Video of the Week: GTA 5 | Top Gear | The Bus Challenge (by Tom Matthews)

Ever since Rockstar added the director mode and video editor into the PC version of the game – and later the remastered PS4 and X-box One – people have been making stunning pieces of original work, but it doesn't get any more stunning than the episodes of Top Gear that Tom Matthews and friends have made.

I’m not going to just talk about just one episode, I’m going to be mentioning the other two as well. The Bus Challenge is the third episode in series 2, and they are bigger than ever before. Each episode is over 20 minutes long, with the longest being 29 minutes long, and they are sensational. Each episode perfectly captures exactly what Top Gear is – the challenges, and the banter between the hosts. They mould each episode around the limits of GTA Online, and one of the best parts about the world of GTA, is there are hardly any limits, allowing them to do whatever the heck they want.

In the first episode, the trio test out what car is the best to buy for your first car when starting Online for the first time. The second episode features a race to see if a car, a boat, or a plane is the fastest to get round the world, and the third focuses on which bus is the best. If there’s one thing that I’ve learnt from watching Top Gear – back when Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May were there – is it’s all about the dynamic between the trio, with the cars in the background, and that atmosphere is shown well during these three episodes – making each episode hilarious throughout. There will be more episodes within the series, and I frankly cannot wait for them.

Talking about a fan made top gear series does give me an excuse to talk about the current series starring Chris Evans and Matt Leblanc, because I’m sure you haven’t heard enough of that already. I do have an opinion on the series and I had planned on expressing that on one of the Fridays, but I felt like it was a little unnecessary. I was practically going to say basically what everyone else had been saying, and if my opinions had already been said, then I didn’t need to say them. However, there is one opinion that I don’t think you have heard enough of yet, and does cement exactly how I feel about the new series in stone. The fan made series is far better than the actual series.

Why? Well, because it parodies what the original series was back when Clarkson, Hammond and May were leading the pack. The current series doesn’t do anything of the sort. It tries to be what it was as well as trying to add so many original elements, and that doesn’t work. Chris is loud all the time, and whilst people have said that he has calmed down considerably, and the next series will be better than the next, I just can’t see that happening at all. The moment Top Gear came back on our screens in 2002, there was a dramatic change in atmosphere compared to what it was before, and that’s what it needed to push it forward into the coming years. New presenters, new atmosphere. But this new series doesn’t change anything. Chris tries to be all three presenters at once, and don’t get me started with the Star in the Rally Cross Car segment – that is completely unnecessary. Why didn’t they stick to just the track, the intimate talking about the guests’ life, car history, and so on. All that was is now gone.

There have been plenty of rumours circulating the internet as of late, expressing that Matt is threatening to quit if the BBC doesn’t fire Chris for being too rude, controlling, and obnoxious. There have been so many rumours about that show, I don’t know what to believe until it has been confirmed, and since no one is confirming them, then I just have to wait and see what happens. The final episode of the current series is airing this Sunday, which is a relief. Shooting for the next series is scheduled to begin this coming September. By that time, the BBC would have analysed all the statistics, and gave a budget. The question is, will they? If ratings are continuously dropping, and rumours are spreading like wild fires, then the best thing to do is cancel the show entirely. Some people say they are already wasting their money, and I have to agree. They have a lot of problems to sort out before they can begin a new series, which by that time, they have to consider just how many people will want to return. I dislike the mew series, a lot, not because it doesn’t have Clarkson, Hammond, and May, but because they attempted to recreate what the three had.

The moment Amazon announced that they had made a deal with the three presenters, I had that moment when I said, ‘I knew it.’ Well, I didn’t know they would sign on with Amazon, but I had that feeling at the back of my mind that they would go off and create their own car show. It was inevitable. I was instantly intrigued, and even more so when I discovered just how much money Amazon is putting into the project, and even more so again when I watched the first episode of the current series of Top Gear. After watching that episode, I needed to clean myself up by watching old episodes, but I don’t think I will be spotless until I’ve watched the first episode of the Grand Tour.

It was a weird moment when I realised that the fan-made episode is better than the actual. I’ve never known that to be true. They have utilised every aspect of what made the show great, as well as putting their unique spin on it by having it set in GTA V. The talent associated with the video editor is unbelievable. If you want to watch original episodes of the old Top Gear, then these are the videos to watch.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)