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
Its a reality car show where a pompous drunk growls jokes at the camera. Like we really are only waiting for one of them to hurt themselves or wreck something - it’s X factor with cars!
guys I didn’t see the episode yet. was it better than the new TG though?
Even though I love this show and these 3 guys, but to be honest, I did have one moment where I thotugh, ‘’It’s pretty funny, but it’s not Top Gear’’ And I thought that only when they were in the telt, on the track it’s still Top gear, and the review of the Holy Trinity got me boiling
Totally got paid by BBC to say this
I havent watched it yet, but let me just say that everyone thought the same way when the first episode of the new TG aired
That’s funny …. One time, you’re talking about to gear and sucking the Grant tour balls and now …. What are you saying ?
I moderated my expectations and I really enjoyed the show. Yeah it’s similar to Top Gear, but it’s infinitely better than “new new” Top Gear. They certainly hit the ground running better than Evans and co. I think the guys felt fresh, the break was definitely needed to keep things interesting and I look forward to seeing more of them. Think of it like a Waiting for Godot with three blokes and cars
They had to introduce the new format for the first show
The thing is, its better produced and more entertaining than any other hour long car show on the planet.
I think we should be thankful that it even exists, considering the world isnt filled with as many car guys as we like to think.
People loveee to be controversial