Video: The Smoking Tire Puts the McLaren 570GT Through Its Paces

Farah tests out McLaren’s new 570GT “daily driver” supercar with this One Take.

Matt Farah of The Smoking Tire recently got his (slightly injured) hands on a McLaren 570GT. This is the English supercar builder’s newest model of the 570. Intended as a grand tourer—hence the “GT”—that the owner can drive every day, Farah gave an honest accounting of the GT and how it stacks up as a livable car.

Much of the car’s mechanical components remain the same as the more track-ready 570S. The same twin-turbocharged 3.8-liter V8 shoves 562 horsepower into the same seven-speed gearbox with paddle shifters on the steering wheel. The exterior is the same with the test car coming in a handsome Pacific Blue.

However, most of the changes are meant to make the 570GT a more pleasant drive. The standard interior comes with a healthy dose of leather, a glass sunroof, and a glass rear hatch that opens to a leather-lined luggage lounge, if we’re trying to score full alliteration points. The biggest performance change is the original equipment Pirelli P-Zero all-season tires on the GT. The change from the grippier, track-ready Pirelli Super Trofeo is also designed to make the 570GT a more capable daily driver. As Farah took on the loaner 570GT during a set-in period of rain in Los Angeles, he found they made a big difference when facing standing water on the roads.

The test 570GT was also fitted with an insane 1,280-watt, 12-speaker stereo system that must feel, when cranked, like you have become the music. That sound system includes carbon-fiber subwoofers because why wouldn’t you make those from carbon fiber? The rest of the speakers are made of other semi-exotic materials like Kevlar for the mid-range units. 

Naturally, there were some drawbacks for day-to-day driving, but he seems to think it’s worth it to live with a car that is “like a spaceship.” We’ll let you hear it straight from Matt on this canyon-road One Take from The Smoking Tire.