When you say "the first episode", do you mean first ep of Grand Tour, or first ep of Top Gear (which was the series before they did Grand Tour). You can go back and tell they're definitely driving. In fact one of the things that made them famous was when Hammond had a wreck back enough he literally suffered permanent brain damage from it and became known for wrecking cars at high speeds...
Now, there may be some staged things. But even Clarkson openly admitted one of the big reasons they were calling it quits was that he was too big and old to drive the cars he wanted to drive (can't fit in), and doesn't want to drive cars he doesn't like. Plus James May suffered a real back injury a couple specials back... Hammond is the youngest between the three and he's in my age bracket (mid 50's).
On the other topic. Hammond says that Amazon plans to try to keep the series going in some form with some new guys. We've seen how that worked out for the BBC trying to replace them. They're going to have to thread a hell of a needle casting that one. If I were in their ears I would be telling them "Keep the old crew on a retainer, and have them effectively take the place of "Mr Producer" in giving new people challenges and directions."
To answer your first question, you don't have to love cars, but you need to be able to appreciate great cars and the experience of driving. If you're not a person who can appreciate a long road trip through gorgeous countryside, then this will end up not being your cup of tea. They just have "wacky hijinks" along the way.
