Having driven both the old F82 and the new G82 GT4 cars, it's clear the new one is a serious upgrade in every way. It's fast, forgiving and a blast to drive.

I've driven the old F82 and the new G82 GT4 cars, it's clear the new one is a serious upgrade in every way.

Most people know the G82 M4 for one thing: that massive grille. On the street, that tall kidney face divides opinion like nothing else in the car community. However, on the race car, it's what makes the whole package. You add a big splitter, dive planes and a rear wing, and suddenly the face that looked awkward in a dealership parking lot looks like it was designed for this all along.

The M4 GT4 isn't some road car on steroids with stickers. It feels nothing like it's M4 road-going cousin. Especially when on sticker slicks. The GT4 sits one category below the GT3 in the world of sports car racing, and it's built around a simple idea: production-based race cars that are fast, but not so expensive or complicated that privateer teams and amateur drivers can't run them. Then again, to race one in IMSA can easily be a $40k weekend. Performance across different manufacturers is designed to be equalized through Balance of Performance (BoP), which is why BMW can change the M4 GT4's engine up to 550 hp depending on the series and regulations.

And then there's my favorite detail: the air conditioning and a heated windscreen come standard. To activate the AC in the GT4, you do need to be on the brakes. That still makes a big difference when you're in the middle of a stint in a hot race car in July out in the desert.

The first M4 GT4, based on the F82 M4, was a very good race car in its own right, even being crowned race car of the year in 2018. But the F82 to the G82 is like going from a sharp tool to a precision instrument. The new car is more stable under braking, more composed through fast corners, and much sharper on turn-in. You cannot make this thing understeer if you try. The more steering input, the more the car somehow turns.

The S58 is a big part of this car's overall improvement. The power delivery is broad and smooth, with torque available everywhere on all types of corners, so you're never waiting on the engine off a slow corner. The gearbox shifts quickly and seamlessly. It's so smooth and reliable that you stop thinking about it after a few laps.

The chassis on the G82 is where it really shines. It's longer and wider than the F82, which makes it feel planted in a way the old car didn't. You can lean on the front end on corner entry, trail-brake deep, and trust the car to rotate. The danger here is going into a corner too fast, as the car gives you too much confidence, and spinning it, as I found out on my first flying lap. The ABS and traction control are tuned for racing, not safety nets unlike road cars, and these tools let you work right up to the limit. It rewards precision, but the M4 won't punish small mistakes the way many race cars do. You can still easily catch a moment of understeer if you get a bit too ambitions on the throttle. As with most race cars the brakes are the most important thing to get on top of. To get the most out of the brakes, you'll apply up to 150 lbs of pressure for threshold braking, before activating the ABS.

One of the most notable changes is a button on the steering wheel that lets you temporarily deactivate the traction control. It's a small detail, but this shows how closely BMW listened to its customers. These changes have resulted in results that speak for themselves. The M4 GT4 scored 77 victories and multiple titles in its first year of competition last year, when it debuted in 2023. That's an impressive debut for any race car, and no surprise to find the M4 GT4 on all types of grids all over Europe and North America.

The cost is where the GT4 separates itself from the GT3 cars. The original G82 GT4 went on sale at a net price of a cool €187,000. The EVO now retails for €219,900, which BMW notes is roughly 2.6 times cheaper than the M4 GT3 EVO at €578,000. What a deal (sarcasm).

GT4 racing isn't cheap no matter the manufacturer, and running costs for tires, brakes, fuel, and a crew add up quickly over a season, easily surpassing $500k. But in the world of professional-grade race cars, the M4 GT4 represents a lot of performance, support, and reliability.

The G82 M4 GT4 is everything a customer car should be. It's fast enough to be exciting, stable enough to build confidence (sometimes too much confidence), and reliable enough that teams can focus on the racing and not fixing issues. While the grille may still start arguments in the parking lot, those people likely won't have to look at the front of the GT4 until it comes up to lap them. It's turned a design most people love to hate into something that finally looks exactly right.