Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Gran Turismo series has sold more than 100 million copies worldwide, making it the highest-selling video game franchise under the PlayStation brand. Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec is the best-selling individual entry in the series, with approximately 14.89 million copies sold as of 2022.
Gran Turismo was created by Kazunori Yamauchi, who began developing it in 1992 while working at Sony Computer Entertainment Japan. Development took five years and the game was released in Japan in 1997. Polyphony Digital, the studio that continues to develop the series, was founded shortly after the first game's release.
The GT Academy was a driver discovery program run from 2008 to 2016 by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Polyphony Digital, and Nissan Europe. Players qualified online within Gran Turismo, with country winners attending a Race Camp at Silverstone, UK. Notable graduates include Lucas Ordóñez, Jordan Tresson, and Jann Mardenborough, all of whom went on to professional motorsport careers.
Gran Turismo 7 was strongly criticized by players for its implementation of microtransactions and a pay-to-play system. Its user score on Metacritic as of the 20th of March 2022 was 2.2 out of 10, which is Sony's lowest user rating and the lowest score in PlayStation exclusive history on the site.
The Gran Turismo film was released on the 25th of August 2023. Archie Madekwe played Jann Mardenborough, with David Harbour as instructor Jack Salter, Orlando Bloom as Danny Moore, and Djimon Hounsou and Geri Halliwell-Horner as Mardenborough's parents. Neill Blomkamp directed the film, which was based on GT Academy 2011 graduate Jann Mardenborough's journey from gamer to professional racing driver.
Gran Turismo's popularity directly influenced car manufacturers' decisions. Mitsubishi cited the game's popularity as a partial reason for bringing the Lancer Evolution VIII to the American market, after the first seven models were sold only in Japan. The British car brand TVR saw sales increase six-fold after its inclusion in the first Gran Turismo game.