diff --git a/share/man/man4/virtio.4 b/share/man/man4/virtio.4
index 8252cc1b795..6af6300b1ce 100644
--- a/share/man/man4/virtio.4
+++ b/share/man/man4/virtio.4
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ use the legacy
 .Nm
 driver
 .Pq 0 .
-The default value is 0.
+The default value is 1.
 .El
 .Sh SEE ALSO
 .Xr virtio_balloon 4 ,
diff --git a/sys/dev/virtio/pci/virtio_pci_modern.c b/sys/dev/virtio/pci/virtio_pci_modern.c
index 108fd2b5f8e..baf7c448bb9 100644
--- a/sys/dev/virtio/pci/virtio_pci_modern.c
+++ b/sys/dev/virtio/pci/virtio_pci_modern.c
@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@ static void	vtpci_modern_write_device_8(struct vtpci_modern_softc *,
 /* Tunables. */
 SYSCTL_DECL(_hw_virtio_pci);
 
-static int vtpci_modern_transitional = 0;
+static int vtpci_modern_transitional = 1;
 SYSCTL_INT(_hw_virtio_pci, OID_AUTO, transitional, CTLFLAG_RDTUN,
     &vtpci_modern_transitional, 0,
     "If 0, a transitional VirtIO device is used in legacy mode; otherwise, in modern mode.");