Toyota GT86 Evolution

It's our current favourite driver's car. But, great as it is, inevitably the Toyota GT86 will evolve during its production life. More power? Chief engineer Tetsuya Tada hints at a supercharged version, pointing out there's no room for a turbo because the flat-four engine sits too low.

Much more imminent, though, are the various options offered by Toyota Racing Developments (TRD), due in the UK early next year, and a possible harder-edged production GT86 with chassis and aerodynamics changes.

That's the dark blue car, unofficially called evolution, you see here, which we've sampled at the scenic ParcMotor track outside Barcelona. An orange TRD car, specced-up with some expensive chassis modifications, made an intriguing comparison.

In all, that TRD car had around £16,000-worth of kit including KYB dampers adjustable for ride height and damping force, a 15mm-power ride height on springs stiffened by 20 per cent, an extra carbonfibre front brace for the suspension towers, bigger brakes clamped by Brembo monobloc calipers, a four-tailpipe exhaust system, 225/40 Michelin Pilot Sports on 18in wheels and a racier interior with extra gauges and a concave-topped gearlever knob. Revised spoilers and valances finished the job.

Result? It sounds deeper, revs a little better, stops with firm-pedalled authority and goes round corners faster, with sharper steering and a flat, planted feel. Which may be what some owners will like, but the standard GT86's delightfully accessible progression from grip to drift has suffered. 

It's almost too good, and part of a GT86's point has been lost. In this form it's simply a very precise, very grippy sports coupé, and if you do get it out of shape it gives you less time to think about sorting it out.

On, then, to the future 'enhanced' GT86, a version which as yet has no specific name. Here, the changed parts are to full factory standard rather than that of the high-end aftermarket, and are less extreme. 

Again we have 18in wheels – these are BBS items – but while the rear Michelins are again 225/40, the fronts are 215/40. This is not specifically to alter the front/rear grip balance (although it does), but rather to conform to Toyota's factory standards for tyre-to-body clearance. Production cars will have bespoke Bridgestones or Dunlops.

Brakes and springs are standard, dampers are uprated Sachs items, and in place of the standard Torsen differential with a 4.1 final drive comes a mechanical clutch-type unit with a 4.3 ratio. A large rear wing dominates other aero enhancements, the whole package effective from just 30mph. 

A different TRD exhaust fluffs and pops on gearshifts, while an extra door-latch mechanism jams the door solidly against its body aperture to boost the bodyshell's torsional stiffness – a feature which would no doubt be useful in any future open-top GT86.

This GT86 feels quite similar to the TRD car, the test track's dry surface showing up little difference in the differential's behaviour while the softer suspension lets you feel better what the GT86 is doing as you explore the wide tyres' grip. 

The tail feels yet more nailed down than the TRD's but more trustworthy as it nibbles at the edge of grip. More of the standard car's character is retained here; you're just cornering more quickly.