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
This article has no right to be here.
Well, I wouldn’t know because I DON’T HAVE AMAZON PRIME!!!
Nope i was jumping up and down most of the time.
BBC be like “You’re right! It was boring. We’re back in buisness ladies and gentlemen!”
Before y’all start hating on Matt, just remember his reviews are damn close to the best in the business. Watch the DB11 review if you don’t believe me. He has every right to judge.
I honestly thought. The show would of been more like the challenges that they do in the Christmas special. This felt no different than the old top gear to be quite honest.
Better first episode than the ‘new’ Top Gear…
This first one was just to pick back up where they left off. I enjoyed the episode, but I think the next episodes will be better since they won’t be so introductory
Three things I didn’t like:
1)American stereotype driver talking rubbish mostly
2)The track itself wasn’t all that impressive, I believe they could have done a better job
3)Killing celebs scene didn’t quite sell me
However, everything else was amazing. I really love the next-level cinematography and the banter three good friends had. The VW joke was really funny and the end result was really surprising for me(Lap times for the Holy Trinity). It’s fair to say that it wasn’t as good as the best ever Top Gear episodes were, but it wasn’t the worst either. It was a good episode to start with. A good basline to work on when going onwards. Can’t wait what they have waiting for us next week! :)
In short - disagree. I do think it’d make
more sense to focus the episodes more around the location of the tent. Hold judgement for the first special-esque episode.