Toyota's GR cars will fight autonomous vehicles in a new anime series called ‘GRIP’

Toyota has just released a new anime series called GRIP, which pits its GR range of performance cars against villainous autonomous vehicles in a battle for humanity. Standard Wednesday morning stuff, you'd argue.

It's being aimed at the next generation of car enthusiasts, and will see chief protagonist Jae Kang face off against an army of autonomous cars that want to take over the world and rid it of any and every ounce of driving pleasure. Think of them as automotive equivalents to Game of Thrones’ Army of the Dead.

Presumably, Kang will beat them by… driving a few Toyotas around in a cloud of haste and smoke.

Speaking to TopGear.com, Timothy Bliss, general manager of Toyota marketing North America, said: “The Fast and Furious series is probably the best example of what’s still out there where the vehicles are treated like stars of the show, and we wanted to follow a similar route with GRIP.”

Bliss even noted that one or two of Toyota’s heritage vehicles might just feature in the new series - a series with heritage 'baked' in - and TopGear.com is totally here for the possibility of a 2000GT or Celica GT-Four popping up in aid of the current GR fleet at some point.

And aid they'll need because the autonomous vehicles are being portrayed as 'boring' cars of the future, and while they aren't necessarily representing anything that currently exists, they do preview a future that just isn't engaging. In other words, an enthusiast's worst dream.

The first of five episodes for GRIP dropped this Monday and will be followed by weekly instalments here. While nothing too obvious was revealed about the plot, there are some encouraging signs for car people and anime fans alike. Initial D set the benchmark a long time ago - reckon the GRs can better it?