OV9

I know the Throttle House chaps are decent, just hope Francis? works out well. I can't tell if he's genuine or a fake caricature.

Mito Man wrote: Wed Aug 19, 2026 1:49 pm I know the Throttle House chaps are decent, just hope Francis? works out well. I can't tell if he's genuine or a fake caricature.

A little of column A and a little of column B.

Well his name is fake for a start!

Enjoyed the trailer - a little too much of the hypercars on a piece of US concrete in there but the rest looks great. In comparison to the somewhat worn-out Clarkson/Hammond/May years I will be watching this when it launches. I don't even know if I watched the last few Grand Tours of the old era.

I’ve never watched a single GT episode. Clarkson just annoyed me too much.

Will try and give this one a go, as the Throttle House guys are decent, and Francis is usually interesting (although I also suspect he plays up the uber-geek somewhat).

This will give you a bit more background:

https://www.reddit.com/r/cars/s/o9rvQJsq59

Andy Wilman AMA

First episode is out, it's not bad, format is exactly the Sam as with Clarkson et al, it's just getting used to the new guys.

I really enjoyed the first one. Does feel like the camaraderie and chemistry between the three of them has been greater in the promotional interviews than it was in the first episode but it still worked. Loved the fact they went to Sandy Shores from GTA. Also spotted what I’m sure was Harry’s Road after they left Diddly Squat though it cut straight to what looked like Wales so no particular continuity, just a possible nerdy car social media reference.

The second one is better.

<I haven't seen the last Clarkson/May/Hammond one yet...>

Simon wrote: Sat Sep 05, 2026 12:20 am <I haven't seen the last Clarkson/May/Hammond one yet...>

Don’t think I have either. But I’ve watched the first two, enjoyed the Singapore/Malaysia one although I think Francis is slightly tamed and toned down by the format. He’s still good value, just in quite a different way to the Chris Harris AMG black series train chasing video.

Watching episode 4, Francis is quite a driver it seems.

Watched the first episode. Really enjoyed it. Feels like how old Top Gear used to feel when the cars were foreground and the personalities background.

Have now watched the first episode (nice appearance by Jenson as well) and the Throttle House films about Francis’s Jazz and Thomas’s Alfa. All very enjoyable. Feel like I should watch the Francis/Harris thing, and maybe some of his earlier train videos - is he still doing those?

I watched most of the first episode. First GT episode I've ever watched (not a Clarkson fan).

It felt a bit forced, but..... scripted stuff inevitably does. It wasn't offensively forced, so I'll stick with it.

I did get annoyed that Thomas was going on about how the Corvette didn't sound like an American V8, didn't sound like other Corvettes, it sounded like a European V8, but at no point mentioned the phrases flat-plane or cross-plane. Is that considered too techy for the target audience?

Weirdly I remember him loving the Mustang GT350R V8 because it was a flat plane crank and sounded so good. So perhaps just having a contrarian opinion for the sake of having one which follows with every Wilman production ever.