The target audience isn’t just the person dropping four digits on a custom sim rig, not least because there’s no wheel support. That’s important, because The Grand Tour is an entertainment show that happens to feature cars, not a car show that happens to entertain. Pre-release word that it used the rFactor 2 engine in heavily modified form made sense: that’s an adaptable base to shape into the sort of pick-up-and-play game Amazon wanted.
I didn’t even come into it expecting a competitor for something lighter like Forza Horizon 4. I didn’t come into TGTG expecting a full-on sim. Or coat the surface with a slippery serving of palm oil… And I’m sure that, if the threat of death or bodily harm wasn’t a very real possibility on a race track, Clarkson, Hammond and May really would text each other during a race to distract. There are power-ups aplenty here, a la Mario Kart, but even that is fine within the context of the game: it’s meant to be silly. It too is quick, with short races at most of the episode tracks. Outside of the episodes and their quick scenes, there’s a local multiplayer option that can double as a single player arcade mode. The cars all match up too: Amazon’s gone the distance and included the different Mustangs from the premiere instead of just adding one and calling it a day. At least there’s quite a lovely mountain pass, being a fantastic arcade rush with the scenic Alps in the background. To make matters worse, the former comes with a barrier right down the middle of most of it. They’re both much shorter than the real deals, at least going by the insanely fast lap times. Tracks like the Eboladrome and Algarve are here, at least in name. But each feels better suited to a mobile title. There’s variety beyond running simple hot laps or beating one of the other middle-aged men to a finish line, such as pushing a decibel meter as far as it can go via burnouts or making sure Hammond doesn’t scream in terror. Each scene is never longer than five minutes. It might seem like a small detail, but it does help with getting you in the mood of the show.Īs soon as it starts though, it’s over. The show clips are punctuated by gameplay moments, and slight framerate hiccups aside, Amazon’s promise of seamless transitions holds up. No wonder there were all those copyright takedowns on YouTube. Each episode is more video than gameplay. The problem is there really isn’t much else to do.
Amazon’s episodic approach fits well with the series, encouraging players to load up TGTG every week after watching the latest hijinks. It’s a new approach to the the racing genre, similar to ones that have worked elsewhere in the gaming landscape. Admittedly, there’s new stuff coming every week from here until the end of the season, which means 12 more episodes.
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