Is Ferrari’s 488 GTB the smartest supercar on the planet?

With the launch of its new 488 GTB, Ferrari finds itself in almost-but-not-quite uncharted territory. For over 20 years, the Italian company has specialized in building naturally aspirated engines with plenty of specific output (a measure of power divided by engine displacement) that rev to the stratosphere. But the world those cars were designed for is going away. New emissions regulations in Europe and beyond are forcing car makers to replace those naturally aspirated engines with smaller capacity turbocharged units, a trend to which even Ferrari is not immune.

As one might expect, purists are up in arms. “Ferraris shouldn’t be turbocharged,” they cry, conveniently forgetting that the legendary 288 GTO and F40 both used forced induction. It’s not like such fears are completely unfounded, either. Although turbocharging allows you to squeeze a lot more power out of an engine, it usually comes at the expense of throttle response; it takes time for those turbos to scroll up to speed, creating a lag between pushing the accelerator and the desired result. And that extra plumbing uses exhaust gases to drive the turbine that squeezes more air into the engine, which can muffle or mute the soundtrack, something we’re seeing all too clearly in Formula 1 this year.

Fear not, Tifosi (that’s Italian for fan). Last week, Ferrari let some lucky journalists loose in the new 488 GTB, and the word on the street is that they’ve pulled yet another rabbit out of their hat. Ars wasn’t invited, but luckily for us, Chris Harris was there, and he’s made another one of his rather excellent videos to show us just how good the new car is:

Ferrari 488 GTB on road and track – Chris Harris on Cars.

Not only does Ferrari’s new engine manage to feel naturally aspirated (the company claims throttle response is a mere 0.1 seconds slower than the engine in the outgoing 458), but its ECU even does clever things like changing the mapping depending on what gear the car is in. That’s coupled with the latest evolution of Ferrari’s Side Slip Angle Control, the electronics that learn from the driver’s behavior and constantly tweak the (magnetorheological) suspension to let you slide the car around corners. It makes you like a driving deity without ending up backwards in a ditch. On top of all that, the 488 also benefits from Ferrari’s F1-derived expertise in aerodynamics, with variable geometry flaps, vortex generators, and some other clever bits that manage to reduce drag compared to the 458, even though it makes much more downforce. If the car were any cleverer, we’d have to offer it a job at Ars Technica.