Not everyone is pleased with how far Mercedes-AMG is stretching the GT family, but there’s no denying that in GT R guise, the car is an absolute animal.
In a world where supercars from Lamborghini, Ferrari, and McLaren are increasingly prioritizing lap times and precision handling over fun and driver involvement, the GT R is refreshingly different, while still offering that traditional AMG brutish feel and supercar performance.
To discover what the Mercedes-AMG GT R is all about, CarThrottle recently jumped behind the wheel of a matte green example on some fantastic U.S. roads. Unsurprisingly, they came away very impressed.
Mercedes-AMG presented the GT R at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2016 as the range-topping model in the GT range. Powered by a twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 engine, it delivers a mighty 577 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque. With a Nurburgring lap time of 7 min and 10.92 seconds, it was also the fastest rear-wheel drive production car around the circuit before the arrival of the Porsche 911 GT2 RS.
Affalterbach though is far from done with the GT. In fact, a Black Series version is in the works, though after watching this video, we can’t imagine why would anyone would want something other than the GT R – apart from bragging rights and even more insane performance, that is.