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Gazoo Racing is often at pains to point out how intrinsic motorsport is to its road car development (probably as it\u2019s a very cool boast), and this might be the most extreme interpretation of that belief yet. The GR Yaris Morizo RR has benefitted from the direct input of Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda and his experience racing a Yaris at last year\u2019s N24, creating a car \u2018exceptional for its N\u00fcrburgring-cultivated delivery of car-driver unity for a high level of driver-vehicle interaction.\u2019 Right.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The wing feels like the obvious thing to talk about, more extreme even than the one seen on the recent Aero Pack<\/a>\u00a0and seemingly straight from the\u00a0Toyota Gazoo Rookie Racing<\/a>\u00a0(the team that fielded the N24 car) parts cupboard. Moreover, thanks to the additional downforce it brings, the GR\u2019s steering and suspension have been reworked to take advantage; Toyota says the damping now allows the tyres \u2018to firmly follow even highly uneven road surfaces\u2019 like you-know-where. So perhaps this will be a\u00a0Golf Clubsport S<\/a>\u00a0style makeover, plush and accommodating, rather than as raw and rowdy as it looks. Whatever the case, Toyota reckons a Morizo RR \u2018generates an overflow of spontaneous smiles, and enables experiencing an extraordinary sense of exhilaration.\u2019 Which sounds like great news to us. Why don\u2019t more cars promise an overflow of spontaneous smiles?\u00a0<\/p>\n The makeover also means a Morizo drive mode, replacing the previous Gravel setting. But park any hopes of a crazy rear-biased setting with only a nominal torque allocation for the front; it sets the distribution at 50:50, where gravel was 53:47. So it won\u2019t make a huge amount of difference to the driving, but a Morizo drive mode does sound good.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, while you might expect Master Driver Toyoda to favour a manual GR, this is a car that pays tribute to its racing achievements (where he raced the #109 car for 15 laps). As that Yaris used the eight-speed auto, so will all 200 examples of this RR. Apparently Toyoda credited the eight-speed automatic transmission with \u2018enabling him to conquer\u2019 his stints. And you don\u2019t argue with the boss, so auto it is. Not that the Morizo is an entirely standard auto, however, thanks to the introduction of larger paddles and switches on the new suede wheel inspired by rallying. Try to resist fiddling with those the entire time.<\/p>\n Additional Morizo influence can be seen in the yellow calipers and matching accents inside, because it\u2019s his favourite colour. Nothing more complicated than that. Same for the \u2018Gravel Khaki\u2019 paint, a bluey-greeny-grey that looks better than we\u2019ve made it sound – especially with the gold wheels and carbon bonnet. Akio Toyoda likes it, so Toyota makes it. Good job he makes smart decisions\u2026<\/p>\n<\/p>\n