{"id":1815344,"date":"2026-03-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1815344"},"modified":"2026-03-09T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T21:00:00","slug":"up-close-with-the-twin-turbo-v8-toyota-gr-gt-a-long-bonneted-thunderstorm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1815344","title":{"rendered":"Up close with the twin-turbo V8 Toyota GR GT: “a long bonneted thunderstorm”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Fuji Mountain Speedway, Saturday 7 December, 2025. A precious, white gloved Japanese man has just dropped very gently into the seat of Toyota Gazoo Racing\u2019s new GR GT and has proceeded to absolutely rev the bejeesus out of it. Whup-blam, crackle. WHUP-BLAM, crackle. WHUP-WHUP-HISS-CRACKLE.<\/p>\n

Sound carries in cold air, and as the third rev dies away, the 40-odd people in the pit garage all simultaneously mutter a small swear in the language of their homeland. All I can think is that the wash of hot gas from the quad of exhausts has deposited tiny bits of dead dinosaurs directly into my nose. And I really<\/em> like the smell.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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I really like the car, too. A low slung missile of a thing that doesn\u2019t so much pull up as arrive and pose, a blend of Japanese aesthetic practicality and nascent brutalism. A long bonneted thunderstorm that pokes you in the eyes and absolutely fails to apologise. Yes, you\u2019ll do the mental riffling through the paperwork of memory that tries to associate it with something else, but you\u2019ll eventually discard them all. Mercedes-AMG GT, Chevrolet Camaro, Dodge Viper? Sort of. But also no. It gets more interesting the more you look at it, and it\u2019s nothing if not worth a good stare.<\/p>\n

Headlines? It\u2019s a two seat, 4.0-litre V8 twin turbo with rear wheel drive and a glancing blow from a mild hybrid system that\u2019s small enough to barely count as electric. There\u2019s an eight speed auto with paddles, tightened up with a wet-start clutch instead of a gluey torque converter, 641bhp, 627lb ft of torque, and it weighs 1,750kg. Although TGR is still being remarkably cagey about specifics and keeps putting brackets after everything. The power figure brackets basically said \u2018or a bit more\u2019 and the weight brackets \u2018or a bit less\u2019.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Based on those metrics, you\u2019re probably looking at 0\u201362mph in under four seconds, and although the 199mph top speed was<\/em> quoted, the inevitable brackets (\u2018or more\u2019) indicated that this will be a 200mph car. We\u2019re kinda reading between the lines here, but it\u2019s not exactly invisible ink. It\u2019s also not that prescient to note that there\u2019s probably quite a lot of headroom possible in those figures.<\/p>\n

But what we\u2019re looking at is an all new super sports car with a bellyful of brand new V8. Which, given the current climate feels joyous, a bit mad and utterly wonderful, if not destined for excessive production longevity. It\u2019s also not a special, or limited run, and likely to be priced in the realms of other cars a bit like this \u2013 think obvious stuff like that Mercedes-AMG GT, or various Porsche products \u2013 and therefore sits quite comfortably in the \u2018possible\u2019 range of achievable aspiration \u2013 think \u00a3160k-ish.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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This is our first experience of the car here in Japan, and there\u2019s a lot to take in. Especially because nobody was really expecting anyone to just get in the car and bang it off the limiter. Still, you can mine the experience, and I\u2019m turning over all the rocks I can find. So, the noise. TGR insists that the pops and bangs are natural, but they\u2019re so syncopated they actually sound a bit fake.<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n

Saying that, it\u2019s got a weirdly raw, bluesy rasp when revved, the usual offbeat V8 burble higher and more mid-chest than low bass, and it sounds more racecar than old school American eight cylinder. It also gains and drops revs a bit like a four pot \u2013 not perfectly zingy, but more accurate sounding than some big capacity turbo cars that fall out of higher rpms like they can\u2019t be bothered. And no, it\u2019s not the heart in mouth sound that the OG LFA\u2019s V10 used to make the hairs on the back of your neck snap to attention, but that\u2019s the world we\u2019re living in.<\/p>\n

It is however, very much alive, with the rest of the technical specifications verging on the simplified. Because the GR GT seems absolutely stone cold focused on nailing the fundamentals rather than the tinselly bits. So there\u2019s an aluminium spaceframe underneath, supported by a swathe of CFRP (carbon fibre reinforced plastic) bolt-ins. The bonnet, roof, inner door skins, rear bulkhead and boot lid, plus a few bonus bits, are all carbon fibre adjacent. The rest is aluminium. So this is a cheaper, more mass produceable way of getting \u2013 almost \u2013 the strength and rigidity of a carbon tub, and also Toyota\u2019s first go at this kind of architecture.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s low \u2013 the bonnet is just above knee height if you\u2019re 6ft tall \u2013 a couple of metres wide and very cab rear. And here\u2019s where the packaging gets interesting, because TGR seems wonderfully obsessed with the centre of gravity and raw balance. The V8 sits so far back as to have the front of the block a few inches aft of the front axle centreline (hence it\u2019s very much front\/mid-engined and likely to keep your knees warm), buried as far down as it\u2019ll possibly go and dry sumped. There\u2019s a structural carbon torque tube that carries the driveshaft back towards the rear wheels, feeding into the front of the eight speed auto.<\/p>\n

Although it first engages with a small electric motor that props up torque losses during hard acceleration and gearchanges, it\u2019s small enough that it\u2019s not going to move the car about on EV power. But to keep the rear of the car compact, the drive then exits the back of the \u2018box into a set of conical gears that punch another driveshaft back left and forwards, through a limited slip diff and out to the rear wheels.<\/p>\n

Weirdly for a car so obsessed with keeping everything so low, the battery pack for the e-motor sits quite high in the profile above the \u2018box, but apparently the battery is so small and the overall roll centre so grounded it was deemed acceptable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Four wheel drive possibilities? Well, everything is possible if you throw enough money at it, but looking at the packaging on this car, it\u2019d be a massive hassle. There\u2019s also a distinct lack of active aero \u2013 Toyota citing added complication and higher centre of gravity, as well as the fact that the GR has all the aero and cooling functionality that it needs. Which is interesting in itself. No downforce figures have been given. Not even with brackets.<\/p>\n

The driver and passenger sit well back and down, staring out over an absolute plane of bonnet, the suspension electrically damped but otherwise just double wishbones and coils all round, supporting 20in lightweight wheels and Michelin Cup 2s with the usual dinner plate sized Brembo carbon ceramics. Which again, feels pared back. It\u2019s not inferior, but where manufacturers seem keen on adaptive and \u2018intelligent\u2019 suspension systems and PR-able moments, this is straightforward. It\u2019s got a nose lift \u2013 there\u2019s a button on the centre console that no one mentioned \u2013 but that\u2019s about it.<\/p>\n

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\"The<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Similarly, inside it\u2019s restrained. Ignore the intestinal red leather and you\u2019ve got a pair of carbon buckets with individual padding, excellent ergonomics when posting up towards the pedals and flat bottomed wheel. There\u2019s a digital dash up front with big shift lights and gear display icons, a couple of rotary controls on the bottom of the wheel \u2013 the right hand side for the four drive modes, the left hand side for traction control severity, just a little label that says \u2018Expert\u2019 and a plus and minus. Though it\u2019s not clear which way you rotate depending on how expert you might be feeling.<\/p>\n

Other than that, there\u2019s a big transmission tunnel shrouding the driveline, a small paddle for gear engagement and a relatively modest touchscreen in the middle. And yes, there are physical switches underneath for oft used functions. Pre-production prototype? It feels real, and sorted and quality, not even close to science fiction. There\u2019s nothing in here that even hints at unnecessary gizmos. To be honest, it could actually probably do with a couple of theatrical flourishes, but it feels likeable and honest. Although the cupholders are in a really daft place behind your elbows.<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s all gravy as far as desperately wanting to have a go, but there are more than a few arguments going on about what this car actually represents. There are hints of LFA in the styling (think mini buttressed intakes on the top of the rear wings and triangular cutouts on the bonnet), but it\u2019s actually more than that. In fact, Toyota has explicitly indicated that this car follows in the intellectual footsteps of the 1960s 2000GT and original LFA, making the whole \u2018new LFA\u2019 argument slightly muddy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s called \u2018Shikinen Sengu\u2019 in Japanese. A tradition in which a Shinto temple is periodically rebuilt every couple of decades to represent eternal renewal (Tokowaka) and the passing down of ancient craftsmanship. The reference? Toyota keeps referring to the transfer of generational knowledge, the \u2018secret sauce\u2019 of car building, from the engineers that created the original LFA to the new guys, a strangely incongruous phrase for a Japanese company to employ. But it makes the point that truly great cars have that extra little something that can\u2019t be found down the back of the coding sofa. Data doesn\u2019t drive the smile on your face, or the look back when walking away; emotion does.<\/p>\n

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\"The<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The slightly confusing bit here is that while the world was waiting for a new LFA, Toyota has actually birthed… two. The GR GT feels more like a literal successor \u2013 combustion engined, rear drive, two seat supersports with utterly Japanese sensibilities \u2013 while the Lexus LFA Concept becomes the intellectual son, sporting more involved and forward thinking tech, more expense and sophistication.<\/p>\n

One is the everyman thrasher enhanced by a real world racing car programme, the other the cultured science experiment. But whichever way you look at it, Toyota isn\u2019t just talking about this stuff \u2013 it\u2019s actually doing it. Bringing the drama back into the lineup, being brave, exciting and V8 powered. And we\u2019re absolutely here for it.<\/p>\n

Toyota GR GT<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Price: <\/strong>\u00a3160,000 est
Powertrain: <\/strong>4.0-litre biturbo V8, 641bhp, 627lb ft
Transmission:<\/strong> 8spd auto with transaxle-mounted single e-motor
Performance: <\/strong>0\u201362mph in <4.0secs est, 199+mph
Weight: <\/strong>1,750kg<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fuji Mountain Speedway, Saturday 7 December, 2025. A precious, white gloved Japanese man has just dropped very gently into the seat of Toyota Gazoo Racing\u2019s new GR GT and has proceeded to absolutely rev the bejeesus out of it. Whup-blam, crackle. WHUP-BLAM, crackle. WHUP-WHUP-HISS-CRACKLE. Sound carries in cold air, and as the third rev dies […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,237],"class_list":["post-1815344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-topgear-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1815344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1815344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1815344\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1815344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1815344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1815344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}