Ferrari should offer a manual gearbox on the 458, they now offer it on the california.

 

This.

But I agree with all of the major points in this thread.

 

I agree with pretty much everything that's been said here.

From the diminishing connection between driver and car in the name of technology and ease of driving, to the sad fact that the vast majority of the buyers are not purists.

This trend is showing on bikes as well. Even the "rawest" of bikes come with traction control and ABS. Me no likey, at all.
In comparison, bikers are in proportion more purists than car guys ... so we'll see how that goes.

It doesn't mean the purist supercars are gone, they're just not offered by the same manufacturers anymore. Ferrari, Lambo, Porsche ... they've all become too mainstream and corporate for their own good.
Simply because a panel of marketing specialists does not understand passion. Only a strong driven individual can.
It's now up to Pagani, Koenigsegg, Ariel or SSC and other lunatics to satisfy the purist.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the OP seems to identify strongly with the "balls on a wire" feeling that the CGT elicits and posits that feeling is synonymous with a "driver's supercar". So, let's identify what a driver's car is?

Wtdoom - as most have already applauded, myself included, not many CGT owners would actually drive their car on a track. I've never driven mine on a track. I have other less lethal, less costly toys that I enjoy on the track from time to time, but the CGT has always left me weary. It's not so much the stories of wrecks or everyone's white face after they get out of one, but it's that feeling that so many CGT owners share of what can only be likened to slowly dismantling a bomb every time you drive it. Johnsgt has spoken about it and even publicly come out and considered selling the car because of it. Others have bought and sold and bought again the CGT because the feeling is so intimidating yet so intoxicating. Does that feeling solely make it a driver's supercar? I'd like to think of my cars, super or not, as engaging and confidence inspiring...the CGT is the former but not even close to the latter.

All that being said, I took my Koenigsegg on track a couple weeks ago. Not only was it utterly awe inspiring but it achieved the ever difficult "agile yet solid" sensation that many cars with half it's performance and cost are still searching for. The irony is that the technology is not that much different than that of a CGT. However, the most interesting thing happened after I handed the keys to a pro and asked him to explore the limits of my car a bit (ie: much) further while I sat shotgun and observed. After our session, we were bathing in the afterglow as only two men on a racetrack can and having some paddock talk (similar to pillow talk in this analogy). As he extolled the virtues of the Swedish car, I asked him how he feels it compares to a CGT - seemed like an apples to apples question. His facial expression changed from comfortable and satisfied to a bit on edge. He proceeded to tell me that it's known in the community (first time I've heard it) that the CGT didn't come out of the gate properly sorted. Between tires, alignment, and ride height the car just wasn't really spec'd to inspire that same confidence that we experienced in the Ksegg. He said all those things were changeable and in order to truly explore the limits of the CGT, it'd need to be...gasp...modded.

Others here have mentioned that it's the transmission that defines the term. While I tend to agree that I'd love to row gears over any other transmission, it's hard to dispute that the technology is becoming better than our dexterity can keep up. Al mentioned the CS, while I agree that it's fantastic car that I enjoy driving very much, I can't deny that the improved gearbox of the Scuderia left me longing to figure out how to do a swap of some kind. All it takes is a little taste of technology to get hooked right? Is the Iphone less of a phone because it does everything else so well? Or is it just a life changing device that most of us who use it have a hard time stepping away from? Do any of us long for the rotary dial because we never dropped a call? Okay, the analogy strays a bit. Point being there are companies out there still willing to produce a supercar with a manual transmission, but it is a dying technology. It's evolving to something that ultimately translates into better performance. Better performance obviously need not equate to less of a driving experience. It's all about how it's executed.

 

isnt it??
no wonder im the main customer, i cant drive ALL the time.
the CGT is work going straight, great job but sometimes i wish it wasnt such a work out, and im sorta young! im always amazed when i see middle age people in this car, how do they do it is always my question!!

 

There's also an acceptance phase, when it comes to new technologies.

I mean ... no one here questioned ABS or Traction Control, we've grown to accept them, although they take away responsibility and ultimately, involvement.

 

If you think driver's supercar is dead, you've just missed probably the last of the breed.

The Noble M600

As quoted by EVO magazine

It’s got 650bhp, a better power-to-weight than a Veyron. Mid engine with RWD and Manual transmission,

"The next hour will reveal the new Noble to be one of the most driveable and exploitable supercars ever"


Noble M600 | Car review | evo

Autocar's verdict

"Pound for pound, I’d say this is one of the most exciting cars I’ve driven in the past 10 years. You’d have to dial the clock right back to somewhere in the mid-1990s, to a piece of moorland road in Yorkshire on which a bright red Ferrari F40 was sitting, in order to recall the same kind of intense, slightly terrifying driving experience. The M600 is genuinely that kind of car."

Noble M600 - Road Test First Drive - Autocar.co.uk

But then of course we've still got the 4.0 GT3 RS waiting at the back of the stage

 

Thanks for sharing all of your thoughts, Ben. It was great to read about driving the K'segg around the track. It's also interesting to hear about the set-up of the CGT not being perfected by the factory. Like a few others who have driven a CGT will say, it's certainly not a confidence inspiring car without spending the time to get to know it. My experience was very brief and I found it much more difficult to drive, even just around town, than any other car I've previously driven. That's not to say that I didn't love it and yearn for the chance to drive one again.

While the technology has definitely advanced and made cars better in terms of raw performance, it's interesting that so many people can base whether or not a car is good on just one aspect: the transmission. While I agree that it's fun to row your own gears, it's undeniable that flappy paddles have upped the performance capabilities of most supercars. Maybe I'm not the purist that everyone else seems to be but if I were going to be driving a supercar on a track, paddles would most likely be my choice. In my opinion, shifting the gears via paddles doesn't necessarily detract from the experience and might even add to it for me. For street driving where I don't care as much about absolute performance (since no supercar can be driven at 10/10th on the street anyway), a manual 'box is my preference.

 

I'm very much on the same page of the book as Doom with regard to the CGT. I'm a habitual Porsche owner/track driver with a succession of Porsche's, memorable ones including 993RS, 964RS Clubsport, 996 GT2, 993GT2 and currently a Mk1 GT3 3.9 and Carrera GT.

It's all very much down to personal interpretation of what constitutes a supercar, but for me the Carrera GT represents the very ethos of what for me, a supercar is.

Even after 4 1/2 years, approaching 25,000 miles, around 40 trackdays, the anticipation, effort and reward of driving the CGT on road or track at pace still fills me with a sense of pensive excitement - in fact the palms of my hand are moist whilst I'm typing this thinking about my trip to Spa in it this weekend.

I have never owned a car that can make the most mundane journey a thrill, and reward time effort and patience in extracting a fraction of it's performance with such a fantastic afterglow.

I've never heard that in the community the CGT is known for being unresolved out of the gate, the ride height can be lowered as much as you want on the spring perches (provided you don't have the +10mm drop links) and within reason the geometry is totally adjustable.

The tyres are without doubt the weak link in the mix, but there are alternatives with Pilot Supersport for the OE wheel sizes, and I've run Pilot Sport Cup on 19" wheels and Michelin Slicks on 18" wheels.

I personally find the CGT much less nervous on the track than the street, there are less undulations and imperfections to upset it's balance, and if one is smooth precise and measured with your driving, the car holds no more nasty vices than other high powered mid engined cars with rudimentary traction control systems.

The thing for me with the CGT is no matter how long I own and drive the car, I will never reach the limit of what the car is capable of. For me that is the very escence of why it holds such an alure, and as other more accelerative, quicker cornering cars come and go, I'll still be revelling in the challenge of the CGT.

The reality is there are very few who are commited to, or want to learn such a car close to or at it's limit, and have differing opinions of what a 'drivers supercar' really is.

The fact we should be grateful for is that there is so much choice for all of us to be happy!

Take a look at this video of a very well driven CGT at Spa, no idea who the driver is, but look how well the car responds to the smooth measured inputs, hardly a handful:

YouTube - Spa Francorchamps Carrera GT onboard

 

i will only sell it if i made good money on it or i go broke, and thats not because its awesome to drive, IT IS, but because its the most beautiful car i ever owned. bar none.
any modern ferrari with all CST turned off is still more relaxing to drive than this.
i consider myself a hard core car guy, but like the ex-owner who always says to me when i whine : "the CGT is for REAL man".
and real man never ask for directions either,..... im just in denial sometimes, not all the time.