Opposable Thumbs / Gaming & Entertainment

Kaz: A filmmaker documents Gran Turismo’s impact on the world

A new film celebrates the video game franchise and its founder.

"Young people don't care about cars anymore." It seems it's hard to go more than a few months without reading another installment of this story as fear grips boardrooms in Detroit or Tokyo or Wolfsburg. Executives worry that "kids today" are too distracted by smartphones, the Internet, and video games to follow the preceding generations into their showrooms. I'm not convinced. The Internet and video games might be new competition for the car, but they're also vehicles (pun intended) for spreading the four-wheel gospel, something that comes through loud and clear in Kaz, a new documentary celebrating 15 years of Gran Turismo and its creator, Kazunori Yamauchi.

As recently as the 1990s, car culture was a national (or at least regional) thing. Europe's hot hatches (go-fast versions of small hatchback cars like the VW Golf or Ford Escort) evolved within a niche. The same can be said for America’s V8 muscle, Japan's technology-laden offerings, and the Australian ute (truly, the marsupial of the vehicular world). Trade protection barriers and differing safety regulations enforced this geographic isolation, save for the occasional article in a car magazine marveling at how different things were abroad. How alien must these other automotive cultures have seemed to each other—a German, for example, used to cruising along unrestricted autobahns at 120mph reading about Japan voluntarily restricting its cars to 112mph?

When the first Gran Turismo game appeared on PlayStations in 1997, it set about breaking down those walls. Cars like the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo or Subaru Impreza WRX, already cult favorites in Japan, were now captivating a generation of American and European gamers. Successive installments built upon this success, drawing in cars from around the world. Before long, cultural frames of reference started to realign. Now you can buy a Nissan GT-R as easily in Los Angeles as a Corvette in Rome or Frankfurt.

Sony commissioned Tamir Moscovici to make Kaz, impressed as they were by his portrait of Magnus Walker and his hot rod Porsche 911s. Despite Sony's involvement, the film avoids feeling like an advertorial, demonstrating just how profound an impact Gran Turismo has made on car culture. For example, the movie takes a good look at GT Academy and the Vision GT project, both of which are collaborations between Sony and car companies.

GT Academy is a collaboration with Nissan that has set out to answer the same question I asked on these pages a couple of years ago: can you learn to be an actual racing driver from playing video games? GT Academy is a much more rigorous approach than mine, involving 1.4 million gamers trying out for 32 spots in the US alone. It’s an intensive selection process involving driving skill (both in the game and in real cars) as well as physical, mental, and psychological training.

Vision GT is even more ambitious, involving nearly 30 car companies and design studios, including industrial giants like Ford, GM, and Toyota, all of whom are designing concept cars inspired by GT. The lasting impact of the series was really driven home for me by these projects, a feeling shared by Moscovici. In the movie, he describes the excitement he witnessed in meetings between Kazunori and the companies, like Mercedes and GM, who accepted the invitation to design playable concept cars for GT6.

As Moscovici pointed out when I spoke with him recently, Vision GT is no small undertaking for car makers. Significant resources in both time and money are needed to turn a sketch or an idea into a concept car like the Mercedes AMG Vision Gran Turismo. But a simulation like Gran Turismo accords the kind of respect needed to make it happen. This is in no small part because the designers, engineers, and executives on the other side of the conference table have grown up playing Yamauchi’s creations and recognize his place among the people who shape our thoughts about cars.

Among other highlights, the film also includes an intriguing look at the franchise's earliest days. Clips of Gran Turismo and GT2 gave me a quick hit of nostalgia. It was a particular treat to see footage of 1994's Japan-exclusive Motor Toon Grand Prix, which covered up GT's revolutionary physics engine with a Mario Kart-like wrapping.

You don't need to take my word for it, though. Kaz is free to watch on Hulu (for streaming services outside the US, check the GT site), and it's a worthwhile way to spend 90 minutes.

Kaz: Pushing the Virtual Divide trailer.

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