Was The Gran Turismo Movie Really Based On A True Story?

While Jann Mardenborough has the emotional crux throughout much of “Gran Turismo,” the film focuses on other characters who guide him along his journey. One of the first we meet is Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom). He’s a businessman and motorsports executive who helped found GT Academy, as depicted in the movie. However, Danny is actually based on a real-life person named Darren Cox. There are surface-level details that are the same between the two; however, due to some of the fictional nuances necessary when adapting something to film, the screenwriters felt it necessary to give Cox a different name, whereas Mardenborough gets to keep his. 

The other major actor in “Gran Turismo” is David Harbour, who plays GT Academy trainer Jack Salter. He’s skeptical about whether gamers can be trained to drive racecars but takes the gig anyway. Through this, he forms a strong bond with Mardenborough, guiding him along his journey. Whereas Danny is based on a real person, Jack Salter is fictional. But even though Harbour didn’t have a real person to base his character on, he still committed to the bit, somewhat to his dismay, as he told Digital Spy, “When you’re in the passenger seat of that car going 180 miles an hour, it just feels like you’re going to throw up. It’s very difficult to be in that position.”

Jack Salter may not be real, but when it comes to crafting biopics, liberties are required to make plot points and character development work.

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