It’s been a very, very long time coming, but The Grand Tour is finally here. Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May have returned to our TV screens for episode one, but has their new show lived up to all that hype?
Without giving away the details (no spoiler alert needed here), episode one offers all of the thrills of old Top Gear but successfully manages to carve out its own identity. In short, it’s everything we could have hoped for.
Several things feel familiar: the on-screen jesting between the three presenters, the camera work and even the structure of the show. At several points you could easily be forgiven for thinking you’re watching an old episode of that BBC show on Dave. But The Grand Tour feels different, too.
It’s an Amazon show, so unsurprisingly there’s an American twist to certain parts, such as the opening scene, which features three Ford Mustangs as protagonists, or the use of NASCAR champ Mike ‘The American’ Skinner in place of Top Gear’s tame racing driver the Stig. But then again this first episode is based in the US; the second takes the team to Johannesburg in South Africa.
Perhaps what has actually happened is that The Grand Tour has been designed to appeal to more of an international audience, where as Clarkson and co’s Top Gear always felt like a British show that managed to work elsewhere.
One thing’s for sure, The Grand Tour’s presenters, plus a few other familiar names – such as executive producer Andy Wilman and script editor Richard Porter – have departed the BBC and very much landed on their feet. Episode one features some of the most exotic metal on the planet, the hypercar holy trinity of the McLaren P1, LaFerrari and Porsche 918 Spyder (view Autocar's videos of these cars below). Its visually stunning opening scene is reported to have cost Amazon £3 million alone, and it even drops a mention to May’s time at this very car magazine. “He was fired from Autocar,” was a line in his introduction.
New Top Gear took a few episodes to find its feet, and even then still feels like a work in progress (with plenty of potential for the next series, mind). The Grand Tour, on the other hand, has arrived with a big bang, picking up exactly where Clarkson’s Top Gear left off. The question now is: will episode two be able to keep up this momentum? Six days and counting…
What did you think of episode one? Let us know in the comments below.
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Superb production, same old
Automotive excellence.
Yes, let's have a more international show! I'm all for it. Better than being inward looking Little Britons, or worse, blinded SNP Cult members.
Whilst this showed some really nice new cars being driven fast, and slightly contrived tests, it was automotive excellence we were watching and that's exactly what I wish to see.
Sadly, from the clip of highlights they've shown us, it seems they'll be doing banger racing again. Taking old knackered cars and modifying them again. Or simply just bashing them until they break. That was the worst of old Top Gear and it seems GT (Gear Top?) will be doing the same.
What seems like a golden opportunity to test a number of cars in exotic locations as the do their "Grand Tour" seems that it may have been passed over.
GT has potential, but keep the remote close for fast forwarding when they repeat the worst of Top Gear. And rewind to watch the best again!
Does anyone on this thread know....
Autocar, not only do you provide great automotive insight, but you also can inform me of how my pay check can be $8845! Is there nothing you cannot achieve? More scammers, less angry people attacking each other over firmly held views please.
I loved the new show. My son and I laughed and laughed. Great fun with the HyperCars. Only criticism is it is a bit American. Just needed Clarkson to yeehaw and it would have been complete.
Now, onto the serious business of getting hot under the collar about others with different views to me. To all of you moaners, If you don't like it, don't watch it, as really, was it going to deviate from the proven formula too much? What were you expecting?
Curious about watching for free. Isn't hacking into it called fraud?