The 2020 McLaren GT—never mind the looks, love the way it drives

• I'm not in love with the way the McLaren GT looks, but I did fall in love with the way it drives. [credit: Jonathan Gitlin ]

It has been interesting to watch McLaren Automotive making the most of its platform. The company has been highly resourceful, using the same (or highly similar) basic building blocks—a carbon-fiber monocoque tub and twin-turbo V8 engine—to build a range of supercars and hypercars for most occasions. With the McLaren GT, the carmaker has gotten as far away from laptime-obsessed machines like the hybrid P1 or the wing-covered Senna as it can. GT stands for "grand tourer," and that means this is a car designed to be comfortable over long distances.

That's something I tried to put to the test as best I could, given rather strict instructions not to put more than 250 miles (402km) on the odometer. And it's true—this is the most comfortable, most easy-to-live-with McLaren I've driven. But don't go expecting something soft or podgy—it might say "GT" on the chassis plaque, but it's still a true supercar, through and through.

First, a confession: I'm not a fan of the way it looks, forward of the B pillars. The nose appears borrowed from a goblin shark, and the way some of the GT's lines intersect halfway down the car makes me wonder if members of the design team each contributed elements without anyone talking to each other. Then again, from other angles, particularly the rear, I think parts of it look amazing. But looks are subjective, and plenty of passersby viewed the shape of its (aluminum) body far more favorably than I do.