diff --git a/templates.fif.json b/templates.fif.json
index e37ce1d5..69439fe9 100644
--- a/templates.fif.json
+++ b/templates.fif.json
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@
                 "QEMU": "aarch64",
                 "QEMUCPU": "host",
                 "QEMUCPUS": "2",
-                "QEMUMACHINE": "virt",
+                "QEMUMACHINE": "virt,gic-version=max",
                 "QEMURAM": 3072,
                 "QEMU_VIRTIO_RNG": "1",
                 "SERIALDEV": "ttyAMA0",