Your complete guide to the McLaren 570GT

McLaren’s hatchback supercar. It’s the British speed merchants’ most practical, least hardcore creation. And yet, built around a carbon tub, powered by a bi-turbo 3.8-litre V8 good for 562bhp, and capable of performance in the same ballpark as the legendary McLaren F1.

From most angles, it looks like a dead ringer for McLaren’s other Sport Series models, the 540C and 570S. However, the GT sheds flying buttresses and a flat rear deck for a glassy hatch and extra luggage storage directly above the engine. It’s also got slightly slower steering and softer suspension than the 570S – though you can select the racier handling setup as an option – and McLaren fits foam-filled tyres to deaden road noise a tad. 

Photography: Rowan Horncastle

Like most McLarens, the 570GT is powered by a mid-mounted 3.8-litre V8 boosted by twin turbochargers. Here, it’s in a lower state of tune, but still massively potent. It develops 562bhp and 443lb ft, which is sent to the rear wheels via McLaren’s dual-clutch paddleshift transmission – or Seamless Shift Gearbox, as Woking likes to brand it.

Very. That turbo V8 pings the 570GT from 0-62mph in 3.4 seconds, and flat out it’ll v-max at 204mph. Both the classic F1 supercar and this - the heaviest, least focused of McLaren’s Sports Series range - officially see off the drag-racing benchmark distance in 11.1 seconds.

On the way, the 570GT hits 124mph from rest in 9.8 seconds.

On the face of it, the 570GT is McLaren’s least advanced car – but it’s still a spaceship. It shuns the complex cross-linked hydraulic suspension of the Super Series – i.e. the new 720S – in favour of conventional springs and dampers with anti-roll bars, but there are still three settings of stiffness: Normal, Sport and Track. The same three parameters also govern the powertrain’s viciousness, and can be chosen via the car’s Active Dynamics panel under the interior touchscreen. 

This is also where you’ll find buttons for Launch Control and disabling the stability program, to indulge in one of McLaren’s most playful chassis' to date. 

There’s no pop-up spoilers on the 570GT – its aero is fixed – but the kicked up tail stands a mite taller than the 570S’s so cancel out the loss of downforce from binning the flying buttresses.

The 570GT is the most expensive of the Sports Series set. Before you add the myriad tempting carbon trim options, it’s exactly £157,000. It’s smack bang in the crosshairs of the Mercedes-AMG GT R, Audi R8 V10 Plus and Honda NSX. 

Like a classic Jaguar E-Type coupe, the 570GT’s fastback hatch is hinged on one side. In the UK, and other countries where the law says to drive on the correct side of the road, like Japan, it keeps this arrangement. But should you purchase a 570GT in a land where drivers drive on the wrong (right) side, McLaren moves the hinges to the right-hand side, so the door opens most conveniently for the driver’s seat. How’s that for attention to detail?