The narrow tires are not the only reason why the FRS gets thumbs up from the magazine guys.
The FRS engine has a lower COG than the Boxster/Cayman only the F360 and LFA are lower as far as mass produced-conventional engine road cars (according to SCION).
Plus it's got a reliable, low maintenance boxer engine with RWD. You're not going to get that with any new car for that price. Not even close. And No need to spend $2-3K on "IMS" stuff like we do. Sure you can buy an old Porsche and get the RWD/Boxer but you'll be taking your chances on thousands of dollars in unexpected repairs/maintenance. As someone who has spent at least $14K on such (well before the car even hit 100K mile), I can see the appeal of the FRS for under $25K with a nice, handy warranty.
Toyota deserve credit for putting a car like that together even when there's not really an obvious budget-market demand for it.
skinny tires, fat tires, it's getting around Jarama GP circuit just fine here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=romf-G6CZ7g
80% of what a Boxster/Cayman can deliver at any track for only a fraction of the price? That's called common sense use of money in sport.