The Toyota GR GT3 completed its first two races in Japan this past weekend, bringing fresh attention to the road-going GR GT, a 641-plus-horsepower V8 flagship expected around 2027.
Toyota's long-awaited return to the world of high-performance flagship cars just took another step forward.
On Nov 7 and Nov 8, 2026, the new GR GT3 made its competitive debut at Mobility Resort Motegi in Japan, finishing both Super GT races. The results weren't spectacular, but that wasn't really the point. Toyota put its still-developing race car through a real competitive weekend, collecting data that testing alone couldn't provide.
And while the GR GT3 is an interesting story in its own right, its road-going sibling is arguably the bigger deal.
The Toyota GR GT is a new front-engine, rear-wheel-drive supercar featuring a twin-turbocharged V8, hybrid assistance, and a development target of at least 641 horsepower. It's expected to reach buyers around 2027, and Toyota has already indicated that availability will be deliberately limited.
The GR GT3 entered both races at Motegi under TEAM ENEOS ROOKIE, driven by Hiroaki Ishiura and Tokiya Suzuki.
The car finished 19th on Saturday and 24th on Sunday, one lap down in each race. It was competing as a specially approved concept entry and wasn't eligible for championship points.
Those aren't headline-grabbing results, but Toyota wasn't expecting to win straight out of the gate.
The GR GT3 is still undergoing development ahead of FIA GT3 homologation. Putting it into an actual race exposed the engineering team to conditions that are difficult to replicate during private testing, including live pit stops, driver changes, and running alongside established competitors.
Importantly, the car completed both races without a reported major mechanical failure.
For a car still in development, that's a meaningful milestone.
Unlike many manufacturers that develop a road car first and adapt it for racing later, Toyota developed the GR GT and GR GT3 together from the beginning.
Both share a newly developed 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V8, an aluminum-based chassis architecture, and a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive configuration.
The road-going GR GT adds hybrid assistance through an electric motor integrated into its rear transaxle, paired with a new eight-speed automatic transmission.
Toyota's preliminary performance targets include:
The car also features carbon-ceramic brakes, double-wishbone suspension, and a dry-sump lubrication system.
These are development targets rather than finalized production specifications, but they provide a pretty clear picture of Toyota's ambitions.
This isn't simply a more powerful Supra. It's an entirely new performance flagship, developed with significant input from Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the GR GT story is Toyota's approach to availability.
The company hasn't announced worldwide production numbers, but Andrew Gilleland, Toyota's senior vice president of automotive operations, has indicated that the initial US allocation will be approximately 200 to 250 cars.
And that scarcity is apparently intentional.
Toyota wants the GR GT to be a special car, not something produced in whatever volume the market will support.
There was some confusion during Monterey Car Week in August when comments suggested the initial US allocation had already sold out. Toyota subsequently clarified that no cars had actually been pre-sold and that its process for identifying interested buyers was only beginning.
Pricing remains unconfirmed, although published estimates have generally ranged from more than $220,000 to approximately $300,000.
That would place the GR GT in serious performance-car territory, where buyers have plenty of established European alternatives.
But Toyota may have an advantage that doesn't appear on a specification sheet: a new V8 flagship developed alongside an actual GT3 race car, combined with potentially limited availability.
For collectors and enthusiasts, that's an interesting combination.
The GR GT3 still needs to complete its development and homologation process before becoming a fully eligible customer racing car.
The road-going GR GT is targeting a launch around 2027, although Toyota hasn't confirmed precise delivery dates, final pricing, or production totals.
What happened at Motegi this past weekend doesn't mean the road car is suddenly ready for production. But it does show that Toyota's ambitious new performance program is moving beyond development demonstrations and into real-world competition.
And that's worth paying attention to.
Toyota's GR GT has been one of the more interesting upcoming performance cars since its reveal, and the Motegi weekend gives us another reason to pay attention. The GR GT3 didn't set the world on fire with its results, but it finished both races, which is a meaningful first step for a new racing platform.
The road car is what we're most interested in. A brand-new twin-turbo V8, rear-wheel drive, genuine racing development, and potentially very limited US availability make for a compelling package. Whether it becomes a desirable collectible or simply an excellent driver's car will depend on what Toyota ultimately delivers. Either way, we're glad Toyota is building it.
Lexus is turning the LFA name into an electric supercar built on the Toyota GR GT's aluminum frame. A camouflaged prototype ran up the Goodwood hill in July and was photographed testing again this month. Here's everything Lexus has said, what's only been reported, the GR GT hardware underneath, the battery bet behind it, and what the original V10 car is worth today.
A Dutch startup just showed a track-only single-seater that puts the driver on their stomach, like a superbike, in front of an 800-horsepower Judd V10. The first customer car is not due until 2030, and Sanrivatti has not set a price.
Koenigsegg has handed over Jesko 125, the last of the 125 Jeskos it sold out in two weeks at Geneva in 2019. It's a one-off Jesko Absolut in champagne-gold Skumpa paint with a green carbon stripe, and two outlets report it went to tennis star Daniil Medvedev.
