GR Experience Center: A Secret Garage Built to Wet Lexus Dealer Appetites for the GR GT

The GR Experience Center is home to decades of Toyota, Lexus, and Gazoo Racing history, plus the GR brand’s very first supercar.

Last fall, Toyota unveiled a new five-brand structure, elevating Gazoo Racing (GR) to its own division. No longer relegated to produce track-toy Toyotas, Gazoo Racing needed to stand alone because it’s about to release its first supercar, the GR GT. But you can’t just sell a 641-horsepower, six-figure supercar at a Toyota dealership next to fleets of Grand Highlanders, Siennas, and Priuses. Which brings us to the GR Experience Center, a secret garage in Texas located about 20 miles away from Toyota’s North American headquarters.

As first reported by Automotive News, the GR Experience Center is “a 36,000 square foot showcase of Toyota’s racing heritage.” And, for the last several months, it’s had one goal. Host Lexus dealers and get them hyped enough on the Gazoo Racing brand to buy a separate GR franchise. And apparently it’s working, as “more than 100 Lexus dealers in [the U.S.] have raised their hands to purchase a franchise.”

Franchises, for context, give automotive dealerships rights to sell, maintain, and service specific makes and models, often within an exclusive territory. Meaning, before Lexus dealerships can sell a GR GT, they need education, equipment, infrastructure, and staffing in place to support what will soon be the most powerful car in the history of Lexus, Toyota, or GR.

Many believed the long-spied GR GT was an LFA successor to be sold as a Lexus. But Toyota’s chairman, and grandson of the company’s founder, Akio Toyoda, was “embarrassed” by the LFA being a Lexus and the response it received. So he championed his own racing brand for the successor. And split the grand touring super coupe into three distinct models —

1. GR GT, with a hybrid-assisted twin-turbocharged 4.0L V8, an 8-speed dual clutch transmission, and a 45:55 weight distribution.
2. GR GT3 track variant.
3. A similar-shaped, but fully battery-electric vehicle (BEV) LFA II prototype, which hasn’t yet been greenlit for production. Also, it won’t make glorious V8 noises.

The move coincides with other changes across the company. Lexus Racing is shifting away from its letter “F” branding, which dates back to the first LFA and other special models, before it becomes part of Gazoo Racing for 2027. That’s when the GR GT3 will take over, hoping to dominate various GT3 circuits around the world. And when the sub-3-second to 60, 200 mph GR GT street car will presumably end up at Lexus/GR dealerships before heading to collectors’ garages and track days

Automotive News also reported that Toyota has built a “GR Academy” training facility at Eagles Canyon Raceway in Wise County, Texas, a private 2.7-mile road course. There, GR will house 42 Gazoo Racing vehicles to help train sales persons and to be used by customers as part of a complimentary driving experience that comes with new GR vehicle purchases.

For a look inside the GR Experience Center, head over HERE to Automotive News to watch their video tour!

Images: Gazoo Racing

Michael S. Palmer

Michael S. Palmer began his career assisting and developing content for Academy Award-winning and studio-based film and television producers. He has been a professional writer since 2008, when he joined the Writers Guild of America West (WGAw). As a journalist and Content Editor/Manager, he has covered numerous emerging imaging, theatrical exhibition, home entertainment, and automotive technologies. He currently spends his days creating original content at the Internet Brands Automotive Group for some of the world's largest online automotive communities, including Ford Truck Enthusiasts, CorvetteForum, ClubLexus, AudiWorld, and LS1Tech. He recently teamed with Chevrolet Performance, Holley, Magnaflow, Eaton, Wilwood, Michelin, Chemical Guys, and Summit Racing to build his first project car. Installing an LS3 E-ROD Connect & Cruise system into a 1992 Buick Roadmaster Estate Wagon made his eight-passenger wagon faster than a C5 Corvette to 60mph and 50 state emissions legal. His wife and daughter are very patient.