Grant:
SciFrog:
 An analogy would be to say that you prefer to put worse tires on your super fast car because it slides more so it is more fun...

That is exactly what Subaru and Toyota have done with the BRZ, FR-S, and FT-86 (used tires from the Prius to make it entertaining and playful at the limit, though limits could've been higher with stickier tires).

I have a friend (who has ordered a GT4) make an anology to wristwatches recently and the move away from purely objective performance in sports cars:

"I have a theory the move is already well underway, which is a big part of the reason classic Porsche prices have been going nuts lately. For 100 years we've been chasing speed, but what happens when speed is so easy it's a given? Tesla P85D, Dodge Hellcat, etc... It's hard to step back to gain perspective, but consider the wristwatch: for over a century a man took pride in the accuracy and small size of his watch.  Accuracy had real value: you could trade three early chronographs for a top of the line frigate. But as technology progressed accuracy got easier.  Batteries came along, followed quickly by quartz movement. Suddenly everyone could afford a watch that was more than accurate enough, at which point accuracy ceased to be the measure of a watch.

Today the most valuable watches are not the most accurate or the smallest... Take a few steps back and I feel like sports cars are just getting batteries, but with watches there's no downside to too much accuracy. And Porsche knows it, which is why they dribble out only enough hp to keep customers happy, and why they've switched to making performance as usable as possible rather than simply chasing more. This makes a lot of sense in some ways, but I feel like in the process they're not focusing enough on feel, challenge, etc.

As a racing company going faster is at the core of what they do- when the compass no longer points north, will they lose their way?"


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73 Carrera RS 2.7 Carbon Fiber replica (1,890 lbs), 06 EVO9 with track mods. Former: 73 911S, Two 951S's, 996 C2, 993 C2, 98 Ferrari 550

 

Of course, racing is not the equivalent of driving a sports car on public streets.  The sports car driver is looking for exhilaration of the senses and a fast race car, especially, on the street fails that basic premise.  There are many days, such as today, that taking the MG TC out for a trip up and down Lake Shore Drive in Chicago is much more rewarding than taking a GT3 on the same.  Speed is relative and even in heavy traffic, the TC feels very lively at 45 mph.