“The Grand Tour Game,” the episodic racing game from Amazon Game Studios based on “The Grand Tour,” is all about “playing the show” and keeping the emphasis on fun while keeping it accessible for families.
Rather than aiming to offer a complete, realistic racing experience, the team told Variety that its whole ethos with the upcoming title is geared toward letting people emulating the “cool” things seen during the weekly show. The game is meant to follow the Prime Original series closely as-is, with “seamless” transitions from the show to gameplay as well as a new slate of voice acting from hosts Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond.
“Every Friday, it knows there’s a new show and a new game and the game will download onto your PlayStation or Xbox. The game gets bigger and bigger…more cars, more tracks, more events, more stuff to do, and more gadgets to play with,” the Amazon Games Team told Variety.
New episodes of “The Grand Tour Game” will debut weekly during the show’s third season, which will include cars, locations, and challenges from the show, including runs on the show’s Eboladrome test track. In terms of power-ups, you can utilize silly items like “rude texts” the hosts can send one another, High Tea’s tire-shredding cups and saucers, or More Horsepowers, which offers a dramatic speed boost.
There will be between 14 to 15 different scenarios to play per episode, and you’ll be able to watch and play, or simply play. During each challenge, Clarkson, May, and Hammond will, of course, be engaging in the same ribbing heard on the show. The idea is to give the game a sense of “perpetual motion,” so you never feel as though you’re ceasing to watch or play and that it will continue indefinitely.
“This is not a game based in the universe of the Grand Tour – there have been video games based on movies or TV shows – it’s literally play the show – other game companies I think would be interested in and probably will end up making something like this as well,” said creative director Craig Sullivan.
“The Grand Tour Game” will also feature multiplayer, which was “really important” to the Amazon Games team to bring back, as “Mario Kart did it so amazingly.” To that end, it will include a four-player split-screen mode where players can race against each other and interact in person. It’s all done in a bid to foster a fun environment and to ensure players are able to enjoy what they’ve seen on the show itself.
“The emphasis is on fun,” said Richard Hammond during a special “The Grand Tour Game” press conference. “If you’ve never played a car game, the point of this is it’s fantastic in that it does reflect what you have just seen on the telly. There’s obviously a huge challenge to see if you can do better than us.”
“It’s not for nerds who put on a crash helmet to play a racing game. It’s to sit around on the sofa and have a laugh with,” said James May.