Gran Turismo: Journey From Racing Car Simulator to Le Mans

I do not play any video games and I never watch car racing, so I had no interest in seeing "Gran Turismo," even though it received pretty good reviews.  My close friend Bruce recommended it highly, so Robin and I saw it on Saturday.  It's a really "fun ride," and I think most of you blog fans out there will enjoy it.  This movie needs to be seen on the B.S. or the car racing scenes won't be nearly as exciting.  It's a true story, too! Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe) is a 19-year-old who loves car racing, which he plays multiple times per day on the auto-racing simulator game, "Gran Turismo."  (The simulator game is extremely realistic, both on the car specifications and the various race tracks.)  Jann dreams of being an actual race car driver, but his family can't afford to buy him a race car.  His father, Steve (Djimon Hounsou), was once a professional football player, but now has a low-paying job at the railroad yards.  Steve wants Jann to go to college and get a job that will give him a comfortable living, so he often wedges on Jann to stop playing "Gran Turismo," essentially requiring Jann to renounce his life-long dream. Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom), the Chief Marketing Executive for Nissan, has an inspiration to hold a world-wide contest in order to ferret out the ten fastest simulator drivers.  These ten would then enter the GT Academy.  After some instruction in driving actual race cars, as well as some personal fitness training by ex-racer Jack Salter (David Harbour), the five best would have one race.  The winner would then become an official member of the Nissan racing team and compete in actual car races. The drivers on the racing circuit are very opposed to this idea.  They consider this plan to be very dangerous, to both the new simulator drivers and the other racers.  I never knew it, but race car drivers have to be extremely physically fit, fearless, and have ultimate concentration and focus abilities.  Just a one-second lapse of attention and it could be curtains! I won't say any more about the plot, but, in addition to the realistic and exciting car-racing scenes, there are interesting mentor/novice and father/son relationship sub-plots. Bottom Line: "Gran Turismo" is an emotionally-compelling adrenaline "rush!"