{"id":1845332,"date":"2026-03-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1845332"},"modified":"2026-03-25T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T21:00:00","slug":"opinion-the-toyota-gr-gts-641bhp-is-just-the-right-amount-of-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1845332","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: the Toyota GR GT’s 641bhp is just the right amount of power"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The world appears to love the new Toyota GR GT<\/a>. I love it, too. A front engine, rear drive, twin turbocharged V8 powered supercar that channels the Lexus LFA and calls to mind the fabulous Mercedes-AMG SLS Black Series. As I write this column, the Top Gear video presented by my magnificently hirsute colleague Tom Ford has been viewed over 3.5 million times and shows no sign of slowing down. Left field, motorsport infused and with all the JDM cool that is so popular right now, the GR GT has hit the desirability jackpot.<\/p>\n

To me, everything about this car feels about right. Which sounds like damning with faint praise, but really isn\u2019t. What I mean is that every detail \u2013 from the GT3 racing plans to the front-mid engine and transaxle layout to the 641bhp output \u2013 feels perfectly judged and really enticing. So, I was surprised to find a few people messaging me soon after its reveal that it might be \u2018a bit slow\u2019. These people \u2013 all potential customers \u2013 were fully onboard with the concept and aesthetic but felt that \u2018just\u2019 650bhp was a bit meek.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And, they\u2019re right. On paper. In a world where the range topping Porsche Taycan has 1,020bhp, the new Corvette ZR1 has 1,064bhp and AMG\u2019s top line sports coup\u00e9, the GT 63 S E Performance, has 805bhp and 1,047lb ft, it does feel a bit like Toyota is launching the GR GT into 2014. The world has moved on. I drove a standard production pickup with 1,025bhp a few weeks ago for God\u2019s sake.<\/p>\n

Perhaps it\u2019s moved on too far? Firstly, let me assure you that it will feel properly rapid on road and track. However, those messages did make me wonder if it was time to look to Toyota\u2019s home country for inspiration and revisit JAMA\u2019s (Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association) tactic in 1989 when it tabled and approved the \u2018Gentlemen\u2019s Agreement\u2019 to limit the power of all production cars to 276bhp. From Skylines to Supras,\u00a0STis to Evos, Japan\u2019s domestic market cars would all adhere to this agreement (which wasn\u2019t actually legally binding) to prevent a full scale horsepower war.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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This was back when we didn\u2019t have such sophisticated braking, traction control and stability systems, you might argue. That\u2019s true. On the flipside, cars were lighter and didn\u2019t carry the potential momentum to wipe out a small town when out of control. Plus, performance cars mostly had manual gearboxes, so were much trickier to extract the maximum from. Yet, the Japanese manufacturers saw the potential dangers just around the corner…<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not suggesting that the government exerts more control and we\u2019re all confined to life at 20mph (although they\u2019re trying to do that, anyway). Nor am I pining for a 911 Turbo or Lamborghini Revuelto with 276bhp. But, you remember I said the GR GT seemed \u2018about right\u2019 with 641bhp? Maybe that\u2019s it. That\u2019s the level. It might just be time for a new \u2018agreement\u2019 before legislators step in and do something much more Draconian. China has already proposed a new ruling that would mean no car in its default mode can beat a 0\u201360mph sprint of five seconds. Reasonable? Certainly. But wouldn\u2019t the industry rather self regulate than allow the creeping influence of politicians set the agenda?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The world appears to love the new Toyota GR GT. I love it, too. A front engine, rear drive, twin turbocharged V8 powered supercar that channels the Lexus LFA and calls to mind the fabulous Mercedes-AMG SLS Black Series. As I write this column, the Top Gear video presented by my magnificently hirsute colleague Tom […]<\/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-1845332","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\/1845332","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=1845332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1845332\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1845332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1845332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1845332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}