I think we can safely say that when The Grand Tour launched on Amazon Prime back in November 2016, we were all brimming with joy at the sight of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May reunited on our screens, driving Ford Mustangs in the Californian Desert.
And while the first 12 episodes have no doubt been entertaining, we couldn’t help but notice a few slightly annoying aspects which we hope will be ironed out for Series 2.
1. Make it feel more realistic
As the Clarkson-spec Top Gear evolved over the years, it became obvious that most of the viewers were tuning in each week to see the boy’s crazy Cheap Car Challenges and Epic Roadtrips – which naturally resulted in a reduction of the run-of-the-mill car review aspects of the show. And that’s fine.
But in an effort to outdo the old show, The Grand Tour has kicked things up a notch and as a result many of the boy’s adventures feel unrealistic, as if we’re watching a B-grade action movie which desperately wants you to believe everything is real.
Back when Top Gear went on their first American roadtrip 10 years ago, you truly felt that they were in danger of being beaten up by rednecks who hated their slogans about Hillary Clinton and NASCAR on their cars. The scripted nature of the show still existed, but the difference there was you didn’t notice it.
2. Don’t force fake personas on the hosts
If you meet Richard Hammond in person, you’ll quickly realise that he’s a lovely man. Funny, kind and the type of bloke you’d like to share a pint with. Without even taking into account the awkward and entirely inappropriate ice-cream gag fiasco, something has happened to Richard on screen. It’s as if they’ve asked him to put on a completely different kind of persona, and it’s starting to grate.
And in the early episodes of The Grand Tour, James May also had a similar problem – except that he was playing a bumbling idiot. For those who have seen James May’s The Reassembler or practically any other show he’s ever done (Top Gear included), you’d know he’s probably the smartest and most articulate host out of the three. We genuinely felt sorry for him.
One of the hallmarks of Clarkson, Hammond and May’s brand of TV is their bickering nature. But if you watch back old Top Gear episodes, it was all done with at least a feeling of friendly banter rather than them actually being mean to each other. They were mates having a bit of a go at each other, rather than 3 men who dispise one another.
3. Send ‘The American’ home
Before we get in to this, let us just say that we know The Grand Tour needs a test driver – we get that. But Mike Skinner as ‘The American’ is simply not entertaining in any way at all. No redeeming features whatsoever.
Considering he’s a NASCAR favourite in the States, he was clearly brought on board to appease American viewers, but at no point have we found ourselves even raising a smile during his appearances. The complaining isn’t funny, and don’t even mention the communist jokes. They’re shitty.
4. Go on more epic roadtrips
The best episodes in the series so far have to be the ‘Beach (Buggy) Boys’ two-parter released over New Year. The boys were tasked with driving 1,000 miles along Namibia’s Skeleton Coast in three beach buggies, each built to their personal desires but each derived from the Volkswagen Beetle. Yes, some bits felt rather staged – but it’s these kinds of episodes where the trio really shine.
5. Shorten the chat
While ‘Conversation Street’ is quite an interesting addition to the show (and the sting’s are excellent), it is essentially a supersized version of ‘The News’ from Top Gear – and boy does it drag on at times. Not only does the chat segment go on for up to 20 minutes at times, the conversations often veer into mini stand-up comedy routines that have absolutely nothing to do with cars.
They shouldn’t drop the segment altogether, but perhaps they could be condensed a little.
6. Give ‘Celebrity Braincrash’ a frontal lobotomy
We get it – due to legal reasons The Grand Tour isn’t allowed to conduct guest interviews or hold laps in a reasonably priced car. But it isn’t that entertaining to see the guests pretend-killed en-route to the tent, so why even bother with the segment at all? The gag has been repeated to buggery, along with James’s deadpan response. Enough already.
7. Make the Cheap Car Challenges more meaningful
We here at MotoringBox love a good Cheap Car Challenge, but the only one to feature in The Grand Tour, with the three used Maseratis, was a bit of a let down.
I mean what exactly was the point of it? Why Maseratis? Why did they set off without any kind of plan or aim? A pointless drag race, then a lap time challenge without any lap times being revealed? Heading to the south of France, and then deciding to see who could get back to the UK the fasest, which resulted in perhaps one of the least believable sequences we’ve ever seen on a motoring show? Not exactly their finest hour…
Don’t get us wrong, we’ve enjoyed The Grand Tour so far overall, and it has certainly been more engaging than the BBC’s attempt at Top Gear Series 23. It is our love for the show which means we’d love nothing more than for it to reach even higher levels of success.
And you can only do that by refining the show’s formula – cutting the bits which don’t work outright, and polishing those which need a bit of work. So that’s why we’re pointing out the bits we didn’t enjoy so much, and hope you’ll all add a few of your own in the comments below.