The Grand Tour Discussion Thread \m/

If someone hasn't already made one, here's one. I just finished watching it and without giving away too much.

1. Track scenes/filming is similar to TG (that is to say, excellent)
2. General format is similar to TG.
3. The test driver is not as cool as the Stig (well, neither of them are).
4. The new test track is much more fun and interesting than any of the Top Gear tracks past or present. I would have liked to see them find a top tarmac rally driver for it, actually - since it was more reminiscent of a rally stage than a track, in some respects.
5. For some reason I miss star in a reasonably priced car, and kind of hope they just copy that in the 2nd episode. Though, that track would probably be more dangerous for a "star" to be on than the TG tracks...
6. I like the traveling set concept
7. Clearly they'll still have the top-tier manufacturer support.
8. Clarkson, Hammond, and May are still entertaining
9. It's better than TGUS or the current TGUK, in my opinion. But that is solely based on the personalities, which generally are not all that interesting on the two TG shows (aside from LeBlanc), in my opinion.
10. TBD, but it's almost as good as these guys on TG. But this intro episode didn't have any real "trips" or "contests" so I foresee that subsequent ones will be more interesting.

All in all, happy my wife has Amazon Prime.

I know you don't like to go to the off topic section but there is an active thread over there about it.

Nick (Bo) Comstock wrote: I know you don't like to go to the off topic section but there is an active thread over there about it.

lol, not that I dislike it, I just don't go there because limited internet time and I'd get caught up in a million arguments, haha...

In reply to irish44j:

But you see, that's the fun of it

Thanks for the heads-up. Thanks to Amazon Prime I was able to time-travel forward a day and watch it.

Cars were cool. Show is still contrived. Mike Skinner must have been cheap.

Just watched episode 10, Nashville. Tolly was on it, in the audience. When they were talking about the smell of old record players, he was the one in the audience that answered them.

I've suffered through most of season one because car shows are like sex. Even bad car shows are better than no car shows. I'm at the point of choosing celibacy in regards to GT. It's really dumb as a whole, despite have 2 of the best presenters on TV, and Jeremy. I'll give season 2 a shot, but if they still kill off a celebrity, and/or have The American on, I'll watch reruns of TG USA. I can't believe I just said that.

I made it through the first 3 episodes. Too stupid, too much slapstick comedy, just plain bad.

Toyman01 wrote: I made it through the first 3 episodes. Too stupid, too much slapstick comedy, just plain bad.

"Slapstick comedy". That hits the nail on the head right there.
I hope this isn't the show Jeremy and the boys wanted to make all those years they suffered through the beautiful camera work, great writing, insightful car reviews, hilariously funny challenges, and great celebrity interviews over at the BBC. It appears that it was.

I still enjoy the hell out of it. And my nine year old loves it, he asks me weekly if the new grand tour is out yet.

I also enjoy the hell out of the new top gear.

Well, I like it. It is currently the only thing I watch "on TV." Dunno why, but I enjoy it more than the TG version, which I've seen but never really went far out of my way to get. Seeing Tolly in the audience was a hoot.

Toyman01 wrote: I made it through the first 3 episodes. Too stupid, too much slapstick comedy, just plain bad.

The first three episodes were probably the worst ones, the show got a lot better by the end of the first series.

stuart in mn wrote:

Toyman01 wrote: I made it through the first 3 episodes. Too stupid, too much slapstick comedy, just plain bad.

The first three episodes were probably the worst ones, the show got a lot better by the end of the first series.

i completely agree with this statement, i was starting to feel let down by the 3rd episode but i picked up pretty good after that and started feeling a lot like the old show minus a few annoying things, celebrity brain crash, the 'american', etc.

Season 1 of almost any show is usually the worst season, its probably only going to get better from here.

Any idea when season 2 airs?

einy wrote: Any idea when season 2 airs?

That's what I wanna know!

Oddly I feel that the current season of Top Gear is much better than last season of Grand Tour...

I think the new new new Top Gear and the Grand Tour are pretty much equal in terms of content and quality. People forget that with both shows the cars are secondary characters. The shows a buddy shows for slap stick and stupidity based on a platform of cars dressed up with some stunning scenery and cinematography.

I see it this way. With two series of new new new Top gear and one series of the Grand Tour we are actually getting three series of new top gear per year. Rejoice and be happy we get to watch people do dumb E36 M3 for free.

Having only seen the first episode of the new new new Top Gear, I still rated it higher than Grand Tour. TG has to build the personalities and they're already ahead of what should be cake-walk for the seasoned pros on GT. Just too much forced banter with the audience, Celebrity Brain Crash, The Redneck, and just talk in general. It was typically 33 minutes in and they had tested one car at the beggining.

I'll still tune in to season 2 thanks to SWMBO's Prime subscription. If I had to pay for it myself, I doubt I would.

Loved the dune buggies, that was a fun episode.

I'm pretty happy with it. I haven't seen TGUSA or new TGUK ever.

I wish GT would nix Celebrity Brain Crash and knock off the redneck Mike Skinner BS. Stig just threw down epic laps. Now we have some stereotype of an 86 Camaro/Mustang owner that won't STFU.

Other than that I loved it.

tuna55 wrote: I'm pretty happy with it. I haven't seen TGUSA or new TGUK ever.

There are stronger than rumor tales of a new top gear USA being in production.

It's weird, I like the really old original top gear where Jeremy had an afro, I love the trio and the grand tour. I want to like the new new top gear but haven't seen it yet because Chris Evans was so annoying even with him gone I'm kinda scared to watch it.

Top gear Australia and Russia were pretty decent, I thought, but I hated the first iteration of top gear America, but I think that's because I don't like Tanner Foust as a person or a driver, and I'm still not sure how Rutledge is relevant other than being a token hipster.

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

tuna55 wrote: I'm pretty happy with it. I haven't seen TGUSA or new TGUK ever.

No time, no cable, no dish

I catch the grand tour because we get Amazon Prime cheap through educator discounts. It takes me a few days to watch one episode as I fall asleep.

Season 3 landed early this morning. Already watched it this AM before going to work. It was a fun episode with the big 3 muscle cars in Detroit. That McLaren though...amazing. 

I thoroughly enjoyed it. Especially seeing a quantifiable lap time for the Senna. Tons of reviews are out there, but no real comparable lap times.