The new Ford GT features five drive modes for a wide range of driving conditions
The new Ford GT features five drive modes to handle everything from rain to going 216 mph (hopefully not at the same time). I’ve driven the new Ford GT in each of these modes and the breadth of vehicle settings and driving characteristics offered by these five drive modes is pretty amazing. Of course many cars offer multiple driving modes, but the transformation the GT goes through when switching modes is unique, even by modern supercar standards.
Two most mundane modes, Normal and Wet, are pretty straightforward. Normal puts the car at 120 mm ride height and the rear wing deploys at 90 mph. The rear wing retracts at 81 mph and the car’s ride quality, handling and acceleration are an excellent combination of comfortable and capable. Wet mode changes nothing but throttle response, making it slower to avoid a loss of control.
Things get interesting in Sport mode because the 647 horsepower 3.5-liter’s V6 features twin turbochargers, and in Sport mode the turbo’s are kept in boost, even at low- or zero-throttle input. When you do apply throttle in Sport mode the engine immediately provides forward thrust, making it feel like a normally-aspirated big-block muscle car. It’s pretty thrilling.
Track mode put the Ford GT in its most aggressive driver setting
Even more thrilling is Track mode. Putting the new Ford GT in this driving mode immediately drops the car 50 mm, deploys the rear wing, opens the front air channels to create downforce and puts the suspension at its stiffest setting. You can only put the GT in this mode at a complete standstill, which makes sense because the low ride height and rapid shift in suspension stiffness wouldn’t be smart to let happen at speed.
The V-Max drive mode is exactly what it sounds like. In this mode the Ford GT stows the rear wing, remains at its lowest ride height and opens the front air channels for minimum air resistance. This is the mode that lets the Ford GT hit 216 mph. I’ve never tried this mode, but my experience in the new Ford GT makes it easy to imagine the car crossing the 200-mph barrier with room to spare.
It’s an incredibly advanced piece of street-legal automotive machinery, and the spectrum of capabilities offered by these 5 drive modes reflect it.