man those Gran Turismo sound effects hit hard

"We're reviewing an American car today, should we use the normal music?" "No, use the loudest, twangiest, and bluesiest music you can find. We got to really emphasize it's American."

The reason the Viper came to be was because Bob Lutz, who was vice chairman of Chrysler at the time, owned an unmarked Cobra replica and he loved it so much that he convinced Lee Iacocca that they should make their own version of a Shelby Cobra.

The reputation early Vipers have for being big brutal muscle cars with no cornering ability or finesse is largely overstated. When new these would pull .95+ g on a skidpad, even higher with modern rubber and shocks. That's still a lot of grip for a street car. They are also about the same size as a Porsche 991 despite the cartoon proportions. What they WILL do is scare the life out of anyone who hasn't pushed a pre-00s performance car beyond safe and legal limits. No ABS, no traction control, no stability control, nothing to bail you out if you're careless. These cars are meant to thrill, not coddle. Also, this is making about 410-420 HP *at the wheels.* Crank HP for this generation (96-02) was 450-460, only the early RTs (91-95) were making 400-415 at the crank.

Dodge wanted a Shelby Cobra. They got Carrol Shelby to make Dodge Viper. He's done other Dodges too, but the Gen 1 was really a modern interpretation of the Shelby Cobra

That era of Viper will always have a special and dear place in my heart even since the TV series starring it. That was the start of my love for car culture.

Welcome to Canada! Wow, that was filmed in Guelph, not that far from where I am (London). You have to get outside of the city to get country roads with higher speed limits. Most of the roads outside are 80km/h, some are 90. Hope you enjoy your time here.

To hear a British guy say "because America" makes me very happy!

I remember living in my small hometown when the Viper first launched, ONLY to see someone driving it during it's first year run. Mind blown by the sound and road presence, at the time. Such a great looking vehicle.

The best cars with a V10 engine are, without a doubt, the Lexus LFA or the Porsche Carrera GT. But the sound of this Viper is anything...

Love the Gran Turismo scenes blending with the real life scene

What is your favourite V10-engined road car? Tell us in the comments! Also, thank you to Policygenius for sponsoring this video, check out Policygenius here: policygenius.com/drivetribe

Fun fact: before being aquired by Ford in 1998, Volvo was working with Cosworth on a new 4.3 liter V10 engine to be mated to a proprietary 5 speed automatic transmission. The drivetrain would be mounted transversely in the front of the new P2 based S80 sedan. The idea was nixxed when Ford management took over but not before a prototype was installed in a Volvo 850. This means somewhere around Gothenburg Sweden, in some dimly lit garage a V10 850 is waiting…

Regarding the speed limit, it looks like (most of) this film was shot on Forks of The Credit Road about 40 minutes north of Toronto, and near where I grew up. This is an extremely popular road for motorbikes and weekend drivers, especially in the autumn when the leaves are stunning. It's also popular with young idiots whose driving skills are better suited to wide straight highways. There have been some horrific accidents on this road, and that combined with the fact that the shoulders are often full of parked cars and hikers makes the low limit very sensible. In general the speed limit on country roads is 80 kM/h (50 MPH) which another poster pointed out is viewed by locals as a suggestion anyway; Nearby (wide, straight) highway #10 has an 80 kM/h limit but traffic regularly moves at around 120 (74 MPH)

"the dodge viper is a v10 legend" the floor is made out of floor

The designer purposely never gave it a roof knowing you'd be long dead before you even noticed it was missing.

There needs to be another Grand tour season.

So nice to see my hometown Guelph Ontario and the Dodge dealership just around the corner from my parents home. And also the backroads of the escarpment just east of Guelph. Well done Mike and team. Yes, the OPP don’t take kindly to speeders on the backroads so kudos for keeping the speed limit.

Loved the effect of PS1 graphics into real life. You guys should do that kinda thing more often when showing off cars from this era, it feels kinda like timewarping between the 90s/00s and today in a way and that works *really* well with this kinda video.

The Viper has always been my favorite car since I was a kid. Little did I know it was so influential to the supercar market with it's V-10! Thank you for sharing that wonderful information and experience!

This is been my favorite car since I was old enough to know what a car was. There's something just so brutally majestic about these homicidal machines. One of my all-time favorite viper moments was when Jeremy Clarkson drove One on top gear and even spelled viper with black marks.

Always had a soft spot for the Dodge Viper. The distinctive shape and the distinctive sound of that massive V10.

Those Vipers (GTS and RT/10) were literally unbeatable in Gran Turismo 1's Normal Car World Speed Contest (the event for untuned cars). That, plus the Team Oreca car in Gran Turismo 2 are the reasons I loved the Dodge Viper.

Loved the Gran Turismo 1 references, I still have a PS 1 with GT1 with a souped up Subaru Impreza WRX 22B in blue 😎

I never listen to the sponsor spot in the middle of videos but the way he segued into with a sincere "thank you" was endearing.

I love this era of machinery... Like in the motorcycle world, climaxing with the hyper-sport bikes like the original Hayabusa, ZX-14, 1100XX Superblackbird and the like... The machines where, if you got it wrong, you're on your own buddy.

I LOVE my Viper. Theres just nothing else that comes close to the experience.

My new favorite episode ! The second the video starts, i immediately thought of Gran Turismo. The GTS, SRT 10, and the ACR are simply LEGENDARY

When I was a kid I considered this Viper, the Ferrari 430, and the Enzo to be my favorite cars. I remember seeing this viper in this exact same color scheme (without the white rims) in a parking lot once and I experienced one of first public freakouts.

The way you talked about the horsepower on this car reminds me of how Regular Car Reviews talked about the horsepower a few years back. It may only be 400 horsepower, but it is a DIFFERENT 400 horsepower. It is not the same as a 400 horsepower car made today.

Great video Mike loving the fact theses video go up on a Sunday reminds me of Top Gear back in the day

Thanks for featuring this American Icon 🇺🇸🤘🏻

This was my bedroom-wall-poster car growing up. I had a matchbox version in black, and an RC model as well. I’ve always worried that it would be a bit of “never meet your heroes”, but I’m glad to see that isn’t the case.

Having driven one of these a few hundred feet, I can definitely say this is the most deadly cars I have ever driven. It nearly killed me when I turned the ignition and the entire car rotated 90 degrees right from pure torque.

V10s are my absolute favorite sounding ICE. There is nothing even close to it, in my opinion.

Yaasss love seeing content in my home land lol shout out from a Canadian in Ontario, and yes our speed limits are AWFUL

this was my first favourite car and the only model car I ever built.

Great video guys! Hope you're enjoying your time in Canada! If you ever come out East to Nova Scotia, take a drive on the Cabot Trail...one of Canada's best driving roads! :)

One of my favourite cars! I really adore the first gen in particular and I have fond memories of dominating the competition with it in Juiced (it was a beast in this) among other games. Great vid!

Mike is getting to be a real solid presenter! Looking forward to more interesting videos like this. Cheers!

James may, Jeremy Clarkson, richard hammond car collection tour!

I remember when they first built this thing during development they were having handling issues. It had a problem called auger in if I remember correctly and took them quite some time to figure it out. But still handled like a boat. The current track version is a real weapon.

Great video! I love my 95! Glad to see people enjoying them to this day

The mk1 viper actually handles well. With modern tyres. Tyre techs come a long way.

Awesome last scene, CanadaBoy...!

Your Living my dream Mike, The Viper is all I would ever want

I love the last generation of viper so much. Also what’s funny is they put this motor in the Ram pickup and called it the Ram SRT/10. The single cab got the manual 6 speed and the crew cab was auto. Insane truck

Yes, the speed limit may be too slow here in Canada. (50-60kmh) But that has never stopped me from having fun. ;)

The edit on this video mixing in the GT gameplay was *chefs kiss*. Hats off to the editor!

I remember when the Viper was released the owner of the local Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth Dealer had one in the showroom, for a year and he drive it every sat through the park. It was ones that had the proper side pipes it was defiantly loud and a wild. Later on I bought a 2005 Dodge Ram SRT-10 Regular Cab with a Six Speed Manual... that was fun Truck too drive

Welcome to Canada, Mike! Nice to see DT doing content here.

Like stepping back in time with GT1! 😍 Great video! 🙌🏼

My second favorite boyhood car, behind the 1997 lamborghini diablo sv. The gran turismo bit was so nostalgic lol

Video looks like it was shot in Caledon Ontario...............I recognize those roads and drive them regularly. Nice to see Ontario on the big screen, and the beautiful twisty roads that are hidden away amongst the Niagara escarpment.

That you came to Ontario, Canada rather than the US is huge :) And drove forks of the credit :)

As said previously, welcome to CANADA! Not sure if Mike actually said the word 'Canada' but there was plenty of symbolism. And the car owner at least made reference to the fact that the episode was being shot up north.

I would love to see him with one of the Modified Vipers running around with nearly 3000 HP

Thanks Mike. I’ve been looking forward to this. You’re only 50km away. Great job.

Considering that Maudsley in the UK developed an OHC engine in 1902, the OHC engine cannot really be considered “new school” when compared to an “old school” OHV engine.

editing and transitions when showing GT gameplay and the real drive was FANTASTIC!

Welcome to Canada drive tribe.Thanks for coming.

FYI: Posted limits in Ontario are simply a suggestion, Mike. It's perfectly acceptable to be doing 20 km/h over the limit on a country road with generally no issue. Hwy 401 has a posted limit of 110 km/h bit the median flow is 120 in the slow lane and 140 or above in the fast lane. Alberta is crazy town. I've been passed in that province at 140 km per by Dodge dually's hauling loaded cow trailers! It's all relative.

Well done! This car just demands respect. It is not for the timid. It will always be an icon.

Been a fan of the viper since I was about 8/9. Unfortunately they are very rare in my country (The Netherlands)

The very first Need for Speed game had the Viper in it and since then I fell in love. Long nose, big loud engine, big tyers and just raw power 😊

The early Vipers are absolutely gorgeous! Drool for any kid in the 90s

If I remember correctly, the Viper had a record on the nurburgring for some time... and the first American car to do so.

That N64 game that was full of dodge vipers. That's where my love came for this car.

The granturimos to real life transitions are soo amazing! Truly well done! Viper GTS is one of my favourite cars ever! if i had to choose between a viper gts or a buggatii, i would choose the viper in a heartbeat!

That viper is super clean, wow.

Hope you enjoyed your trip to Guelph, Mike!!

Amazing to see you guys in Canada, and driving on roads I know (Forks of the Credit). Sadly that is one of the nicest driving roads we have around the area, yet because people crash so much there the speed limit is extremely low. Also I'm amazed you didn't film in the hairpin turn there! it's one of the only ones we have around, but I guess more common sight for you guys in Europe. Great video!

My neighbour had one for few years. Nostalgia kicks in.

Viper RT/10, the iconic American game changer that has earned the honor to be mentioned in the same sentence as the Lamborghini Countach and the Ferrari F40.

me too. I remember the first time I saw the viper on GT1. was in love haha

I hope you enjoyed our fine country! Thanks for visiting!

Yes it is a legend! Thanks for sharing

Sorry for my possibly incorrect English.. But this is SICK production! True TopGear

The way you described the dual cam profiles sounded a lot like VTEC.

RT or Rapid Transit is a throwback to the 1960’s Dodge and Plymouth muscle car lineup and the brochures at the dealerships headlines that were titled Rapid Transit. I remember seeing them when I move to the US

There was a Game called Viper Racing, too.1998 for Pc

That´s a timeless design.

I love a Viper and everything about them!!

This is my favorite car of all time. I too was taken by in in Gran Turismo.

Okay, those cuts from Gran Turismo gameplay to IRL footage was some pretty cool editing.

Those panel gaps! It’s a beast but I feel like you’d constantly have to pull over and collect parts that have fallen off 😁

Mike dude you reminded me my childhood GT1 and GT2 unbelievable

Mike, next trip to Canada come to Alberta, 3373 KM west of where you were - speed limits are 100 on side roads - but they are nice and straight - with great visibility - JUST in case crime ( speeding) happens !!

Kudos to the editor for those slick Gran Turismo cross-cuts.

I'm suprised Mike didn't mention that Honda invented VTEC in 1989.

One of the most beautiful car ever made.

The truck V10 isn’t anything like the Viper engine. The truck motor is, as you said, a stretched 5.9/360, the Viper engine has an aluminum block and heads, high-zoot internals (I think all forged, but I could be wrong) and induction parts and head design (maybe other stuff) developed in partnership with Lamborghini. They share bore centers and that’s pretty much all. Also, I’m almost certain it’s ‘rapid transit’, not transport.

Amazing video. But my feelings are hurt that you didn’t let me know you were coming into my province. Hope you had a phenomenal time in southern Ontario !

That's not really accurate - Dodge had already been working on the V10 for the Ram pickup, so when the Viper was being developed, they had Lambo (because Chrysler owned Lambo at that time) refine the heads to flow better and be cast from aluminum.

Here in Ontario the speed limit may say 50km/h but's only when the cops a near. Also it looks to be he's at the forks of credit which is a heavy tourist area, so there's a lot of people walking on the road.

Great story, the V10s are a breed of their own. Always loved the baby bull, nearly bought one on an impulse buy but it got snapped up before I could make a definate choice. The only other supercars I would consider are the LFA or Testarossa.

G Turismo Transitions were SPOT ON!!

'Super-muscle' should really be a class of car.

welp now I need to go for a drive in mine, loved the vid

E60 M5 owner. Best sound in the world. Look forward to hearing / seeing developments with the V10 that that company you featured earlier ((went in the "Connalt")(sorry unsure of spelling)). Think a small displacement V10 could always have a place in supercar/kitcar markets. So, Christchurch. New Zealand.