2018 Ferrari 812 Superfast reviewed in Oman

In any case, I then approached a tight corner and before I could realise, I was completely in the zone; all my questions about the two-door Berlinetta-style car soon disappeared into oblivion.

Handling the 812 Superfast – or any car with such fire power under the bonnet – requires a certain amount of finesse. One mistake and you could very well be on your way to an expensive insurance claim. It’s bonkers, I tell you.

Yes, it’s a Ferrari, and yes, the nameplate assures you a car that can master the bends and troughs at the Fiorano test track in Maranello (or any other) with utmost ease.

But nothing can truly describe the way this car devours corners.

Thanks to its four-wheel steering system, the dimensions of the car do not factor into the way this car attacks the bends. This makes way for a ‘virtual short wheelbase’ as the rear-wheels clock in various degrees of steering angle to complement the steering lock on the front axle.

While this makes for a very complicated and unnatural feeling at first, you begin to laud the amount of grip the car offers you at incredibly high speeds. Keep in mind: this is a car with an implausibly wide body, and a long wheelbase and track.

It’s quite hard to tone down my juvenile-ness and factor in some objectivity here, but I can report that I was indeed pushing the gas pedal down hard to test the threshold; I wanted to see how much I could flirt with the rear wheels before the back-end gave away to reveal some tyre-smoking oversteer.

Because you have all the power at your feet, the latter is quite easy to invoke. But, the ‘Sport’ mode still lets the electronic nannies take control. This means that the stability control will kick in every time the Pirelli P-Zero tyres implore for grip, and the SSC 5.0 (the new generation of side slip control) will remain on standby should you make a hash of things. You must take this car to a racetrack to test out its full potential, though.

Throughout the course of my short test drive, I could tell the difference between the “new” electric-steering unit in the 812 Superfast and the hydraulic steering rack that is found on its other products (like the 488GTB, GTC4Lusso, etc.).

I cannot comment on whether it was a consequential switch – at least not until I drive the car for a longer period.

But, it does feel a bit hyper-active, at times, and often fails to talk to the driver. It’s almost like the car perturbs itself just to test out whether the electronic systems are in check – it’s very Italian in that sense.

The carbon-ceramic brakes are impressive, offering exceptional (and linear) stopping power. Of course, you would have to generate quite a lot of heat in them to stop from squealing during normal use. Although, I cannot be sure of who can listen to the squeaks with that engine running.

Shutting off the engine – after 10-odd minutes behind the wheel – was the moment I realised that I had come back down to reality. And that’s also when I stepped out of the car to admire the work put in by the engineers and designers who worked in tandem on this car.

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