2020 McLaren 600LT / Base Price: $256,500 / Engine: Twin Turbo V8 / Horsepower: 592 / Weight (Dry): 2,749 lbs. / Zero-to-60: 2.9 sec. / Warranty: 3 year unlimited milage

Among the selling points for six-figure supercars cars like the McLaren 600LT: noise, brutal ride quality, and an absence of conveniences. (For one, there's no glove box). Those deliberate deficiencies benefit performance and feedback for the driver, all of which amounts to feeling like you’re driving a real race car to Olive Garden. It's a grown up car version of wearing a super hero cape outside.

You could spend a bit less on a McLaren 570S or 570GT, which are quieter and gentler. But the 600LT, like the Ferrari 488 Pista or Lamborghini Huracán Performante, is for customers who find that discomfort invigorating.

McLaren
Trevor Raab
Land vehicle, Vehicle, Car, Automotive design, Supercar, Performance car, Sports car, Wheel, Rim, Luxury vehicle,
Trevor Raab
This specific McLaren 600LT Spider would sell for $339,250. Those openings on the top of the back are the exhaust.

It all sounds stupid until you try it. Even at legal speeds, every drive is exhausting. But outside of piloting a fighter jet, there aren’t many other ways to experience so much noise and confusion while feeling, inexplicably, in complete control. The 600LT, specifically, is about as good as enthusiastic driving gets. Problem is, if you want to drive anywhere even approaching this car’s capabilities, you’re breaking laws and terrifying your passenger. One solution: take it to a race track.

That’s where the cameras come in.

Vehicle door, Vehicle, Rim, Car,
Trevor Raab
For an extra $1,660, the 600LT comes with forward-facing cameras, like this one between the two seats. They record your laps, along with info like steering angle and braking force.

Spend a few hundred bucks (and make sure your insurance covers a track day), and you can bring a car like the 600LT to a track. Besides the absence of speed limits, track days are where people who own a car like this can feel the manufacturer’s racing history. That’s another selling point for companies like Ferrari and Lamborghini: these mid-engine supercars are the result of decades of ingenuity in pursuit of winning races. Those paddles you use to shift gears with your hands? Taken from race cars. And winning races means getting faster by analyzing game footage.

Land vehicle, Vehicle, Car, Supercar, Sports car, Automotive design, Mclaren automotive, Performance car, Mclaren mp4-12c, Automotive wheel system,
Trevor Raab
The 600LT is the lighter, stripped-down version of the 570S. One necessary option for driving outside the racetrack is the $1,610 mechanism that lifts the front end over steep driveways and speed bumps.

In the 600LT, the cameras in the bumper and between the seats are part of a $1,660 option. If your car has them, before you start your lap, you turn on what's called the track telemetry system. Along with video recording, the car records how hard you’re engaging the brakes and throttle, your steering angle, rpm, speed—every metric that can help inform you about what to do differently next time to go just a bit faster. Plug a USB thumb drive into the car’s ports, send it all the data, and plug the drive into a PC.

There, you'll see loads of x-y graphs that you can break down into actionable information: brake later on this turn, harder on the throttle out of that turn, etc.

Racing video game, Pc game, Vehicle, Car, Technology, Screenshot, Driving, Video game software, Games, Electronic device,
Exotics Racing
This example of track footage paired with telemetric data is from Exotics Racing in Las Vegas. GPS provides the car’s position on the track, top right.

If $300,000, plus a track day, plus insurance isn’t in your budget (which...understandable), McLaren, like other exotic car companies, will host civilians at racing schools—these start at over $1,000 and can go beyond $30,000 for multiple days of driving. Why so expensive? Besides the wear on the cars, the insurance, and the location, participation requires a staff of experts, including instructors who ride along with you to talk you into a faster lap time.

If all of this sounds like an expensive way for people to live out race car driver fantasies, it kind of is. But even if you drive an old Mazda Miata, time on a track is a reliable way to get thrills and learn skills that will help you drive better on your commute.

Cameras help, but aren't required.

Headshot of Alexander George
Alexander George
Senior Editor

As Editor in Chief, Alexander oversees all of Popular Mechanics’ editorial coverage across digital, print, and video. He has been a science and technology journalist for over 10 years and holds a Master of Arts degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He was previously Technology Editor for Popular Mechanics and before that, a contributor to publications including the Wall Street Journal, Wired, Outside, and was a product tester and reviewer for The Wirecutter. He has been called on to appear on live and taped broadcast programs including Today and programs on MSNBC. He lives in Pennsylvania and rides a 2012 Triumph Street Triple R motorcycle.