Is It Just Me, Or Was The Grand Tour A Bit Boring?
After wrapping up at the LA Auto Show today, I went straight back to my hotel room, whipped out my laptop and headed straight for Amazon Prime. Yep, there was no way I was going to wait to watch the Grand Tour - wherever I was, I was going to get stuck into Clarkson, Hammond and May’s hugely anticipated car show.
However, from the drawn out, rather self-congratulatory and apparently very expensive opening scene onwards, it just didn’t excite me all that much.
Perhaps the problem was the Holy Trinity test that made up much of the episode. Sure, in the final days of Clarkson-era Top Gear we were all desperate to see the LaFerrari, McLaren P1 and Porsche 918 Spyder have a massive showdown, but that was rather a long time ago. And anyway, Chris Harris did that same test with the same cars and on the same track over a year ago, and I’d argue he did a better, more entertaining job of it.
Elsewhere, the celebrity segment trod a fine line between being amusing and downright stupid, and ‘The American’ was thoroughly unfunny. Suddenly I get why the Stig never utters a word…
There was plenty to like, though. The cinematography is stunning, for a kick off. It was cool seeing ‘our’ BMW M2 longtermer get damn good thrashing in the road test which apparently wasn’t a road test even though it was kind of a road test around the new, brilliantly gnarly ‘Eboladrome’ track too. But overall it just didn’t quite live up to the massive hype.
It’s far too soon to judge, of course: we have a 12 episode run to enjoy in this series alone, and perhaps after a few installments the trio will settle into their new environment a little better. As it stands, everything just feels a tad forced.
What did you think of the episode?
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
OK, im very upset that the McLaren lost but, would you rather me homeless named Jessica but you can say you Own a McLaren rather than saying ‘i own a Porsche’ without specifying which one …
This is written by the same guy who writes articles like “Which New Top Gear Presenter Have You Enjoyed Watching Most?” or “Which New Top Gear Presenter Have You Enjoyed Watching Most?”,
“Was The Second Episode Of Top Gear An Improvement Over The First?”,and “Despite Mass Criticism, The First Episode Of ‘New’ Top Gear Was Officially A Hit”.
Right… Totally not a fan of the BBC…
Who’s Chris Harris?
ehh i will watch the next one anyhow because honestly i have no life after coming back from work. Besides working on my car ofcourse but it still runs(for now) so i dont have anyhing to do lol
I kinda agree with OP here, it was a bit ‘forced’ and a bit ‘boring’.
Let me elaborate: Boring because it was test of three cars, which we have seen already, on the very same track we have seen the first test. That was theme, that didnt really make it up for first episode, but at least they got that out of way.
Also, they will get tons of feedback from us now, and next season will be with this feedback taken on board - I hope
Also, because of the long way, we expected something spectacular and mindblowing - the expectations were just simply too high. Because of that, they went on with a bit of crazyness to live up to those expectations, and thats where it felt a bit forced. I believe the next episodes will be better, and just like with current new crew of Top Gear, the weirdness will even out and smoothly transition into a good show.
It’s just you Matt Robinson
Loved the whole thing and can’t wait for the rest.
Delete this
It’s just you.
I think that the article author is American, he does not agree that Royal Air Force is the best :D