While we’re sitting around and drumming our fingers, waiting for the McLaren 650S replacement next month, we’ve also learned of some news: McLaren is jumping on the bandwagon and will offer a Drift Mode in the upcoming supercar. Are all the things getting Drift Moded? It would appear so.


In a press release today, the company said that the second-generation of the Super Series will have something magical called the “McLaren Variable Drift Control.” What does this do? I’ll let McLaren tell you:

An additional new feature, McLaren Variable Drift Control, will provide even greater involvement for a driver who wants to fully explore the dynamic ability of the second-generation Super Series, allowing the level of Electronic Stability Control intensity to be varied with the swipe of a finger across a control displayed on the central infotainment screen.


To be absolutely clear, I am not knocking the fact that the new McLaren will have the ability to throw its ass out more easily. I am knocking the fact that the phrase “Drift Mode” is suddenly popping up everywhere.

When Ford did it with the Focus RS, we were all like ooh ahh because it was new and edgy! And then Mercedes-AMG got on board and said that it will offer it too and then it was less cool. And now it’s like somebody at McLaren was like, “Shit! We gotta get on this! THIS IS WHAT ALL THE YOUTHS WANT!”



Can’t we just say, hey, this new McLaren will get very sideways if you hit a button? I guess that doesn’t fit in a #hashtag.

Regardless, I look forward to getting one sideways soon, no matter what they want to call it.