Interview with videogamer-turned-professional racecar driver Jann Mardenborough for Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story

by J. I. Cuenca

Sometimes reality can surpass our wildest imagination, and that’s the case with the extraordinary story of Jann Mardenborough.

Since he was a little kid growing up in Cardiff, Wales, Jann always dreamt with being a racecar driver. He found in PlayStation’s popular Gran Turismo game the way to quench his thirst for the sport, becoming one of its best and most avid players, until the opportunity arose to actually sit behind the wheel of a real car and compete with the best drivers in the world.

Columbia Pictures presents a PlayStation Production / 2.0 Entertainment production bringing to audiences all over the world the story of that dream come true, in Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story, directed by Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Elysium) and written by Jason Hall and Zack Baylin, from a story by Hall and Alex Tse.

“I can see how my story is hard to believe, explains Jann Mardenborough, who also coproduces the film, “because when you write it out on a piece of paper, it sounds very far-fetched: ‘Wins PlayStation competition, becomes racing driver.’ There are lots of things you have in-between for that to happen, but it’s basically what happened.”

It all started in Cardiff, where Mardenborough, the son of a retired soccer player who worked on the railway, discovered PlayStation’s Gran Turismo when he visited the house of friends of his parents during the evening of a Guy Fawkes November 5 celebration. “I think I was eight,” he recalls, “and I even remember which car I bought! It was a purple 3000 GT which you had to acquire from the used car market. And then, during the following weeks, after school I’d always go over to their house to play the game until they got so fed up with me that they gave the PlayStation and Gran Turismo to my parents and said, ‘Look, your son can have it.’ And that kind of kick-started the whole deeper interest in motorsport cars. It all started from there.”

When asked about why he thought he was so drawn to that world, his answer is clear: “I just loved cars. And I was always very good at spotting and recognizing them when as a kid. I would say, ‘That’s a Ford, or that’s a BMW, or whatever.’ And it was similar with the game, where I could see all these cars I recognized from the street; but then it had a lot of other cars which I’ve never seen before in my life. That all added to my knowledge of cars, as I loved reading magazines about cars and understanding what engines were in them, where they were made, how much horsepower they had, and all the geeky stuff. I was that kid who was just obsessed with cars and anything to do with them. It was all I ever wanted to do.”

Later, as a teenager, Jann Mardenborough kept playing the game and expanding his knowledge on cars – which in the eyes of his parents could risk hindering his education at school, as is shown in the movie, where Djimon Hounsou plays his father and Geri Halliwell Horner his mother. “I hated having to come home after school to do homework instead of playing on the PlayStation,” he admits. “And, of course, at the time I didn’t have the vision of where this game could eventually lead me to. If anything, I only played it because I wanted to race or try out these cars that I’d never get to drive in real life, just to see how it felt. I knew Gran Turismo was at a place of hierarchy in racing games; so, I wasn’t really interested in other racing games that didn’t prioritize this handling of the cars. It was always Gran Turismo for me because I knew – after watching footage – how they developed their models and where they put the equipment in cars to measure things and implement them in the game, giving you the real deal of what driving those particular cars truly felt like. And that was very important to me.”

When Nissan and PlayStation decided to join forces and create the Gran Turismo (GT) Academy, it gave Jann the opportunity to sit behind the wheel of a real racecar, but it was an uncharted territory full of obstacles for a young kid from a modest background working at the time at a retail store in Wales. In the movie, Orlando Bloom gives live on the screen to Nissan marketing executive Danny Moore, who comes up with the idea of creating the academy to ultimately put console gamers in real racecars. This was Jann’s opportunity of a lifetime, and he wasn’t going to let it pass by.

“There is zero chance I would be in the position I am now or had the career that I have had if it wasn’t for Nissan and Sony with the GT Academy. I have no doubt in my mind that I wouldn’t be sitting here now, talking about a career that I’ve had so far, that’s still going for 12 years now. Maybe I would’ve done some track days, but that’s it.”

“I’d just dropped out from university after a short stint as it wasn’t for me. So I was very fortunate that I had time on my hands at that point in my life, when I had just turned 19, as there was nothing else grabbing me,” he adds. “So, I would be in my room just practicing seven, eight or nine hours a day trying to qualify to get into that top 20 and advance to the next stage.” And even though his father was not convinced about Jann’s quest, a main reason his son made it into the GT Academy ironically had to do with what he learned from him. “My father is a very disciplined man. He’d always tell us about his training routines from when he was a professional football player, and I’m very proud and happy that he shared this with me and my brother at a young age. He said: ‘Nobody remembers second place; nobody cares if you participated. People only care about winners and winning.’ So, that was drilled into me all the time.”

Qualifying for the GT Academy became his obsession, and he was determined to do it at any cost. “You had to qualify within the top 20 of your respective European country. So, I qualified ninth in the UK and Ireland, and then we got invited to the next round, going through to the international final. At that point there’s no gaming, and we’re in cars with instructors. I was like a horse – a blinkered racehorse. And I was very much aware that I was being watched all the time. It was very militant.”

In the film, that’s when he meets ex-racecar driver Jack Salter, played by David Harbour, who teaches him how to transition from gaming to driving competitively (ultimately becoming his chief engineer after he wins the GT Academy). “I knew that my chances of winning were pretty low,” Jann confesses, “and as they never told you where you finished after each event, you were always in the unknown. So, you are watching other competitors, thinking they are doing better than you, always trying to find ways to improve.” But his passion for the sport and for the opportunity he was being given never wavered; quite the opposite, it only increased as he discovered more about racecar driving. “I just remember driving a GTR around the national circuit at Silverstone thinking it was the best thing in the world. I was hooked and didn’t want it to end, which is why I never thought about losing because it was too painful to leave – to have the thought of never being able to do this ever again. It’s scary thinking of it now, and I get goosebumps. So, I had to make it. All my eggs were in that basket!”

Young talented actor Archie Madekwe embodies Jann Mardenborough in Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story, leading the cast of one of the most unbelievable true-life underdog stories ever told on the big screen. As we see in the film, and Jann confirms, the video game truly played a big role in preparing him to be the driver he is today. “One of the details I learned from the game was to concentrate. And in endurance races, where you have to keep your concentration lap after lap for hours, it helps.” PlayStation’s detailed Gran Turismo game also showed him the intricacies of racetracks he had never been to in real life, which made a difference when he eventually raced them. In his words: “The GT Academy has encouraged a lot of people within the motorsport industry to take simulators and preparation more seriously.”

Winning the GT Academy was a moment Mardenborough would never forget. “Eddie Irvine – who was Irish and had a very thick accent – read my name really fast, and I was like, ‘Did he mention me?’ And then there’s this Spanish guy next to me spraying champagne in my face.

That’s when I realized I’d won. I thought, ‘My life is going to change completely now.’ I had my phone in my pocket, and I rang up my dad first, but he didn’t answer. Then I rang my mom when she was on her way home from work, and I said: ‘Mom, I kind of won something and there’s a video of it somewhere.’ She was ecstatic! It was the best moment of my life – the moment when everything changed.”

That was the moment he realized his dreams and a new road in his life opened ahead of him that would ultimately lead him to where he is today. Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story also shows the challenges he would face from then onwards to become a professional driver, culminating in the legendary 24 Hours at Le Mans. “Le Mans is the biggest race in the world,” Jann affirms. “So, I was a GT Academy winner trying to prove to the world that we could compete at the highest level of motorsports in the biggest race. That was the reason to go to Le Mans – to show the world that our program worked.”

Now, looking back and reflecting on his struggles and achievements, he is very clear: “It was all worth it, without any doubt in my mind, because I’m living my childhood dream. I’m blessed to have such a story, which hopefully can inspire other people to look at their lives and possibly make a change to do something that gives them the same feelings that I have for my sport.”

A sport and a story that is now brought to the big screen in the most realistic way possible by a filmmaker of the caliber of Neill Blomkamp, with the support of an extraordinary cast and crew that includes Jann Mardenborough, who helped with the stunts and other aspects of the production. And the result is Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story, an entertaining and action-packed inspiring movie that proves no dream is too big if you are fueled the right way within.

Opens in PH cinemas August 30.