Update: A second Gran Turismo movie car has been put up for sale: the 2012 Zytek Z11 SN LMP2 driven by Jann Mardenborough, gamer turned race driver.
It’s estimated at £270,000 to £320,000, and will be joined by the Nissan GT-R below.
Original article:
The Gran Turismo movie car, the Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 (pictured top) from the new film based on the well-known racing game series, is up for sale in the UK.
A piece of Hollywood and Nürburgring history, the Nissan GT-R race car – whose proper stage name is the Nissan Skyline R35 GT-R -8AO1 – is one of the star cars from the film ‘Gran Turismo’ to be released in cinemas on August 11th. It is also the most successful GT-R R35 GT3 still in private hands.
Iconic Auctioneers (formerly known as Silverstone Auctions) will sell the Gran Turismo movie car at the Silverstone Festival on August 25th, and it’s expected to sell in the region of £225,000 to £275,000.
The film tells the true story of a bedroom gamer turned real time GT racer and Le Mans 24HRS driver, Jann Mardenborough, who wins the competition to climb the ‘stairway to heaven’ with Nissans Academy programme, ending the hopes of his contemporary gamer hopefuls. ‘
“As announced by Orlando Bloom at the British Grand Prix, Columbia Pictures’ big screen production Gran Turismo will premier globally on August 11th – and we are proud to be auctioning one of the film’s Nissan GT-Rs at our Silverstone Festival Sale on Friday August 25th.”
Lionel Abbott, Iconic Auctioneers, on the Gran Turismo movie car
Gran Turismo the film is based on the global GT Academy franchise. This Gran Turismo movie car, the GT-R Nismo GT3, is not only central to the film and can be seen in all of the promotional material but also is an important part of the real GT Academy story.
Traditionally, cars showcased in big budget movies do not become available for sale as the film company retain them for sequels or PR duties. However when they do come to market they are highly sought after and recent sales of Fast and the Furious cars have proven the point with a recent Paul Walker GT-R reaching $1.3m at auction.
This Gran Turismo movie car has recently been owned by the creator of GT Academy, Darren Cox (played by Orlando Bloom in the Gran Turismo film) and therefore has increased provenance and links to the film.
The car has undergone a couple of colour changes during its history, from white to black livery and then back to white.
With an alleged combined production and promotion budget of $180m, the motion picture ‘Gran Turismo’ will have been seen aby many by the time of the auction.
As well as being prominent in all of the pre promotion material, the car features heavily in the film as central to Jann’s journey. To add to this, Jann was the stunt driver in the film and drove the GT3 several times as he did in real life when the car was active as a Nissan Europe works car.
Gran Turismo movie car’s racing pedigree
The Gran Turismo movie car finished 9th in the Nürburgring 24 hours in 2015, Nissan’s best result in recent history.
The unusual and unique black livery was run in remembrance of a spectator who passed away in an earlier VLN round accident involving Mardenbourgh and another GT-R GT3.
Lionel Abbott, Car Specialist at Iconic Auctioneers, who secured the car for sale, said: “As announced by Orlando Bloom at the British Grand Prix, Columbia Pictures’ big screen production Gran Turismo will premier globally on August 11th – and we are proud to be auctioning one of the film’s Nissan GT-Rs at our Silverstone Festival Sale on Friday August 25th.”
The Nissan GT-R has itself got an impressive racing pedigree finishing 9th at the 2015 Nürburgring 24HRS and the car that Jann Mardenborough drove in various races.
Check out more images of the Gran Turismo movie car on the Esports News UK Instagram:
By coincidence, Iconic Auctioneers recently sold a TVR Cerbera Speed 12 as used in the Gran Turismo video game for £601,500. This unique 2000 TVR Cerbera Speed 12 was the only TVR-built road car of its kind and it shot to fame when it was used as a model for game.
The Competition Car Sale, in which this car will feature, takes place on Friday 25th August, with a Collector’s Sale of road and classic cars on Saturday 26th. Viewing of the cars will be available at the venue before the auction commences.
Formed in 2011, Iconic Auctioneers is a specialist auction house for the sale of classic cars, modern supercars, all types of competition cars, modern and historic motorcycles as well as automotive memorabilia and is one of the UK’s top classic car auction houses.
More info about the Gran Turismo movie car can be found at www.iconicauctioneers.com
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
