Watch: How GTPlanet Member David Perel Helped Make the Gran Turismo Film
Chaz Draycott, the video editor for GTPlanet, spoke with racing driver and GTPlanet member David Perel about his involvement in the creation of the Gran Turismo film. David Perel is now an official counselor to Hollywood (at least in terms of racing flicks).
It surely hasn’t passed your notice if you regularly read GTPlanet that the Gran Turismo movie debuts worldwide today. We’ve been covering this topic for close to ten years now, and for the majority of that time, the project has seemed to be stuck in development limbo.
However, there was some unexpected development just over a year ago, when the movie was suddenly put to the schedule for 2023 and star filmmaker Neill Blomkamp—best known for the Oscar-nominated District 9—took the reins for the picture that was to be based on the life of GT Academy Award winner Jann Mardenborough.
Perel, a GTPlanet member since 2003 who competes for the AF Corse squad in the GT3 class, learned about the film and Blomkamp’s involvement from the GTPlanet post.
As it turned out, Perel knew Blomkamp through a family connection and sent an email to his fellow South African to ask whether his familiarity with both sim racing and real-world racing as the creator of Coach Dave Academy and SimGrid would be helpful.
Following that, Blomkamp hired Perel as an adviser; you can learn more about what that entails from the man himself in our video up top.
The crew’s love of automobiles (Blomkamp rides a Honda NSX NA1), their enthusiasm for filmmaking, Perel’s position as a driving and sim racing teacher for the actors, and other Easter Eggs that didn’t make the cut are all covered in this intriguing perspective.
View additional articles on Gran Turismo Movie.
