Twist the throttle on most 250s and you get a noise like a sewing machine in a hurry. The GT250R answered with something lower and more serious, and that difference is most of the story.
Small motorcycles almost always use a parallel twin, because it is cheap and it works. Hyosung put a V-twin in this one instead, which is the configuration you normally meet on much larger and much more expensive machines. The result was a bike that behaved like it had been let out of a bigger class by mistake.
The torque arrived earlier than the numbers suggested it should. You could ride it lazily, a gear high, and it would still pull away from the lights without complaint. Sit at a junction and the exhaust had a proper offbeat rhythm to it rather than a drone.
It also looked the part, which matters more than serious people like to admit. Full fairing, twin headlights, a riding position that leaned you forward just enough to feel intentional. Nobody at a petrol station ever guessed the displacement correctly.
It was a small bike that had never been told it was one, and it rode better for the misunderstanding.
