Question · Car types & culture
What does GT mean on a car?
GT stands for Gran Turismo, Italian for grand tourer — a car built to cover long distances quickly and comfortably, rather than for outright track speed.
GT is short for Gran Turismo, the Italian for "grand tourer," and it describes a type of car rather than one manufacturer's badge — plenty of different marques have used it over the decades, on plenty of different models. The idea behind a grand tourer is comfort at speed: a bigger, more relaxed engine, a plush cabin, and usually room for two occupants and a bit of luggage, built for eating up motorway miles rather than lapping a circuit.
That's a slightly different brief from a supercar, which chases outright performance over comfort. GT has been applied loosely enough over the years that it's now more of a general shorthand for "fast and comfortable" than a strict classification. If that kind of long-distance-driving fantasy deserves a wall, that's exactly what car gifts for men is stocked for.
Written by Craig Fearn, Petrol & Ink.