It may ‘only’ be a humble supermini, but really, underneath, it’s nothing of the sort. The Toyota GR Yaris is a special car. The sort that only comes along once in a lifetime. Maybe it will be the last of its kind.
Born for the sole purpose of helping the Toyota World Rally Championship team, unlike any other current Yaris it has a bespoke 3-door body. The chassis underneath actually borrows from the bigger Corolla. It has a wider track and a longer wheelbase. The regular Yaris is mass-produced in France, this is hand finished in Japan. There’s a 6-speed manual gearbox, a manual handbrake, all-wheel-drive and with the Circuit Pack, two limited-slip differentials with selectable power distribution.
It’s a car-nerds wet dream and it arrived via a free update to GT Sport towards to end of last year. It’s so good that I even waxed lyrical about it in our ‘best cars in games’ podcast episode which you can listen to below. There are some other online daily races within the game this week, but you’ll find me doing Race A on repeat…
Here it is then. The ‘big one’. Well, for me, anyway. The race itself is in fact a small affair. The short version of Autopolis being the venue, the GR Yaris the car and five laps the length. Short, sharp, fun. Every car is identical and with 12 on the grid, this is going to be a riot.
I suppose I should talk about Race B now. but it’s difficult to prise myself away from the loveable Japanese hot hatchback. The Nürburgring GP loop is yours to race around in any evenly matched Gr.4 car from your garage. Seeing as we’re on a Toyota kick this week, we’re going to go for the GR Supra, but you could also select the 86 Gr.4 or even stretch to the Lexus RC F Gr.4 to stay on-brand. Four laps and no consumption mean qualifying times will be important.
Discussion