Gran Turismo movie Q&A: Jann Mardenborough’s “gamer to racer” story

24.08.2023 - 14:17 / blog.playstation.com / Gran Turismo

We got to chat with Jann Mardenborough, the “gamer to racer” subject at the heart of the Gran Turismo movie, with topics ranging from his experience in GT Academy to stunt driving for the film about his incredible life. 

Check out a new clip from the movie before Gran Turismo hits US theaters August 25: 

It goes without saying that your story, going from Gran Turismo fan to pro driver and subject of a Hollywood movie, must be very surreal. Now that the film is so close to release, what does this moment feel like for you?

It felt surreal the first time I heard about the film being considered in the first place, and it’s still weird even now. I still can’t get over the fact that my story is “forever.” I’m still trying to process that my journey, my family name, is now immortalized for future generations to see. I like thinking this is something my grandkids can look back on and be proud of.

Going back to the beginning, what made you decide to become an entrant in GT Academy? Was there a specific “Eureka!” moment?

I had wanted to be a racing driver since I was five or six years old. But, as I got older, the dream felt less and less attainable coming from a “normal” family, with two parents who live relatively normal lives and perform normal jobs. I didn’t know anyone who could sponsor me, so I shelved that idea while I was at school. I was too young to enter the first GT Academy, but I was also too busy with school at the time regardless.

It wasn’t until 2011 that the stars aligned. I had just dropped out of uni about three months prior, and I found myself in a position to put all my eggs in one basket. 

I thought, “Let’s just see how far I can take this.” 

What was the GT Academy training experience like, and what were the most difficult adjustments to make when racing on a real track for the first time? What differences stood out to you most when you first started driving professionally?

The biggest adjustment had to do with my vision. At home, I had always played GT on a tiny 17-inch screen. That’s what I used for years. 

Then, when I got in a real car and had an instructor sitting next to me, who had a mirror that allowed him to watch where my eyes were focusing, it became clear that I would constantly look at the floor instead of looking ahead down the track. Your field of view is radically different in a car compared to when your view is constrained to a small TV; during a race, you’ll often be driving in the opposite direction of where you’re actually looking. This took months of reprogramming and adjustment. 

The rest felt easy—even when, at 19 years old, I first got behind the wheel of a 485-horsepower GTR at Silverstone Circuit. As I was strapping myself in I thought, “Okay, how is this