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
I think you nailed it Matt Robinson - except the test track. I think that’s perfect.
Thanks! Although I think you might have misread, I actually like the track!
Lucky you, I still can’t watch it here in Canada :’( Guess I’ll have to wait until december….
I enjoyed it; quite a but to be honest. Its just nice to have them all together again. And like they said it’s the first show, they have kinks to get out, I think it will, like top gear, just get better with every episode/ season
Before you guys starts a petition to have Matt fired, you have to remember this is an all new show from the ground up. Just because the boys used to host the best motoring show, doesn’t mean the very first episode will immediately be very good. Even when they first started Top Gear in 2002 it takes them a while to find their groove
Thought the track could have been better. Definitely, did not like “the American”. Overall, I enjoyed the show. It’s only the first episode so they have plenty of time to improve.
I think we need to remember the very first episode of the revamped Top Gear back in 2002. That show was very much like this (entertaining but slightly dull in some areas), although in my opinion this is a fine effort for the very first episode of a brand new series. Give it some time to work out kinks, and Grand Tour can be world-class.
loved it. The new track is odd though, but I like their crowd interactions, its not super forced like Evans and the ending was awesome.
I’ll be watching this later today. I must say, I have really enjoyed the new season of Top Gear apart from the first episode it was one of my favourite seasons. I imagine the Grand Tour will be just like old Top Gear I began to think was getting old.
Call it boring all joy like, but the simple fact is that my smile never left my face the while time. And I’m sure that I speak for almost everyone who watched it.
If you really feel bored while watching it, then just watch Best motoring or Hot Version with Japanese Pro Racers.