love, they share a connection. How a man’s heart can push him to go through adversity motivated by dreams and love! This story starts with Jann growing from a simple young gamer to becoming a man. So I feel the movie is not only about cars and racing, but also about the journey that most young males go through: becoming a real man.

In one of the tracks there is an accident and one of the spectators gets killed by Jann’s car crushing. Here we see another male model entering into action: his coach, Jack Salter, the chief engineer designed for this project from the get go.

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This man is completely different than his father: although he has also quit on his dream( he was a former race car driver himself but after a crash he got scared and he has quit), he finds the power within himself to encourage the boy, to push him through the failure, to make him want it. I see this man being the father that Jann could never have. What a blessing to have in your real life a man that could help you regain trust in your self when you have lost it! Powerful moment! For all fathers out there or for any man wanting to someday be a father: learn to say that you are proud of your child! It makes a huge difference for their self-esteem and masculinity!

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Sadly enough Jann’s father does not call him to congratulate him for all of his winnings until the crash happens. It is only until the final tour named 24 hours of Le Mans that he makes his appearance. This is one of the most emotionally powerful moment in the movie. The dad bursts into tears, admitting how much he has neglected his son’s dreams and how he did not know how to show him that he is proud of him. I cried. How many sons need to hear from their father that he is proud of them? They can be 20, 30, 50 years old. But some fathers never told their son that they love them. That they are proud of them as a man. Oh we need more men bursting into tears and encouraging the future male generation to dare to dream even if this means to allow oneself to tell their mom and their dad to fuck off and that they are going to do in life as they freaking feel anyways! This is deep. For a movie with racing cars....the emotional subtleties really impressed me a lot. And the fact that it all happened in real life...it’s mindboggling.

I see this movie as the story of how an underdog can achieve anything and how , when you badly want something, the Universe will make you get it. My adventure with tattoing makes me relate with this kiddo immensely. It’s like this dream consumes you and it is all you ever want , even when people laugh on you, saying how you will never make it, that what you want others already do it better. And you take all of those naysayers’s opinions and insert them in their behind when they appear to congratulate you. Aha. That’s right. So this movie is perfect if you are in a low moment in your life, when everybody quits on you. It makes you realize that there will always be people in real life who will rise from their ashes no matter what. And you can be one of them.

Another powerful theme in this movie is the idea of self -confidence. I ask you this: when you say “I can’t” (do this, say that, achieve another etc.). PAUSE. Breathe. Think again! Who first told you that you can’t? What makes you believe that you can’t ? Is it a possibility that you are just mouth babbling the same shit your parents told you? And you started believing it? Our hero defies his father. When he finds out that he was selected for this amazing oportunity he jumps in. He is going to do it no matter if his dad believes in him or not. Let me repeat that AGAIN. HE IS GOING TO DO IT REGARDLESS IF HIS FATHER BELIEVES IN HIM OR NOT. This is where the teenager was more of a man than his own father! I was rooting for this man in becoming. And I think now that in real life the father- son relationship is often like this. A lot of men are still trying to gain the validation and respect of their father, even when it is obvious that they have accomplished so much more than the father himself. They are trapped in the little boy mentality, almost screwing themselves over and over again, instead of risking to become more of a man than their own father. We need more powerful men that are in tune with their emotions. That have no shame to cry. To admit that they were wrong. This is the very inspirational part of the movie that has truly touched my heart.

I will not enter into the typical movie review details because all of you can search on Imdb this movie and see. But this happened in real life. And another lesson from this movie is that whenever Jann had an important moment in his journey when he needed support , he made sure he has his girl next to him . That he shows gratitude towards those who belived in him when no one did. I have seen grown up men beeing less mature than this so I believe this movie can restore our belief in young teen males that often are seen as shallow and superficial in love. This was not the case of Jann and it shows something deep I can relate to: when you are in joy, when you are so happy, when you achive a dream of yours, you want to share the moment with someone you love. You feel better when you share your journey, your ups, your downs but mostly your highs with someone meaningful. It is a good lesson in life to take on from Gran Turismo.

Boys ...did this movie raised my adrenaline levels or what! I highy recommend this to any DREAMER out there who loves cars , races, and a good life story!