The McLaren F1 '94 is a road car produced by McLaren. It appears in Gran Turismo 5 and in Gran Turismo 6.
In-game description
"The final word in sportscars that captures the philosophy of the genius Gordon Murray." The McLaren F1 production car first made its appearance in 1991 as the king of all super sports exotics. The car was built by Formula 1 constructor McLaren and styled by lead designer Gordon Murray, who was assigned the arduous task of bringing to life company founder Bruce McLaren's dream of building a road-going automobile with the McLaren name.
The F1 sports car had scissor-type doors not unlike those of a Lamborghini Diablo. Its monocoque structure was extremely light, contributing to the car's 1140 kg weight. The car was laden with so many special features that they are too many to list here, but one trait worth noting is the car's passenger seating arrangement. By positioning the driver's seat at the center of the interior and the two passengers on opposing sides behind the driver, an ideal lateral and vertical weight balance was realized. Even the trunk was positioned within the wheelbase to ensure optimal weight distribution. Mounted amidships was BMW's 6.1-liter V-12 that pumped out 618 HP. Although other exotics of the day used forced induction, McLaren opted to keep its powerplant naturally aspirated for better overall response and driving ease.
Upon its release to the public, the McLaren F1 was hailed as the fastest road-going sports car in the world, one that was also quite practical as an everyday driver. Needless to say, many McLaren F1 owners wanted to race the car because of its incredibly high level of performance, prompting the company to produce the F1 GTR, a race version of the road car. The F1 GTR went on to enjoy a successful racing career that included wins in races such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Handling
The McLaren F1 is one of the fastest road-going cars in GT5. The naturally-aspirated V12 located amidships puts out 627 horsepower, and the lack of a turbo or a supercharger necessitates very fine throttle control when coming out of a turn (this is less of a problem in longer races, as the tires get warmer and warmer, which generates more friction and makes for easier throttle application). However, the car turns in well and demonstrates extreme balance through the center of the corner. The F1's top speed in the game is lower than in real life (in the game, the car seems to have trouble getting past 225 miles per hour out of the draft, whereas in real life the the car has been recorded traveling up to 240). It is extremely quick in the draft: a three-car bump draft (also called a "tandem draft") can reach speeds of over 260 miles per hour on Special Stage Route X, and a two-car tandem can get up to 240. This extreme drafting ability can allow the McLaren to slingshot by other supercars such as the Cadillac Cien and distance them by over 12 car-lengths in many situations, and the car can accelerate out of most corners faster than any production car in the game but it will have more body rolls than most of the supercars due to its soft suspension and the grip levels are lower than cars like MP4-12c and 458 Italia.Even then the car's blistering straight-line performance and precise handling can, when combined with good throttle control leaving a corner, make it unbeatable on virtually every course in the game by anything besides another F1 (at least, while going up against other road cars).
GTR
The McLaren F1 has two GT racing versions: the "Long Tail" version and the "Short Tail" version. Both Long and Short Tail versions of this car are available in Gran Turismo, the former featured for the first time in Gran Turismo 4 and the latter featured for the first time in Gran Turismo 6.
Acquisition
GT5
As a premium car, the McLaren F1 '94 can be purchased on the McLaren Dealerships for 1.000.000 Credits. It is a level 17 car.
GT6
This car can be purchased for 1,000,000 Credits. Alternatively, the player can receive this car by obtaining half of the stars in the races of the Super category. It has a detailed interior.
Trivia
- The car's engine bay is gold-plated for optimum heat reflection.
- The car's driver seat is located in the middle of the cabin.
- In the actual road car, despite featuring a CD player, it has no radio.
- It doesn't have an actual handbrake; instead, the rear brake caliper is electronically controlled to emulate a handbrake.
- Although this car doesn't appear in Gran Turismo 2, the speedometer and tachometer of this car appears in the boxart of the US version of the game.