Never meet your heroes?: Ferrari 458 Italia- Discussion
Discussion
Hello All,
I have always had two dream cars, a Ferrari F12 Berlinetta and the 458 Speciale. I understand they are quite different, one being front engined, rear wheel drive and most importantly V12 powered and the other mid engined V8. Recently, I got the chance to drive a 458 Italia, which is of course quite a notch down from the speciale, but never the less I was incredibly excited and I had many preconceptions as to what I thought the car would feel like. I was to drive the 458 on track, for three laps as part of a Supercar Experience which my girlfriend had brought me for Christmas.
Abit of background about myself which may be important in why I felt the way I did about the car; I am 18, I drive a very boring four cylinder car as a first car, up until that day I hadn't driven anything other than my car since I passed my driving test. Before driving the 458 I drove a 997 Carrera Porsche which I absolutely adored by the end and felt the "specialness" of the 911 instantly, leaving me with a large smile on my face and incredibly eager to drive a version of my dream car, the 458 Italia.
Upon hopping inside the 458, the cockpit was nice, I had a nice driving position, the steering wheel fit into my hands like I never could have imagined, the thickness of the wheel felt great and the wheel was the perfect size. I then turned to the instructor to focus back on what he was saying before I got so excited. I remember specifically the instructor said "When you get to the hill, you should be in fourth gear and the car will fly", thinking to myself fourth gear was relatively high for what was a 40mph bend or so, I trusted the instructor and took him for his word.
Upon setting off, I was quite shocked at how light the steering was compared to the fantastically weighted wheel in the 911 I had previously driven, the wheel felt incredibly accurate on the 911, would the Ferrari's wheel feel boring in comparison? Once I had waited in line I entered the track, I instantly hit the accelerator with some respect and watched the rev's climb, the sound of the engine was annoyingly muffled by the windows being up and the aircon blasting.
When I got to the hill previously mentioned, I was in fourth gear, check, I was at a good speed for the corner, check, and I was on the right position on the track, just touching the apex. Time to feel the full experience of my dream car at its best, in that very moment I plant my foot and feel the car bog down slightly and little acceleration... Come on, I knew the instructor was lying, but I will just wait until the next lap... The next lap comes round and I'm sure to select third gear this time, without trying to annoy the instructor who seemed like he would rather be watching paint try, I punch the accelerator again and this time I feel some acceleration and overtake two cars before the bend, feeling playful that I had just overtaken two cars, yet underwhelmed by the 458's lack of fun. I did look down after accelerating up the hill and noticing that the rev counter on the steering wheel only lit up three LED's and noticed that traction control was on wet, which came at no surprise.
With the last lap not standing out particularly in my memory, then driving the LP560-4 Gallardo afterwards and being in pure bliss, laughing and smiling the entire time having not expected to like it. It makes me wonder, was the 458 just not for me? Had I built it up to be something it wasn't in my mind? Or did I simply just not have enough time to get to know the car paired with it being on a track with a very out of touch instructor?
Opinions and experiences are welcome below.
I have always had two dream cars, a Ferrari F12 Berlinetta and the 458 Speciale. I understand they are quite different, one being front engined, rear wheel drive and most importantly V12 powered and the other mid engined V8. Recently, I got the chance to drive a 458 Italia, which is of course quite a notch down from the speciale, but never the less I was incredibly excited and I had many preconceptions as to what I thought the car would feel like. I was to drive the 458 on track, for three laps as part of a Supercar Experience which my girlfriend had brought me for Christmas.
Abit of background about myself which may be important in why I felt the way I did about the car; I am 18, I drive a very boring four cylinder car as a first car, up until that day I hadn't driven anything other than my car since I passed my driving test. Before driving the 458 I drove a 997 Carrera Porsche which I absolutely adored by the end and felt the "specialness" of the 911 instantly, leaving me with a large smile on my face and incredibly eager to drive a version of my dream car, the 458 Italia.
Upon hopping inside the 458, the cockpit was nice, I had a nice driving position, the steering wheel fit into my hands like I never could have imagined, the thickness of the wheel felt great and the wheel was the perfect size. I then turned to the instructor to focus back on what he was saying before I got so excited. I remember specifically the instructor said "When you get to the hill, you should be in fourth gear and the car will fly", thinking to myself fourth gear was relatively high for what was a 40mph bend or so, I trusted the instructor and took him for his word.
Upon setting off, I was quite shocked at how light the steering was compared to the fantastically weighted wheel in the 911 I had previously driven, the wheel felt incredibly accurate on the 911, would the Ferrari's wheel feel boring in comparison? Once I had waited in line I entered the track, I instantly hit the accelerator with some respect and watched the rev's climb, the sound of the engine was annoyingly muffled by the windows being up and the aircon blasting.
When I got to the hill previously mentioned, I was in fourth gear, check, I was at a good speed for the corner, check, and I was on the right position on the track, just touching the apex. Time to feel the full experience of my dream car at its best, in that very moment I plant my foot and feel the car bog down slightly and little acceleration... Come on, I knew the instructor was lying, but I will just wait until the next lap... The next lap comes round and I'm sure to select third gear this time, without trying to annoy the instructor who seemed like he would rather be watching paint try, I punch the accelerator again and this time I feel some acceleration and overtake two cars before the bend, feeling playful that I had just overtaken two cars, yet underwhelmed by the 458's lack of fun. I did look down after accelerating up the hill and noticing that the rev counter on the steering wheel only lit up three LED's and noticed that traction control was on wet, which came at no surprise.
With the last lap not standing out particularly in my memory, then driving the LP560-4 Gallardo afterwards and being in pure bliss, laughing and smiling the entire time having not expected to like it. It makes me wonder, was the 458 just not for me? Had I built it up to be something it wasn't in my mind? Or did I simply just not have enough time to get to know the car paired with it being on a track with a very out of touch instructor?
Opinions and experiences are welcome below.
MingtheMerciless said:
I think more time is required. If you were let off the leash and did a few tuition laps and then a few solo ones building up your speed and moderating your braking points as you got more used to it it should be a huge step up on the Gallardo (particularly a 4wd Gallardo). The steering is light on the 458 but this oddly to my mind suits track work better than road use. The 488's steering is noticeably heavier, if not any more feelsome (nothing has got close in PAS terms to the feel of the 996 rack in my opinion).
The 458 is an epic car, a huge step up from the F430, although it isn't the most special sounding one. It is on a par with/slightly better than/slightly less epic than the McLaren equivalents (choose your preference here, it's all subjective). So I don't think you have driven it enough to conclude on it yet.
Mind you I wasn't anywhere close to driving a 458 equivalent on track at 18 so fair play. You have lots of time and opportunity to make your mind up.
I'm hoping that more time require is the case... I'm sure I'll get round to driving another 458 in my life, but for now, unfortunately, it's no longer my dream car and I cringe slightly every time I see one on the roads or on the internet at what was once such a love and passion I had for that car. The 458 is an epic car, a huge step up from the F430, although it isn't the most special sounding one. It is on a par with/slightly better than/slightly less epic than the McLaren equivalents (choose your preference here, it's all subjective). So I don't think you have driven it enough to conclude on it yet.
Mind you I wasn't anywhere close to driving a 458 equivalent on track at 18 so fair play. You have lots of time and opportunity to make your mind up.
I definitely agree, with a longer time spend with the car I would most definitely start to like the car. Thinking back, the instructor in the 911 was pretty nice, showed me the racing line (never having driven a track before) and he let me put the windows down to hear the beautiful sounding six cylinder leading to me thoroughly enjoying and bonding with the car. The instructor in the Gallardo was fantastic, he just said "Now, I can see you know the track well and are in good control of the car, so I'm going to shutup and let you enjoy the experience." which essentially gave me the permission to have as much fun as possible in that car in the time I had. See below for the pic of me driving it, I'd suggest paying close attention to the instructors face whilst he was "being quiet".
Having enjoyed the 911, I'm going to treat myself to a track day in a Porsche next summer where I can learn the car completely and get the full experience. Does anyone have any suggestions for where I could do this?
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