Help shape the future of TopGear.com
Posted by Michael Harvey at 2:20PM on Thursday 07 June, 2007 33 Comments
Apparently the way communication works in cyberspace is this.
On any given website where contributions are encouraged - as indeed I'm doing here - just one per cent of that site's visitors actually lob something new at it like a response to a blog, an new entry in Wiki or a video on YouTube.
Another nine per cent will then respond to that; build on a point in a blog response, add their version of the truth to a Wiki entry or write 'Awesome!!!!" beneath a video of fat man miming a pop song to his webcam on YouTube.
With 1.1million individuals now visiting this site, web law means I can depend on getting 110,000 proactive and reactive responses to this request. So please tell us what you want to see/don't want to see, expect to see/don't expect to see, would love to see/would hate to see on this website when we relaunch it later in the year.
Do more than that; tell us what your web habits are, the other sites you think cool/uncool, how you like to interact. Do you wanna write stuff, post pictures, post video, look at pictures, watch videos, play games, chat with each other, arrange to meet people and then have sex with them? You know, all the stuff we now do but never ever imagined wanting to just two years ago.
Maybe you just want to read about cars. That would make our life easy.
Anyhow, the point is this; if we, the teams from the mag and the TV show, have learned one thing about how the web is different from mags and TV shows, it is that we don't own it, the web does.
Stories have their own life on the internet. Like children, we might nurture them, but they do their own thing once they're out of the door. All we can do is make a fun home they might want to come back to occasionally.
So that's it. There is currently a bloody great big piece of blank paper and a deadline. Sure, we've got lots of ideas, but there are only about 40 of us.
We can't promise to publish your response, but we'll post as many as we can, and guarantee to read every one of them.
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33 Comments for "Help shape the future of TopGear.com"
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I'd like to read more blogs about people's automotive experiences... stuff like concept cars, car shows, test drives, road trips, things that annoy them about vehicles, things that make driving great. More test drives wouldn't be a bad thing either.
More video blogs of motor shows and stuff like that (e.g. Goodwood and that). More news and blogs as well more on new cars (yet to be made or spy shots), but otherwise this is a good site!
Just keep up doing the job your doing. I visit this site once or twice a day and enjoy reading the articles that are produced here every day.
Maybe include more motorsport articles, but that's about it. Keep up the good work.
I think more content and clips from the show. Do something like AudiTV has done.
I just want to read about cars (and see lots of hi-res pictures) but in your own humorous/cynical unique way.
It would be great to have more interactivity with TG mag and show beyond blogs. To me, it is a place I come to read the articles, check the news and occasionally the galleries/wallpaper.
The new Cool Wall section looks good and a step in the direction.
I would love to see a few video reviews online from the blog team, like when you guys post a blog of the car you have just driven. That would great!
I would like to have access to a new car guide as in the magazine. And enable it to be filtered by all the key panel figures.
Get some new games.
Proper full car reviews about insane cars as well as the funny blogs about them.
More 'behind the scenes' content would be great. Many site visitors already watch the show, so covering the same content seems old. Supplement the episodes with content connected to it but different. That way the show drives visits to the site, and site visits make people want to watch the show.
On the old Top Gear website there also used to be a section called 'Duffers' - owners telling people what their car is like to live with, i.e the good the bad and the French cars.
Oh yeah and more Jezza...
Otherwise keep up the good work. Bored office-working car fans salute you!
Here are a few suggestions:
- A forum where fanatics can debate, for example, the vices and virtues of the Prius or why the 599 is commanding such a premium over its list price?
- More linkage with the TV show such as behind-the-scenes footage, outtakes or stories about when things go wrong.
- More 'anorak' type activities on a par with the Wot Car? game.
I would love to see more interaction between you the designers and us the readers. An area to post videos of our car sightings or Top Gear-style car reviews, somewhere to post pictures of truly amazing cars, like a fantasy garage.
The interactive Cool Wall is a really big hit by all accounts, so sticking to that sort of format is a winner. Oh and last thing. Downloadable quotes from the guys 'I am a Driving God', 'Utter Pirate' And 'Powerrrrrrrrrrr!' to name a few, along with podcasts of show clips, and mobile ringtones of your favourite sounding supercar engine.
I hope to see an online version of your new car guide like in the magazine, maybe with more info about the cars.
Too many websites changed and get entirely messed up and I never visit them after the change... DON'T CHANGE, your layout is superb and easy on the eyes. Cconcentrate on just doing as well as you have been.
Maybe less stuff about the environment. This is Top Gear, not Greenpeace. I couldn't care less about the newest biofuel or a hole in the ozone layer.
A couple things. First off, I'll say that the site is well laid out, so the only things I can think of that I'd like to see are in terms of content.
- Update "Wot Car?" more often. That handful of puzzles is a great 15 minutes of fun, albeit in a dorky way.
- Post news and blogs more often. I read them at work and it ends up only taking a half hour at most to read everything, even the stuff that I'm only sort of interested in because I'm bored. - I hate to inflate the ego of the TV trio, especially Clarkson, any more than the rabid success of the show has, but I'd like to see more articles/blogs from them, though this would be without a reduction in the amount of web content done by other segments of the Top Gear staff.
Of course, being in America, I suppose I'm a bit starved of TG in general. It's too bad that the American version either didn't come to fruition or has been delayed (I haven't seen an update on its status in ages), though that probably has more to do with the lack of American appetite for anything factual about cars that doesn't involve coffee cans, wings, and neon.
Anyway, give us more, more of anything, because this one of those rare websites that a true gearhead can come to and be entertained without alienating his less car-inclined friends in a mass of figures and acronyms.
I guess we want to read about new car stuff mainly - not much point coming here for recipes I guess. Can't see Jeremy baking anything apart from his "opinions".
New and exclusive stuff is good of course, but harder and harder to obtain (I presume) and in my opinion we need more stuff about cars we actually buy.
Sometimes fairly major changes/facelifts etc are ignored on "boring cars" but when an ashtray is moved in a Ferrari, it has to be taken to the South of France for a weeks' road test. Nice work if you can get it and we do like to dream but keep it relevant most of the time?
I am a big fan of "View from here type articles" which are funny AND informative and you don't see many of those.
Keep up the good work and keep promoting Green, I know you guys kinda hate it but if we do not try they will likely take our toys away forever....
Top Gear is a great show and the magazine and the website are very nice as well.
But although I like to read or watch topics of supercars or just nutty contests, it could be useful to review some more "normal" cars.
I love the articles of James May and Jeremy Clarkson but they don't appear on a regular basis.
Personally I think that having comparisons of cars would be a nice direction to move in. Choosing the best in class for each type, highlighting the cars that disappointed you and ones that exceeded expectations, best value for money, greenest etc etc.
The addition of a forum might work well for this, where comparisons can be posted and then people can comment, add additional info and share their experiences, this will help to make TG more of a resource and increase repeat visits. Just don't go all serious on us!
As for my web habits: I have RSS feeds set up so that when I open Google in the morning, the latest news from around the UK, World, Motoring World and Football World are awaiting for me and I can spend half the morning picking away at the content. Don't tell the boss!
PS: Nice to see TG developing its community, it could well become very vibrant, and even lucrative! Get more funny mugs and t-shirts made, too...
I would like to see more contributions from the Top Gear presenters, maybe an opinion segment together, like they do when presenting the news item on their programme with the differing opinions and arguments.
I would like to see older car reviews, not everybody buys brand new cars.
I like the video section, but there aren't that many to choose from, or if there are, they're shortened versions. While on youtube.com you can see complete top gear episodes or read more/longer car reviews on thetruthaboutcars.com.
One gripe I've had about the drives section is that not every article has the car's rating out of 20, the writers likes and dislikes and some stats like the car's weight, 0-60, BHP, torque, mpg etc.
I'm sure I'm not the only one that takes the opinion of Top Gear quite seriously before I go out and decide to buy a car.
Also if the Top Gear website had a car comparison table where the user could compare say the price, top speed, 0-60, handling, weight, BHP, power to weight ratio etc. of say a Honda Civic TypeR to a VW Golf GTI to a Renault Megane R26 that would be jolly good, too.
More cars, less environmentalist rubbish like you did all last month.
More JC, JM and RH though, I really like their blogs.
There's nothing fundamentally wrong with the website as it is... BUT we could have regularly updated access to anticipated releases in a kind of "Motoring Year Ahead"/"Petrolhead's Almanac" format including notable dates for major events..[Advertisers/Sponsors might like to link here].
It might be that extending the range of dedicated links to info on pickups and trucks and [I'll whisper it quietly] motorcycles, could attract another 500k or so users to the site.
A permanent link to the Top Green list [well buried beneath information on performance cars of course] could help those tied to awful tax choices... and getting rid of the background grey wouldn't be such a bad thing.
Well, you did ask...
Probably echoing some of what already said here, but more content linked to the show. I'd love to see more exclusive Behind The Scenes videos and galleries perhaps?
Offer tickets to the show as competition prizes and for comments on blogs - ie. best/funniest comments get a pair of tickets. Mirroring what the physical magazine does for letter of the month (only with tickets instead of fuel).
Downloadable goodies - soundclips, videos - always good.
My fave internet haunts? Hmm discussion forums mostly (TG and non-TG related), shopping, videos (YouTube).
Oh and wallpaper galleries which cater to more than just cars... yes, pics of the TG presenters please!
Instead of treating Top Gear like a stand alone entity, how about treating it like an extension of the show, and allow the TG team to post items / articles that never made it onto the show?
Perhaps this would allow TG a chance to continue the show in a virtual sense whilst the TV series is in an off period...
A forum that we can all enter would be a good idea and great fun. We would be able to talk about cars even more, which in my opinion isn't a bad thing.
i want more games, more cars in the cool wall and that's it!
I think at the moment the site is a great place where any car fanatic can come to read about new cars and also enjoy humourous blogs. But I think that, and it seems to be quite a trend, that there would be more blogs from the show presenter alongside those from the regular TG mag staff.
Also, maybe a few extra wallpapers for pc's. The photography from the mag is great so i'd like to be able to download some of it for a background.
Another point might be to include bits in the news about spy shots of cars that have been seen, like the Jag XF in development. That would pair nicely with a forum where car nuts can discuss the photos.
Id like to see more on concept cars and breaking news - sneak peak photos of cars under wraps etc...
I think the layout could be a little more easy on the eye - the bbc.co.uk is well laid out and easier to view.
More of a political stand off too on the debates of driving - maybe (as a regular viewer) we could start to make this the first point of call for lobbying parliment to invest more in alternative fuels - and to stop screwing the motorist for every penny he has.
More articles from individual writers - a pic of their head and click on that to lead to their own full length test drives, blogs etc...
Competitions galore - where average joe drivers like me can get to have a spin a car that is just crazy to drive - instead of my normal mundnace 7 day week stuff.
more car orientated rather than games and competitions. Used car valutions and video reviews would be a nice touch. keep up the good work!