The BMW McLaren F1 GTR Race Car '97 is a race car produced by BMW and McLaren. It first appeared in Gran Turismo 4 Prologue (where it was named BMW McLaren F1 GTR FINA (Long) '97), and has been featured in all subsequent mainline games except Gran Turismo Sport.
The car is #42, driven by J.J. Lehto, Steve Soper, and Nelson Piquet, who participated in the GT1 class of the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans. The car, however, failed to finish the race.
In-Game Description[]
Car Index (GT7)[]
The F1 GTR racing machine that took the Le Mans title and GT races around the world.
Established in 1965, F1 constructor McLaren has become a veteran team on par with the distinguished Ferrari F1 family. However, there is something that Ferrari had and McLaren didn't; an in-house manufactured, road-worthy sportscar.
For this reason, McLaren looked to genius designer Gordon Murray to develop the McLaren F1.
This car was born to be an F1 car that can drive on public roads, but the high-power sportscar was also brought to the racing circuit to show off its performance. McLaren developed the racing model F1 GTR and supplied it for racing.
A chin spoiler and rear wing were added for the F1 GTR and the ride height was lowered even further. It was also drastically reduced in weight from the normal 1134 kg. BMW Motorsport provided the V12 engine which was tuned to produce even more power than the normal 618.3 BHP. The tyres were increased in size from 17' to 18' and the brakes were fitted with carbon discs.
The release of the F1 was shocking. In the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans, the team of Yannick Dalmas, Masanori Sekiya and J.J. Lehto claimed victory in the F1 GTR, while 3rd, 4th and 5th place were also dominated by the McLaren. Additionally, the 1995 and 1996 British GT Championships were monopolised by the F1's overwhelming strength.
The F1 GTR was also active in the GT races of many countries. In the 1996 All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship, the team of David Brabham and John Nielsen became the series champions. In 1997, a long tail specification model was added, improving aerodynamics. Private teams continued entering the car in races thereafter and it continued fighting on the front lines of racing until the 2003 season.[1]
Legend Cars (GT7)[]
McLaren’s founder, Bruce McLaren, had always wanted to get into the road car business. In 1969, his company had plans for road cars which were essentially slightly modified Can-Am racing cars. These were the M6GT and M12GT. However, only a few prototypes were made, meaning Bruce’s dream wasn’t truly fulfilled until the 1990s, with the birth of the Gordon Murray designed street legal McLaren F1. The McLaren F1 is still considered by many to be the world’s finest supercar. This McLaren F1 GTR is the racing version of the McLaren F1. The stock F1 was so powerful that, for Le Mans, it had to be detuned from 627.2 BHP to 591.7 BHP to compete. Also, because the McLaren F1 engine was built by BMW, the F1 GTR was raced by BMW’s works team. Equally known for its beautiful FINA livery, it is one of the ever-popular race cars of BMW Motorsport.
Café (GT7)[]
Jeremy[]
Ah, this is the 'long nose', 'long tail' McLaren F1 GTR, which debuted in 1997. Its engine was built by BMW Motorsport. While the McLaren F1 claimed a victorious finish at the 1995 Le Mans 24 Hours... The next year, Porsche's 911 GT1 usurped McLaren's place on the podium. Unwilling to admit defeat, McLaren set to work on this 1997 F1 GTR race car. By its highly aerodynamic design, you can tell it was meant to hit high top-speeds on the straights of Le Mans. While it was not quite able to catch up to Porsche in '97, and ultimately finished in second place... Two years later, BMW settled the score in a way with its own Le Mans victory! But that's a story for another time.
Acquisition[]
| Game | Purchase location | Credits | Other methods |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gran Turismo 4 Prologue | --- | --- | Complete the Lesson #35 in Driving School |
| Gran Turismo 4 | --- | --- | Win the Gran Turismo All-Stars event |
| Gran Turismo PSP | BMW Dealership | 2,000,000 | --- |
| Gran Turismo 5 | Used Car Dealership (Lv. 23+) | 3,537,173 | --- |
| Gran Turismo 6 | BMW Dealership | 1,800,000 | --- |
| Gran Turismo 7 | Legend Cars | 20,000,000[2] | --- |
Trivia[]
- Even though the car was based on the F1 supercar produced by McLaren (which was powered by a BMW V12 engine), it has appeared as a BMW vehicle in all of the games, even after McLaren's appearance as a manufacturer in GT5.
- As BMW Motorsport was the team that entered this F1 GTR in various real-life competitions, this is most likely the reason it has remained listed as a BMW vehicle ever since.
- Presumably due to licensing complications, several other games released around GT4P's release, such as Total Immersion Racing and R: Racing Evolution, were only able to include BMW Motorsport-entered versions of the F1 GTR; these cars would then be listed as a BMW instead of a McLaren. Enthusia Professional Racing was notable as it included the 1996 short-tail F1 GTR instead, but still a BMW Motorsport entry and was also classified as a BMW model.
- It is also worth noting that in 1996, the F1 GTR program was largely taken over by BMW, who also spearheaded the development of the long-tail version.
- The car features a BMW badge on the steering wheel in GT7, akin to the real-world BMW Motorsport F1 GTR models.
- As BMW Motorsport was the team that entered this F1 GTR in various real-life competitions, this is most likely the reason it has remained listed as a BMW vehicle ever since.
- An entry for the SOK Mclaren GTR '99 (with an internal name of gtm9r, where "m" stands for McLaren and "9" stands for the 1999 JGTC season) exists in demo builds of GT2 (specifically, the demo's replay name files), which is a variation of the "longtail" McLaren F1 GTR that ran in the 1999 JGTC season. However, the car was cut prior to the game's release.[3]
- An opponent (driven by Koki Mizuno) in GT7's All Japan GT Car Championship Special Event drives a longtail F1 GTR referencing the SOK McLaren F1 GTR. Additionally, the special event also contains references to the two cut JGTC Lamborghini Diablo and Porsche 911 from GT2.
- Despite being raced in the GT1 class in real life, the car bears a Gr.2 classification in GT7, due to the extremely vague rules of GT1 that allows this car to be quicker than the Gr.3 classification could allow.
- In GT7, it is possible to change the car's light covers, being the only Gr.2 car to have the ability to do so.
- The car's engine sound was overhauled in GT7 from its past appearances.
- The engine displacement of the car in real life is 5995cc, smaller than the short-tail version. This is not shown in any of the games the car appears in.
- At Cr. 20,000,000, it is the most expensive of any grouped race cars in GT7.
Gallery[]
.jpg "F1 GTR '97 - K. Mizuno (SE).jpg (2.45 MB)")
Notes[]
- ↑ Excluding one last run in the 2005 Super GT season by Team Hitotsuyama in the GT500 class
- ↑ Price as of June 2024.
- ↑ Proto:Gran Turismo 2/Cars - String-Only Cars on The Cutting Room Floor