Chris Harris shot to popularity with his Chris Harris on Cars YouTube channel, but now that he’s a part of the new Top Gear crew, he has had to leave his old gig behind, leaving a huge void in the YouTube-viewing appetites of countless of auto enthusiasts all over the world. Fortunately, Top Gear is bringing Harris back to his roots after announcing that the popular presenter would be given a new web series that will be exclusively shown on TopGear.com.

The web series, called Chris Harris Drives, will once again put Harris behind the wheels of some of the world’s finest exotic cars in a similar long-form review format to his previous job. That means we once again get to see Harris provide the kind of in-depth analysis on these prized exotics just like what he did on Chris Harris on Cars.

Neither Harris nor Top Gear have divulged any information about the new show other than its working title. But an announcement is expected to come sooner than later so if there’s anyone out there still mourning the loss of Chris Harris on Cars, it’s time to cheer up because he’s coming back to do a similar show for TopGear.com with the added bonus of, as Harris himself, said, “slow motion slides.”

Chris Harris on Cars

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The revamped Top Gear hasn’t gotten off to the smoothest of starts, so this could be one way for Top Gear to maximise the talents of Chris Harris, who a lot of people see as the most natural fit among the current crop of hosts to the motoring ethos of Chris Harris on Cars Having Harris essentially “return to his roots” gives the new Top Gear the kind of legitimacy that it has so far lacked in the new season.

I’m very happy to see this because I was always a fan of Chris Harris on Cars and I for one think that the new show has been misusing him so far. Sure, he still gets to review the cars and he does have a different show – Continue after the jump to read the full story. that he co-hosts with Rory Reid – but neither of those shows follow the same template that made his YouTube show so successful. For one, he doesn’t get to provide the kind of in-depth analysis that really made Chris Harris on Cars appeal to the passionate group of driving enthusiasts that have come to admire his past works. It also feels like when he does his reviews, he has to pick and choose from a variety of information to discuss on the shows, leaving everything else on the cutting room floor.

With his YouTube channel, he had the liberty to talk about whatever he wanted because he had a big say on how the content would be created. That’s my hope for his new web feature on Top Gear website. Sure, the show will still have it’s say, and that’s fine. I just hope that it can fully maximize Harris’ ability as a natural-born auto presenter.

If it can accomplish that, it would not only provide a semblance of diversity to the current iteration of Top Gear, but more importantly, it gives one of the most well-respected auto journalists in the business his own platform to do what he does best.