What is car spotting?
Car spotting is photographing interesting cars you come across in public places — supercars outside a hotel, a classic at a traffic light, a prototype in camouflage on the motorway — then identifying and sharing them. People who do it are called car spotters, or simply spotters.
It is the car world's version of train spotting or plane spotting. Some spotters chase hypercars only; others collect every generation of one model, every Japanese sports car, or every car worth a second look on their way to school.
Where the hobby comes from
Enthusiasts have photographed exotic cars at motor shows and outside luxury hotels for as long as there have been exotic cars. Photo-sharing websites and forums gave spotters a place to post their finds in the 2000s, and YouTube and Instagram turned the best of them into creators in the 2010s, filming the supercars of London's Knightsbridge or Monaco's Casino Square.
Today most spotting happens on a phone. The camera is good enough, the car can be identified in seconds, and a spot can be on a map, in a garage and in front of thousands of other spotters before the car has turned the corner.
What spotters look for
- Hypercars and supercars — Bugatti, Pagani, Koenigsegg, Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren: the classic targets.
- Limited editions and special versions — a GT3 RS rather than a Carrera, a 765LT rather than a 720S.
- Classics and youngtimers — from a Ferrari 250 to an Alpine A110 or a Lancia Delta Integrale.
- Prototypes — camouflaged test cars, often seen near manufacturers' test centres and on mountain passes.
- Modified cars — tuned, wrapped, widebody or restomod builds.
- Rare specs — an unusual colour, a manual gearbox, a one-off.
Where to spot rare cars
Rare cars go where their owners go. The best spots are luxury shopping streets, five-star hotels, marinas, restaurant districts and the entrances of car events.
- Paris — Avenue Montaigne, Avenue George-V, Place Vendôme and the Golden Triangle, especially on weekend evenings.
- The French Riviera — Monaco's Casino Square and Port Hercule, La Croisette in Cannes, the port of Saint-Tropez in summer.
- London — Knightsbridge, Mayfair and Sloane Street, the city's spotting capital.
- Ski resorts in winter — Courchevel, Megève, St. Moritz.
- Car meets and cars and coffee — dozens of rare cars in one place, with owners happy to talk. Find meets near you.
- Motor shows, track days and races — the paddock and the car park are often better than the stands.
How to start car spotting
- 1
Use the phone you have
Today's phone cameras are more than enough. A dedicated camera helps later, not to start.
- 2
Go where the cars are
Pick one good spot near you and come back at different times; patterns appear fast.
- 3
Learn the cars
Every spot you identify teaches you the details that tell a GT3 from a GT3 RS.
- 4
Log every spot
A spot you can't find again is half a spot. Keep them in a garage, on a map, by brand.
Photo tips for better spots
- Shoot from the car's height, not from your eye level: crouch.
- Use the 2× lens rather than the wide angle, which distorts cars at close range.
- A three-quarter front view shows the most of a car; get a rear shot too.
- Keep the whole car in the frame, with a clean background if you can.
- For a moving car, use burst mode and follow it with the phone.
- Golden hour light flatters every car — and so does a wet street at night.
Etiquette and the law
In most countries, including France and the UK, you may photograph cars in public places. Respect still matters: don't touch the car, don't block traffic or pavements, don't follow a driver, and ask before photographing an interior or a person.
Number plates are a different matter. In the EU a plate can identify its owner, so it counts as personal data: mask it before you post. Wheeloh does it for you, on your phone, before the photo is uploaded — see how plate masking works.
How Wheeloh helps you spot
Wheeloh is a car spotting app built around those habits. Photograph a car and it identifies the make and model, scores the spot from about 40 points for an everyday car to 3,000 for an ultra-rare hypercar, files it in a garage sorted by brand and pins it on the map.
Every spot moves you along the collection of 1,154 models and up the world and friends rankings. Spot zones show where the scene is busiest, car meets are on the same map, and clubs, chat and Instagram stories take care of the rest.