Toyota's new supercar | CAR magazine Feb-26

Toyota’s new supercar
GR’s GT
WTF?!
Every now and then, Toyota
remembers it’s capable of building
exhilarating performance cars. Its
latest trick? The new V8 GR GT
Words Ben Barry
54 CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK | FEBRUARY 2026
FEBRUARY 2026 | CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK
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where
A
S Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda tells it, the new GR GT wouldn’t
exist without kuyashisa, a word that most closely translates as
humiliation – the kuyashisa of rivals calling Lexus boring at Pebble
Beach 14 years ago, of being routinely overtaken on the Nürburgring
in the pre-LFA days, and the apparent European industry consensus
that Toyota can’t challenge for outright racing victories with roadbased
cars, even if the (exceptionally good) Lexus LFA did rack up
class wins.
Like the vanquished-Samurai trope, Toyota has retreated,
regrouped and now returns with a clean-slate hybrid V8 sports car
designed to give rivals a whupping on road and track they can barely
comprehend. At least that’s the plan.
The two-seat GR GT (GR for Gazoo Racing, of course) is unveiled
at the Higashi-Fuji facility. It’s a stone’s throw from the Fuji Speedway
testing has already taken place, in a former press-shop where
Toyota made the first Century luxury saloon in 1967 (illustrating, if
nothing else, how Toyota can produce world-class products on its
own idiosyncratic terms).
Finished in stealth grey, the GR GT broods with predatory menace
under the spotlights. There’s a long-bonnet/cab-rear silhouette, a
hot-rod glasshouse pinched between extended wheel tracks, and
bluff surfacing that attests to design driven by aerodynamic
principles more than aesthetics. The latter is a badge of pride for
Toyota – World Endurance Championship aero engineers were
parachuted in to determine the entire vehicle package from the getgo.
A low centre of gravity, high rigidity and low weight (actually not
very, at 1750kg ‘or lower’) have also been prioritised.
The GR GT looks and is dramatically long and low. Measuring
4820mm and just 1195mm tall, it is both longer and a fraction lower
than a Lamborghini Temerario and presents as a kind of scaled-up
Mercedes-AMG SLS. Of its modern competitive set, it runs closest to
the Aston Martin Vantage and Mercedes-AMG GT in engineering
and numbers, though neither of those cars is a hybrid.
Step inside and there’s a mix of Lexus precision and richness with
a strong motorsport flavour and driver-centric focus. You sit low in
two skeletal Recaro sports seats upholstered in alcantara and leather,
a high-rise transmission tunnel in between. Up ahead a clean,
horizontal sweep of dashboard, a couple of digital screens and a flatbottomed
steering wheel to which paddleshifters and twin dials,
much like AMG mode selectors, are mounted – one for driving
modes, the other for your chosen level of traction-control support.
Its maker’s logos are conspicuously absent from nose, tail or
steering wheel – strange given a name as generic as GR GT surely ⊲
Toyota’s new supercar
Turbochargers
live between
the cylinder
heads
TAKE THE
GT86/GR86
BLUEPRINT,
SCALE IT UP
AND YOU
ARRIVE AT
SOMETHING
PRETTY
SIMILAR TO THE
NEW GR GT
VERY, VERY
READY TO RACE
GT3 version will
battle the likes of
Porsche, Ferrari and
AMG on track. Race
success would help
elevate everything
wearing a GR badge
VERY, VERY
FRONT-ENGINED
Wildly long bonnet
leaves you in no
doubt as to which
end the new V8
motor calls home.
Nose is huge but low
56 CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK | FEBRUARY 2026 FEBRUARY 2026 | CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK 57

Toyota’s new supercar
Structure is
aluminium
skinned in
carbonfibre
cannot stand alone, and Gazoo Racing lacks the prestige to do such
heavy lifting in the premium segment, despite the numerous World
Endurance Championship victories.
There is a bloodline, of sorts. Toyota points to the ’60s 2000GT,
the LFA and shikinen sengu – the passing of skills between
generations. Yet surely the front-mid V8 Lexus LC500 was closer in
spirit to the GR GT template. And, confusingly the related LFA
Concept – launched simultaneously – also stakes a claim to that
heritage. In fact, the strongest philosophical echo comes from the
GT86 and GR86 sports cars – take those cars’ blueprint, scale it up
and you arrive at something pretty similar to the new GR GT.
The GR GT is joined on stage by both the new LFA Concept and its
motorsport sibling: the GR GT3 (which actually set this ball rolling
four years ago in closely related GR GT3 Concept form). Replacing the
moderately successful RC F GT3, the GR GT3 aims to humble
European and US makers in the FIA GT3 category – Porsche, Ferrari,
BMW, Aston, Mercedes-AMG among them – to provide a direct link
to the road that its current WEC prototype can’t match, and make a
tidy sum from customer-based racing efforts.
Racing has clearly driven key engineering decisions for the road
car. Based on the Japanese maker’s first all-aluminium body frame
and skinned at least partly with carbonfibre panels, it features thick
longitudinal extrusions for the sills and transmission tunnel, with a
lattice of spaceframe tubing connected to the passenger cell’s
bulkheads front and rear.
A front-mid V8 slots in the huge real estate between front axle and
A-pillar, with a transaxle driving the rear wheels alone. You sit so low
down between the two that – in profile engineering drawings at least
– the CFRP torque tube could rotate you like a pig on a spit if you
budged over a bit.
Suspension is by double wishbones with heavily inclined coilover
dampers and fixed anti-roll bars. The wheels are 20-inchers, wrapped
in Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres – a moderate 265 section at the
front, chunky 325 section at the rear – and housing Brembo carbonceramic
brakes.
Deep and thudding in the classic V8 tradition, clearly muffled by ⊲
THE CFRP TORQUE TUBE COULD ROTATE YOU LIKE
A PIG ON A SPIT IF YOU BUDGED OVER A BIT
AERO IS
EVERYTHING
GT is not as pretty as
2000GT or LFA. But
the race team did the
aero, so the upside
should be low drag
and big grip
TEXTBOOK
CHASSIS
Ultra-low centre of
gravity and doublewishbone
suspension
bode well. Porsche
would argue engine
should be in the back
WHAT, NO
HAUNCHES?
Complete absence
of muscle here a
puzzling design
decision. See Amalfi
and Vantage
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FEBRUARY 2026 | CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK
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Toyota’s new supercar
LEXUS TWIN IS PRETTIER (BUT EV)
Love red and
black? You’re
in luck. That’s a
foot brace, not
a clutch pedal
The Lexus LFA Concept was hiding in
plain sight during the build-up to the
GR GT launch, making us wonder if
– like Superman and Clark Kent
– what was previously the ‘Lexus
Sport Concept’ and camouflaged
sightings of the GR GT were one and
the same.
In fact, the LFA Concept is being
developed alongside the Gazoo
Racing model as a successor to the
V10, carbonfibre-tubbed original, and
– according to Toyota – ‘symbolises
technologies its engineers should
preserve and pass on to the next
generation’.
Neither the V10 nor the tub are
among those technologies. Instead,
the LFA Concept is a pure electric
two-seater spun from the GR GT’s
new aluminium frame and ‘ideal
driving position’. The two models’
wheelbase and height are identical
(2725mm and 1195mm), though the
LFA is more compact at 4690mm
long and by far the more attractive
machine, with more sculptural body
surfacing and organic lines than the
brutalist GR GT.
Highlights inside include a
Tesla-style ‘yoke’ steering wheel
(Toyota’s long been a fan of the idea),
and a dash that flows into the centre
console to create a cocooning,
driver-centric feel, a little like the new
Ferrari 849 Testarossa’s sail motif.
Relatively inconsequential buttons –
including those to adjust camera
views – suggest a level of production
intent beyond the scope of most
concept cars.
Toyota has previously stated it’s
developing solid-state battery
technology, targeting highperformance
vehicles first. To provide
enough headroom with the LFA’s low
roofline, the battery would logically
either be mounted in a T-shape to
clear the seats, or positioned behind
them. For now, Toyota is shedding no
further light on the powertrain, but
the presence of both a ‘3’ and an ‘M’
on the digital driver display suggest
some level of ‘manual’ gearshift
control. A Boost Map and Braking
Map that appear to progress from one
to nine, and a range of driving modes
– including Track, F-Mode and a
Custom setting – further fine-tune the
driving experience.
Given the previous LFA’s V10
represented peak internal
combustion, it’s undoubtedly
controversial to reprise the name for
an entirely electric powertrain, but
Lexus promises to ‘[draw] the driver
into an immersive experience like no
other before’. Letting us experience
that first-hand – and deciding
whether it can offer a deeper level of
engagement that its GR GT sibling –
will be the acid test.
PERFORMANCE OF 641BHP AND 627LB FT TORQUE
SITS SQUARELY IN VANTAGE TERRITORY – A
FRACTION LESS POWER, 37LB FT MORE TORQUE
IHI turbos mounted hot in the vee, and with a more aggressive bark
than a trad bent-eight, the box-fresh 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 makes a
decent noise.
Its bore and stroke ratio of 87.5 by 83.1mm is moderately
oversquare, certainly more so than the 4.0-litre AMG unit used by
Mercedes and Aston, but not so aggressive as McLaren’s same-size
flatplane unit – Toyota has opted for a crossplane crank.
Performance of 641bhp and 627lb ft torque sits squarely in Vantage
territory – a fraction less power, 37lb ft more torque – and there’s talk
of a 200mph top speed, though Toyota couches all the GR GT’s vital
stats in caveats to leave room for improvement.
The rear is arguably where the GR GT’s packaging is most
innovative, in large part because – unlike its British rival – the V8 is
hybrid boosted, with the e-motor packaged at the front of a newly
developed eight-speed transaxle auto with a wet start-up clutch and
mechanical limited-slip diff. Toyota says the transmission is being
developed for ‘world-class shift speeds’, with the electrical boost
glossing over turbo lag and the momentary lulls between ratios.
The problem is the e-motor should push the transaxle further
back, and therefore lengthen the wheelbase. Toyota’s fix? It sends
power behind the rear axle with one shaft, then sends it back to the
diff with an additional offset shaft – much like a Nissan GT-R sends
drive from a transaxle all the way back to its front axle.
The result is a 2725mm wheelbase (only 21mm longer than a
Vantage), with the compact footprint visually exaggerated by the GR
GT’s low roofline.
Cooling pathways enter above the rear wheelarch, and exit
through the slats below the rear lights. The carbon-tubbed Lexus
LFA mounted its radiators here and routed the cooling circuit back to
its V10. More likely this time – given the large extruded sill sections
and heat-conducting properties of aluminium – is a self-contained,
rear-mounted cooling circuit for the e-transmission. There’s also a
battery pack nestled high between the suspension turrets, creating a
high bulkhead. Do not expect to get much more than a soft bag in the
boot, and it seems highly unlikely a convertible will follow.
This densely packaged rear will also be a big part of the reason the
front-mid GR GT splits its weight 45:55 front-to-rear – a figure more
akin to rear-mid-engined machinery, and one that should endow it
with the gently adjustable handling racers crave, while also proving
manageable in the hands of the less able. The boss promises it will.
Factory test drivers, professional and amateur racers, and ‘Master
Driver Morizo’ – aka Akio Toyoda himself – have all had their say in
development, with a focus on engagement on public roads as much
as outright prowess at the Nürburgring, where testing has also been
conducted.
We’ll have to wait to see how the GR GT stacks up against rivals on
road or track in ‘around 2027’ as Toyota puts it, but given its spec,
kuyashisa is unlikely to feature this time out.
Smoother, sexy,
near-silent
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