Gran Turismo has had a huge impact on the automotive world but perhaps nothing it’s contributed is as wild as the new McLaren Solus GT. First featured in Gran Turismo Sport as a part of the game’s Vision GT project, this once purely virtual creation is coming to life in the real world. 25 units will be built, all have been sold, and owners can only drive them on closed circuits.
The single-seater unrestricted supercar debuted today at Monterey Car Week in California. It was first seen on Gran Turismo Sport in 2017 when it was called the McLaren Ultimate Vision Gran Turismo. Now, it’s going to be seen on real race tracks around the globe with a 5.2-liter V10 and a seven-speed sequential gearbox.
That engine revs to more than 10,000 rpm and produces over 817 hp (609 kW) and 479 lb-ft (648 Nm) of torque. Total weight of the Solus GT is less than 2,205 pounds (1,000 Kg) and McLaren is aiming for a 0-60 mph (96 km/h) sprint time of less than 2.5-seconds. It also says that the Solus GT will have a top speed in excess of 200 mph (322 km/h).
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McLaren’s CEO, Michael Leiters marked the achievement by saying “The McLaren Solus GT is the realization of a radical McLaren concept vehicle originally created for the world of virtual racing. Engineered free of any restrictions from road or race regulations, but with the full spectrum of McLaren’s expertise to bring it to reality, it epitomizes our pioneering spirit.”
Buyers can get a full “racing driver experience” during the build process which will include having a seat molded to the individual’s body shape. They’ll also get an FIA-approved racing suit, a helmet, and a HANS device to keep them safe in their single-seat, unrestricted supercar for the race track. The external design is shocking in that this car clearly diverges from the rest of the family.
Bruno Senna, racing driver and prototype tester for the Solus GT told Bloomberg that piloting this car is “a whole different planet” when compared to other Mclaren supercars. “This is the closest you can get to a top-end race car,” he said. “It’s friendly to drive but—definitely for the people who buy it—they will need a coach.”
Those drivers are already known to McLaren as all 25 production units have been sold. While pricing was not announced there are rumors floating around that it’s somewhere in the neighborhood of $3.5 million.
