Sony's Gran Turismo movie will hit theaters on August 11 this year telling the story of Jann Mardenborough, a professional British racing driver who started his career through playing racing video games. If you are a fan of the story and want to get deeper into the Gran Turismo experience, you can buy one of the cars that were used for filming the movie. The Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 you see in the gallery below is not just a movie star, though. More about that in a second.
This particular car has been owned by Darren Cox, who is the creator of the GT Academy, which is the competition around which the film is based on. The GT-R features heavily in the movie and plays a central part in Mardenborough’s success story, which is played by Archie Madekwe. Mardenborough himself did some of the stunts in Gran Turismo and drove the car as he did in real life.
Gallery: Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 for sale
The GT-R Nismo GT3 also has a racing history. It finished ninth in the Nurburgring 24 Hours back in 2015, which remains Nissan’s best result on the track in recent history. The car had a distinctive black livery in remembrance of a spectator who passed away in an earlier VLN round accident involving Mardenbourgh and another GT-R GT3.
This car with a pedigree will be auctioned by Silverstone Auctions at the Silverstone Festival on August 25. It is expected to fetch between $290,000 and $355,000 (225,000 and 275,000 British pounds). Just recently, the same auction house sold a TVR Cerbera Speed 12, which was featured in the Gran Turismo computer game. The GT-R movie car will be sold just two weeks after the movie’s global cinema debut and is said to be in race-ready condition.
As for the movie, it stars David Harbour, of Stranger Things fame, who will serve as the kid's coach. Orlando Bloom and Darren Barnet will also star in the film directed by Neill Blomkamp, while Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi is serving as an executive producer.