Top Grand Gear Tour TV Megathread: Because nobody wants to post a new one

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Top Grand Gear Tour TV Megathread: Because nobody wants to post a new one

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bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

What I want to know is did Hammond's WRX fail in a way that's consistent with the lower control arm recall?

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/09/12/subaru-forester-impreza-and-saab-9-2x-recalled-over-control-arm/

# ¿ Mar 24, 2013 20:24

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 00:18

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

Regardless of the views on what Clarkson did, I think it's adorable that they think they can renew it for a 2016 season. The show is dead, people aren't going to watch it if it isn't those three hosts.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2015 15:55

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

DOOMocrat posted:

They write like, four pages of the magazine and the magazine is very popular. They write one article a week on the website and the website is very popular. "Top Gear" is bigger than Jezza.

I hope you realize print media and a TV show that hinges on the personality and chemistry of the presenters are two very different things.

Dumping 3 new presenters into a show with all the same stunts and trappings will ring false. The alternative is jut to do a whole brand new show. That's valid, but it also won't be Top Gear anymore.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2015 16:10

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

Powershift posted:

I wonder if there were tiff neidell or vicky butler purists who said top gear would fail in 2002 because they weren't included.

At the same time, you can very plainly point to Fifth Gear as proof that you have to capture a certain amount of magic with the presenters in order to be successful.

Let's not forget that their brand of Top Gear was cancelled.

The show is going to have to evolve into something else. The question is, will it survive long enough to do so successfully?

# ¿ Mar 25, 2015 16:16

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

I'm now wondering what impact this is going to have on BBC-A and their original programming. Top Gear was their ratings cash cow and I'm sure it funded a lot of things like Orphan Black. I wouldn't be surprised to see them drastically scale back their original programming after this.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2015 16:53

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

Shitshow posted:

Top Gear is one of the most pirated shows worldwide, so I expect the impact to be minimal. And isn't Orphan Black CBC and not BBC?

Top Gear is their most watched show. Losing their most watched show is not going to do anything good for their ad revenue.

Impact will not be 'minimal' it will be rather large. The question is if they will be able to mitigate that.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2015 17:07

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

The first "gaffe" listed on that article is hilarious without any sort of context which they don't give.

quote:

July 2008: Drink-driving
BBC bosses told Clarkson off for supping a gin and tonic while behind the wheel of a pick-up truck

Leaving out the whole "While driving to the north pole in the arctic where the only souls within 100 miles are the camera crew filming him drinking that gin and tonic."

# ¿ Apr 24, 2015 16:06

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

Speeding laws are enforced to a varying degree around here. There's some places where you better be drat sure to follow the speed limit, and some places where you can take more risks. There are certain areas that they don't dare try to enforce the speed limit because if people went the speed limit gridlock would ensue.

The only time I got cited for anything was accelerating onto the highway just north of Pittsburgh and I got pulled over as I passed through 75 mph. Speed limit there is 55 (might even be 50, I drive it every day but I honestly don't remember.) Cop asked me how fast I was planning on going and I answered honestly, "I would probably settle in around 80mph."

On the face of it, I was doing over 20mph above the speed limit which could be horrible penalties. However, 70+ is the normal flow of traffic there. If everyone did the speed limit, the highway wouldn't have enough capacity.

I got written up for "Failure to obey all written traffic signs" which was a $10 fine (inflated to $100 with fees) and no points. Cop just flat out told me "you gambled and it was your day to lose" but otherwise really didn't care.

I remember a news article I read about an all day speeding sting they did on 79 south. that section is either 55 or 65 depending on where you are. They didn't bother pulling anyone over going under 80 mph.

I really wish they would listen to both engineers and physiologists when it comes to setting speed limits. Modern roads and modern cars are capable of being safe at higher speeds than are usually defined and it's proven that people are safer drivers when they are driving at a speed they are most comfortable at (which is almost always over the current speed limits.) Studies have also shown that raising the speed limit doesn't necessarily cause people to go faster than they are comfortable going either, but it does make people drive safer that are forcing themselves to drive within the law that would normally be more comfortable going faster. But then, they couldn't make all the moneys.

# ¿ Jun 11, 2015 23:41

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

Powershift posted:

Yes. they walk out from whatever post they're hiding behind into the middle of the street in front of the speeding vehicle by roughly a football field, point at the driver, and point at the side road where their car is parked.

By the time you see them, they have you. if you don't notice a cop in a bright yellow jacket walking out in front of you a couple hundred feet down the road, you're about to have a really bad day.

I can't be the only one.

# ¿ Jun 12, 2015 03:51

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

quote:

Production on the new series of Top Gear will start in the next few weeks and more information will be announced in due course.

That's actually the worst part of the announcement. There's no way in hell they've been able to retool in 2.5 months time.

As an American, I have no loving clue who Chris Evans is. That was bound to be the case no matter who they announced, but it shows their difficulty in trying to relaunch this. Top Gear is a worldwide brand and to anyone outside of the UK, those 3 are that brand.

I honestly wonder if BBC-A will even pay to license the re-launched show since it's bound to take a massive MASSIVE ratings nosedive the instant people figure out the three aren't coming back.

# ¿ Jun 16, 2015 21:07

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

It's going to be amusing if BBC-A advertises it as "Top Gear with Chris Evans" and everyone is wondering why Captain America isn't the host of the show.

# ¿ Jun 16, 2015 21:53

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

Top Gear absolutely was scripted and fake, but it was scripted and fake in a way that suited the presenters that grew over 13 years.

For example, I'm sure the first instance of them running into each other when they came to a stop was by accident, but it was easy and natural (and funny) to turn it into a running gag.

These presenters won't have history like that and if they are going to force the same format right off the bat without letting it evolve naturally, people are going to reject it.

Go back and look at the first few seasons of Top Gear 2002 and you can see that things grew over time. That's what they need to do with this if they want it to even have a chance. But if they are keeping the exact same style program with the same style jokes and hi-jinks, only changing the presenters, it isn't going to work and people will be unhappy with it.

# ¿ Jun 17, 2015 15:44

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

Get that Colin Furze guy to host since he's always inventing badass poo poo.

# ¿ Jun 18, 2015 17:06

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

KakerMix posted:

As a Prime haver this is neat, although Amazon insisting I buy a Kindle or iPad to watch Prime streaming on a tablet is dumb as hell.

Prime video works on any Android tablet, has for about 6 months now.

# ¿ Jul 30, 2015 16:34

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

sbaldrick posted:

Amazon doesn't even offer streaming in my country and won't accept my credit card to pay for it.

Piracy for me.

The article said that in locations where Prime streaming wasn't available, they were going to try to work out local TV distribution.

# ¿ Jul 30, 2015 16:36

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

tuna posted:

I have one for the bedroom and it stutters quite a lot (although I usually use it to watch Netflix). I watch the rest of the stuff on Prime web player and it usually defaults to "Lowest quality" SD despite having 50mbit connection and when I unpause it, one in three times it will randomly skip forwards 20 minutes to whatever most inconvenient spoiler there is. The general interface is also kind of clunky and you have to re-find what you were previously watching and navigate to the right season/episode, etc.
YMMV of course because this could come down to many factors but whatever I'm still happy that it's going to Amazon.

Never had the slightest issues at all streaming prime on my TV (on pretty much any app I have that uses it). It actually seems to ramp up to the highest HD quality faster than netflix does.

# ¿ Jul 30, 2015 19:22

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

It's a little clunky to setup. But once it's done I've never really had an issue with it. Streaming quality is good.

# ¿ Jul 30, 2015 23:36

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

I actually have to fight with Amazon to try to get them NOT to deliver packages on the weekend. I have my shipping address setup for work so I can be sure nothing is being left unprotected on my porch at home. Even though I have it selected to not attempt weekend delivery, the USPS still tries to deliver on Saturday and even Sunday to my work.

# ¿ Jul 31, 2015 16:19

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

Both of those concerns are miniscule compared to negotiating rights with the content owners for streaming in another country. It's often not worth the effort.

# ¿ Aug 1, 2015 17:29

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

Maybe now that it's on Amazon, the US audience will actually be able to hear the A-Team music when they do their mechanical montages.

# ¿ Aug 3, 2015 17:32

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

I eagerly await a Car vs Amazon Drone delivery challenge.

# ¿ Aug 5, 2015 23:56

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

Preoptopus posted:

If there was a problem with or lack of sensors the light would blink. I dont know about Canadian laws, but in the US legally you have to have a TPMS sensor in any car that came OE with one.

That's really not true at all.

Hell, I had my car inspected at the dealership last year with my 16"s and snow tires on with the TPMS light on solid due to it. They give no fucks.

Tirerack sold me a set of wheels/tires that I specifically said was for a 2011 MY which obviously came with TPMS and they allowed me to leave it off.

Furthermore, roadworthiness laws are dictated by the state, not federally. Federal can mandate the standards the cars need to go on sale, but federal has really no say with how cars operate after they are sold. That's 100% up to state laws.

# ¿ Aug 12, 2015 06:07

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

meatpimp posted:

Federal law �prohibits manufacturers, distributors, dealers, or motor vehicle repair businesses from knowingly making inoperative, in whole or in part, any part of a device or element of design installed on or in a motor vehicle in compliance with an applicable motor vehicle safety standard.� TPMS is a motor vehicle safety standard.

In your case, the dealer didn't care because the TPMS system was not operational when you brought it in. Tire Rack has no care, control or responsibility with regards to your vehicle's TPMS system.

That still doesn't track with what Preoptopus said though. He said that any car is that came with TPMS as OE is "legally required to have the sensor." That's not true.

Repair places cannot disable the sensor or any part of the TPMS system in general. They are, however, under no legal requirement to either 'repair' a TPMS system that's nonfunctional when the car arrives or refuse to fit tires onto wheels without sensors that are intended for a car that had TPMS.

It is perfectly legal to operate a motor vehicle with a non-functional TPMS system either through disrepair or intentionally due to lack of sensors.

The whole point of the supposition was that the TPMS light couldn't have been from lack of sensors on due to them not being able to legally fit wheels and tires on to the car that lacked sensors. That is simply not true. They could have rolled up to any tire place with rims and tires and had the tires installed without TPMS. They could have even told the tire place, "We're going to put these wheels without TPMS on this new vehicle that clearly has TPMS." and they wouldn't have been able to say boo about it.

Besides, even installing wheels without sensors is not making the system inoperable. It is still 100% operable because it's telling you there's a fault in the system for not being able to communicate with the sensors. What repair places absolutely cannot do is disable the system to make the warning light go away.

# ¿ Aug 12, 2015 13:41

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

wolrah posted:

I don't know anything about the laws but at least this has changed. Tire Rack will not allow me to spec a set of winter wheels/tires for a 2015 Fiesta ST without including TPMS, nor will they allow the creation of a mounted/balanced wheel and tire package without specifying a vehicle. I'm currently trying to find a vehicle to select that's close enough to let me spec the right parts but not require TPMS. A few weeks ago mid-00s Focuses used to work, but they don't seem to now.

I was just able right at this moment to select a winter wheel/tire package for a 2015 BRZ and I was presented with this option at checkout.

"Mount and balance the tires on the wheels without TPMS sensors. I will have my service provider transfer my existing TPMS sensors or install new TPMS sensors obtained locally. Local installer charges will apply."

TPMS wouldn't be so bad if they would have forced manufactures to provide a way to marry the sensors to the car without a specialized tool. Some cars allow it, some cars do not. None of my cars do. I'm not going to spend several hundred dollars on a tool that I can only use on a limited number of vehicles just so I can swap wheels between seasons without having to make a trip to a tire place to re-marry the sensors. Otherwise, I would happily put TPMS sensors in all my wheels.

Actually, they should have just mandated that TPMS has to have an wheelspeed sensor fallback and that's all that's necessary to comply with the law. Manufacturers would be free to include sensors in the wheels for more exact readings if they wanted to, but wheelspeed sensors are good enough for safety.

bull3964 fucked around with this message at 17:06 on Aug 12, 2015

# ¿ Aug 12, 2015 17:01

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

So, they traded someone who physically assaulted someone for someone who has pretty much sexually assaulted multiple people. Good show BBC.

# ¿ May 19, 2016 00:11

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

Cojawfee posted:

I've never done it but I've heard from people in the Navy and it's apparently popular on boats.

Yes, and the Navy has a real problem with man on man sexual assault too.

Whipping out your twig and two bits for anyone that doesn't expressly want to see them is pretty much sexual harassment full stop at minimum.

# ¿ Jul 6, 2016 18:14

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

Disappointing Pie posted:

Oh poo poo this is going to be fantastic. It looks like a movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLtpcxtk4HI

I'm so glad I bought a 4k tv a month ago. It's going to look amazing.

# ¿ Oct 7, 2016 02:12

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

davebo posted:

Does amazon actually stream 4k now? Any idea what the bitrate is?

They steam a bunch of their originals in 4k, many with HDR even. (The Tick in 4k HDR was a treat.). They have some movies in 4k too (some on prime, some pay.)

Minimum bandwidth requirements for UHD is 15Mbps, so average is north of that.

# ¿ Oct 7, 2016 03:45

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

LeftistMuslimObama posted:

You can get Prime to stream 4k? Prime shits itself trying to even do 1080p for me. I have to turn it down to SD to keep the audio from constantly desyncing.

Not sure what the issue with your setup is, but Amazon has been as flawless as Netflix for me across a wide range of devices.

I mean, I do have a symmetrical 75mbps fiber connection (FiOS) but other than that, there's nothing special about my setup. All my devices are on Wifi even.

# ¿ Oct 7, 2016 17:09

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

One thing to keep in mind, Netflix doesn't make shows. "Netflix Originals" are just shows they've licensed exclusive distribution deals for a region.

None of us know the details of those deals, but they may not be in perpetuity. Netflix Original shows could, at some point, be no longer available on Netflix.

# ¿ Oct 15, 2016 19:40

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

Utterly and completely breathtaking in 4k with HDR.

# ¿ Nov 18, 2016 06:29

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

davebo posted:

I was more concerned with his qualifications. I don't know the guy so I have no idea what his experience is before doing NASCAR, but I wouldn't assume that because someone can drive very fast at full throttle and slight turn on an embankment it necessarily makes them a perfect choice for getting the most out of a wide variety of the world's fastest production vehicles on what admittedly seems to be a very non-standard small race track. I have no idea who else was considered so I honestly don't know if he was the best pick or not.

Let's not pretend there's anything scientific about the timed laps for these cars. The fact that they are using the same driver is for a bit, nothing more.

Don't forget that the old driver was behind a helmet the whole time and likely wasn't always the same person (mostly the same person, but there's likely times when that has changed.)

They also run these laps under a wide range of weather conditions.

People want rankings so they give them rankings, but the timed lap is simply a bookend to a review that's not too be taken too seriously.

# ¿ Nov 23, 2016 18:52

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

If they wanted a lower time commitment, they would have just retired rather than sign a 36 episode deal.

# ¿ Nov 27, 2016 08:19

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

LeftistMuslimObama posted:

they had that in the early seasons of new top gear and it was dumb. it looked like a cheap video game. the reality is literally that it doesnt matter. the track segments are to see lots of cool slides and hear loud noise, then be told "by golly, this car is fast"

Exactly. Also if they do the mini map thing, they actually have to show the whole lap which is usually boring (otherwise the edits would be obvious.) What we see is just the interesting bits with the boring parts of the track cut out.

The lap is not a scientific test. It's a bit like the rest of the show. It's there for them to bicker about what car is better.

# ¿ Dec 1, 2016 18:59

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

kimbo305 posted:

Is anyone watching in HDR-10? I wonder if that helps with the apparent overvignetting in the normal HD signal.

I am and it's amazing looking. There's still a lot of vignetting though. I mean, that's just their style.

# ¿ Dec 8, 2016 01:00

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

SeriesGuide says 13 episodes total, so two more left. But it could be wrong.

# ¿ Jan 24, 2017 20:18

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

Why does it matter?

These are not scientific tests. It's just a bit to have some commentary on a shiny car going fast and to have something to argue about in the studio after it's done.

The 'track' is a prop, nothing more.

# ¿ Feb 13, 2017 19:25

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

I caught BBCA airing of the first episode. This is the first post Clarkson/May/Hammond I've watched because gently caress putting Chris Evans on my screen.

I just don't know, it had trouble holding my attention. It wasn't BAD, it was just...bland.

The studio segments are flat as hell. It doesn't feel like they have a rapport with the audience.

The challenge was somewhat interesting, but the fact that they all set out in opposite directions to put miles on their car says it all.

The cinematography is pretty uninspired as well. Not everything has to be slow motion with tons of vignetting, but the most visually interesting thing they did was have the FXXK break into the letterboxing in one shot. I kept waiting for them to do it again because it was a neat visual thing to go along with how much the car pushed the boundaries, but they didn't.

So, not terrible, but not terribly impressed. I'll continue watching, but it's not must see TV for me.

# ¿ Mar 16, 2017 02:52

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

wolrah posted:

Look at how the Toyobarus share OEM tires with the goddamn Prius.

This is largely a misconception. There exists a JDM Prius with a performance package that happens to have the same tires, but that's it.

# ¿ Mar 21, 2017 23:15

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 00:18

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

It still seems like they are missing some magic in their field pieces. The Cuba stuff was neat in what it showed, but it lacked narrative feel even though they explicitly explained the narrative. They mentioned in the studio of them practically living in the cars for a week, but the way the piece was edited, it just felt like they were running around Cuba in an afternoon.

It's just all presented very flatly. Here are the interesting things we did, back to the studio. Not bad, but not very memorable.

# ¿ Apr 17, 2017 19:29

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Top Grand Gear Tour TV Megathread: Because nobody wants to post a new one

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