Four Square

Ferrari has a new version of its four-seat GTC4Lusso. It gets a new twin-turbo V8, a rear-wheel steering system and an all-new fun-to-drive attitude. Shapur Kotwal takes it on a whirlwind tour of Tuscany.

- Shapur Kotwal

Step one of driving any 610hp car involves getting comfortable behind the wheel. This is no sweat on Ferrari’s new GTC4Lusso T. The square-bottom steering wheel adjusts to exactly where I want it and getting that relaxed-but-attentive driving position isn’t difficult either because there’s plenty of legroom. Then, of course, comes the slightly more difficult bit; getting to grips with it. The first hurdle involves negotiating some cobblestoned back streets that seem to randomly snake through one of Tuscany’s most haphazardly planned villages. Yes, the visibility from that big windscreen is good, and that does make it easier, but this is a 4.9m long car with an almost three-metre-long wheelbase. A tiny Fiat 500 it isn’t.

Eventually, we break through – straight into what looks like an Impressionist masterpiece. Rolling hills, olive groves, vineyards, tall needlelike Italian cypress trees and mansions made of centuries-old stone – time seems to have stood still here; you can all but imagine Renaissance masters sitting in the fields with easels, paintbrushes and oil paints.

OFF ON A TROT