Sinitta expressed her extreme dissatisfaction with the subject matter of the song when first presented with the idea by record label boss, Simon Cowell.

[2] By contrast, she expressed greater satisfaction with the song's video, which had a substantially bigger budget than her prior efforts, boasting that the clip's solo ballet sequence was one of her most enjoyable pop star memories.

album, Richard Lowe of Smash Hits called "GTO", along with "Toy Boy", "splendidly trashy classics".

[5] In a 2015 review of the parent album, the Pop Rescue website considered "GTO" "a fun track" due to its lyrics and car revving sounds.

[6] In 2021, British magazine Classic Pop ranked the song number 37 in their list of "Top 40 Stock Aitken Waterman songs", calling it a "SAW classic", praised the single for "the YMCA-esque male choir booming out in full chant mode, SAW's slick pop production and Sinitta's bubbly charm", and concluded that it is "nothing if not a whole lot of fun".