French TV channel M6’s Sunday morning automobile show Turbo has been using camcorder footage in its latest test drives. Below are a few scenes from the April 13th episode. Producer and host Dominique Chapatte and Safet Rastoder are taking the McLaren 650 for a test drive. Each of the last few episodes has featured a test drive in which Rastoder uses a camcorder to film Chapatte and the interior of the cabin.

I’m not sure when they began using this technique. I didn’t notice it until recently, and although using camcorder footage in this way is not new by any means, I don’t recall having seen it in Turbo before.

The effect is to bridge the gap between the audience and the hosts of the show, who have the rare privilege of driving some of these cars. By using the handheld video camera, the hosts give the impression that they’re not so different from the YouTube everyman, who just might be someone from the audience filming his own experience with one of these exclusive cars.