GT SPORT: YOLO (You Only Live Once)

Mind the title anyway but while I was busy playing GT SPORT on the PS4, I stumbled across this beautiful JDM classic car I picked up from the January update. It was the legendary Toyota 2000GT and this classic J-Sports car is too beautiful to ignore.



As every James Bond fan would know, this car appeared in You Only Live Twice, which is driven by Japanese agent Kissy Suzuki while being pursued by enemies and despite the lack of gadgets, she managed to summon help from the Japanese intelligence to end the chase. Of course, even without the Bond connection, the 2000GT remains one of the most important cars in Toyota's rich history.

Dubbed Japan's first supercar, the 2000GT is built in collaboration between Toyota and Yamaha. It's powered by a Yamaha-tuned 2.0L six-cylinder engine producing around 153HP and the whole car is wrapped in aluminum. Little did you know that Yamaha also contributed to the wooden panels the 2000GT's interior possesses from their pianos?



Speaking of the Bond car, did you know that because of Sean Connery's height, he's too big to squeeze himself in the Toyota as a result, the people from Toyota gave the producers about two weeks to convert it into a convertible. Of course, being a new model, there wasn't any open-top 2000GT ever made and when it appeared in the film, an open-top 2000GT is nothing more than a one-off made exclusively for that Bond movie. Still, it's one of the prettiest Japanese cars ever built and it's also one of the rarest as a good one of these may cost you around fifty million yen or over half a million dollars.



To see how the 2000GT takes us back to the golden age of JDM sports cars, I went to Suzuka Circuit, and having spent a few moments driving this car around the track, I find that while it's short on power by modern standards and twitchy on the bends, it's somewhat easy to drive and that glorious noise adds some charm to the 2000GT. The more I drive, the more I realize just how cool Japanese cars of the past are, especially Toyotas.



Whilst I'm having some mid-century atmosphere in this classic JDM sports car of the 60s, I did manage to do a little filming with the 2000GT around the Suzuka Circuit. Do you wanna see how the 2000GT moves? Roll the tape.



Now that's what I called the best shot with Japan's first exotic.



I hope you folks had some moments driving the Toyota 2000GT on GT SPORT and while I'm writing this, I got a word from the mouth that the Toyota 2000GT will star in an upcoming special drama airing on NHK BS Premium on the 28th of March. It's called 真夜中のスーパーカー (Midnight Supercar) and this special drama will feature the 2000GT and the Lexus LFA on it and as you may have witnessed in a preview, you will see the 2000GT and the LFA race each other. Hope you folks from Japan enjoy the special TV drama if you're craving more Toyotas.