It’s difficult to truly appreciate just how potent GT3 race cars are until you test one side-by-side with its road-going alternative.

For Drive’s Matt Farah, that opportunity recently came as he jumped behind the wheel of a BMW M6 tuned by Turner Motorsport before driving the company’s successful M6 GT3 race car.

Power for both models comes from a twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 engine but in GT3-spec, peak horsepower varies depending on the series its competing in. However, it can muster up around 585 PS (576 hp), a touch over the 560 hp rating of the road car.

What makes the M6 GT3 so much faster than the road car is the fact that it tips the scales at less than 1,300 kg (2,866 pounds), significantly less than the 1,927 kg (4,250 pound) weight of the standard M6 Coupe.

All told, these points make the M6 GT3 an absolute performance machine capable of both incredible cornering speeds and insane straight-line performance.

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