New McLaren Sabre departs gaming sphere into real life

The new McLaren Sabre showcases how far the company’s Special Operations (MSO) division is willing to go to create bespoke commissions. In conjunction with McLaren Beverly Hills, they have built a special and unique car — essentially bringing a digital game car to life.

The new Sabre is the McLaren Ultimate Vision Gran Turismo that was designed for the PlayStation 4's Gran Turismo Sport game. They have found 15 customers to take delivery of the limited range Sabre, and each customer participated in the development process. The resulting McLaren Sabre isn’t as extreme as the McLaren Ultimate Vision Gran Turismo.

The end result looks more like a fusion between the luxury-orientated McLaren GT front with the zany rear section of the McLaren Senna.

Powering this rare ‘Macca’ is the company’s twin-turbo V8 engine with 614kW and 800Nm on tap. It’s the most powerful naturally-aspirated it makes, overshadowing the powertrain of the track-biased Senna by 7kW. Torque stays the same at 800Nm and maximum attainable speed is 351km/h.

The bespoke commission customer experience included a close working relationship with the MSO development team of designers, engineers and test drivers to ensure that the finished car would exactly match their desired and personalised concept.

“Everything from visiting the ‘skunk works’ style design studio in the UK to flying out the actual development test mule for clients to get behind the wheel of and drive at a private track — these just aren’t things you typically get access to,” said O’Gara Motorsport director Parris Mullins. The build process culminated with a secret track day for customers, held at the O’Gara facility inside the Thermal Club Private Race Track.

Each owner was allowed to drive a development car multiple times throughout the day, while being coached from the right seat. After returning from the drive, owners were sat down in a private room to give direct feedback via video chat to the design and engineering team back in Woking.

 “We were extremely pleased with how the event went and were honoured to support such an integral part of the customer journey for the Sabre,” said Mullins. “And today we are thrilled to hand over the first McLaren Sabre to its new owner — this time, not just a client, more a customer who has been in part collaborator, designer and factory test driver as their dream came to reality”