If you’re like me and spend most of your Sundays watching the NFL, you’ve probably seen GMC’s “.”Press the button» commercial more than you would like. I feel like I’m hearing this robot voice telling me to press the button in my sleep and I can’t do it anymore. Annoying earworms aside, the 30-second TV spot also shows off GMC’s Crab Walk mode for the Hummer EV and Sierra EV. Judging from the TV commercials alone, I initially felt like this was the most pointless and useless feature. But then I tested it and realized it wasn’t useless at all. It’s actually really cool.

I stopped at the Crab Walk course during the GMC Sierra EV Denali press launch without any prior instruction on what it can do, what its limitations are, or even how to use it. GMC just told us how to enable Crab Walk in the infotainment (which is followed every time by an obnoxious graphic and dramatic noise) and told us to go crab walk.

The course consisted of a series of offset cone gates that we had to pass through, and we were docked in time for each cone we hit. We were also told it disengages at 40 mph, so we had to keep it slow and use the panoramic camera to judge where the rear of the bed is. After that, I was on my way. The first gate was only a few meters from the start line, and to the left, so I had to start my first slide quite quickly, with no idea of ​​how bad the slide was as I turned the wheel. With the windows rolled down, I instinctively said, “Oh, I don’t like that!” I’m sure the people at GMC heard me.

Truth be told, I didn’t like it at first because feeling a car slide sideways, like it’s being machine-gunned in a video game, is an incredibly unnatural feeling. This doesn’t look good. However, after nailing the first two doors, I started to get the hang of it and really enjoyed it. Since we were on soft dirt, the truck even drifted a little, which added to the challenge. It’s a completely unique experience in a typically homogenous automotive market and that makes it fascinating.

On my second run, I felt more comfortable with it, almost pushing it through the doors one-handed, using the cameras to make sure I didn’t jam a cone with the tailgate. It’s surprising how quickly your brain can adapt to such a foreign sensation. But then I wanted more: a longer route, higher speeds and trickier doors.

Although I still couldn’t think of an actual use case for this. Perhaps slot parking, if there is enough space? In the aforementioned commercial, the Hummer EV Crab walks between a dumpster and a truck, even though a normal turn would have sufficed.

I wasn’t convinced customers would ever use it, so I asked a GMC spokesperson. I’ve been given a few scenarios that seem like logic problems that Crab Walk can solve. For example, if you accidentally drive into a ditch on the side of a trail and have to get out, when you turn the wheels and accelerate, you are relying almost entirely on the sidewalls of two tires for grip. But with Crab walkyou double that level of grip by only moving sideways, instead of moving forward and trying to turn sideways. Backing up to a trailer can also be made easier if there isn’t enough room to turn the truck. This will be one of those features that isn’t needed often, but when it proves useful, customers will be happy to have it.

It’s also just fun.

Do you have any advice? Send them to [email protected]