While Ford announced limited information about its all-new Ford GT, due out sometime next year, the U.S. automaker did not go into specifics about official output, weight, and torque figures for its halo supercar.
Normally, the automotive community would have to patiently wait until Ford decided the time was ripe to reveal these nuggets of information, but Forza Motorsport 6 may have stolen the brand’s thunder.
The new auto racing game debuted this week with the 2017 Ford GT front and center. Diving into the supercar’s specs reveal 630 horsepower and 539 pound-feet of torque erupting from its twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter Ecoboost V6. You also learn that the car weighs 2,890 pounds and has a 43-57 front-to-rear weight bias.
Of course, it’s entirely possible that Forza Motorsport took an educated guess at the power and weight of Ford’s highly anticipated GT based on Ford’s original claims that the new car would make “over 600 hp” and has been lightened thanks to carbon fiber and aluminum construction. Should this be the case, it’s still unclear if the 2017 Ford GT will match rivals like the Ferrari 488 GTB and McLaren 675LT in power-to-weight figures (both models deliver over 650 horsepower at curb weights of just over 3,000 pounds).
However, if the numbers from Forza 6 are even close to accurate, then the Ford GT, with its mid-mounted engine; seven-speed, dual-clutch gearbox; and superbly aerodynamic form should be one of the quickest production vehicles on the market (especially around a racetrack).
Ford’s new application process and expected $300,000-plus price tag certainly point to the brand’s confidence in the halo car’s performance capabilities, but time will tell if an automaker that specializes in models priced hundreds of thousands of dollars less has the engineering chops to rival the world’s best exotics. I’d wager it does.
