McLaren 570 GT Sport pack

McLaren 570 GT Sport pack £161,900

WE SAY: WOKING SPLITS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE 570S AND THE 570GT

The 570GT has been around for a bit, but only now is McLaren reacting to demand for the “sharper, more precise dynamic behaviour of the 570S coupe to be available with the GT bodystyle” with the introduction of the Sport pack. Or so it says.

This gives many things. The whole point of the 570GT is that it’s a toned-down, more practical version of the 570S – just as fast (same 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8, same 562bhp, same 443lb ft of torque) but with more luggage space, marginally slower steering and retuned, less severe suspension.

But opt for the Sport pack, and your 570GT will arrive with the same set-up as a 570S. It gets the same steering rack (a whole two per cent faster than the 570GT’s), damper actuators and uprights as the S, the same Pirelli rubber (P Zero Corsas, though our test car was ftted with winters) and the same software for the steering, adaptive dampers and ESC.

It is, efectively, a better-looking 570S with a second boot.

So it should, in theory, be the best of both worlds. Teaming the 570S’s handling prowess with the GT’s looks and practicality. But truth be told, to tell the diference between the S and the GT, you’d really need to drive them back-toback, so the minutiae of how diferently (or should we say similarly…) they behave and perform aren’t lost on you.

The steering is crisp, direct and communicative, and the ride, though frm, is well damped and beautifully composed for such a car. But it’s on a track, where you can truly exploit the 570’s amusingly accessible limits, that the diference would really be felt between S and GT, between GT and GT Sport Pack.

So if you plan on doing just that – the odd track day, perhaps – maybe the SP is for you. If you’re buying a 570 for any other reason, by all means spec the Sport pack if you really can feel the diference and think it’s a worthwhile upgrade at £4,900. But whatever you do, don’t go thinking it’s in any way necessary to make the 570 great. Because it is already that. And then some.