Drove a 458, Superleggera, and a GTR...


daytrayd

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Apr 23, 2010
557
Austin, TX
I was out in Vegas and did the exotics racing experience at LVMS. I drove the Gallardo superleggera first. Man, the brakes on that thing were horrible IMO. Spongy with no response, and then sudden grip. Took me a while to get the course down, but once I did I started pushing her around. The awd made it cake, seemed pretty easy to drive. Best time was 1:08-9ish. No official clock, going off the video I have.

Next I drove the 458. Loved everything about it. The sound, the feel. Felt like an open wheel car more so than the GT, like I was over the front of the car. Pretty powerful, but I wouldnt say blew away my stock GT. Unfortunately, they had sport mode on the car so I couldnt get much action coming out of a turn, it was pretty good at not cutting too much power, just enough to not spin. I liked the everything about it. My best time was something like 1:07, and btw this is my first time ever on a road course so I'm sure my times are horrible. Plus the instructor in car is pretty aggressive in telling you to brake, I wanted to carry some speed through some of the turns but they insisted it was a "brake zone."

Lastly, I drove the GTR. Didnt have that same feeling as the others. Felt upright, porky almost. But when I got on it, it was surprisingly quick. I liked the awd, easy to drive, easy to get power earlier in the turn. It felt very balanced, more than any other car IMO. Now I had the most track time under my belt when I hit this car, but it turned a 1:06 for me. Fastest of the day.

Lots of fun overall, most fun Ive had in a car, and I'm looking forward to tracking the GT. I already have plans to hit Harris Hill down here in TX in July. Should be interesting without all the electronic bs to help.

BTW, none of these cars came close to matching the GT's sound, got to love an American V8!
 
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2112

Blue/white 06'
Mark II Lifetime
Nice review.....thanks :thumbsup
 

jaxgt

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Jul 12, 2006
2,795
Nice write up. Thanks. Most folks I've spoken to seem to also quite like the 458. I haven't driven one, but would like to. Most articles I read about the GTR also describe a similar surprise at how quick it is. Quite the relative performance bargain if you like the styling.
 
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BlackICE

GT Owner
Nov 2, 2005
1,416
SF Bay Area in California
Nice write up. Thanks. Most folks I've spoken to seem to also quite like the 458. I haven't driven one, but would like to. Most articles I read about the GTR also describe a similar surprise at how quick it is. Quite the relative performance bargain if you like the styling.

Styling F458 :thumbsup :biggrin, GTR :thumbsdow :ack

Bargain F458 :thumbsdow :ack, GTR :thumbsup :biggrin
 

Neilda

GT Owner
Oct 19, 2005
3,559
London, UK
Next I drove the 458.

I have spent some time in a 458, which I enjoyed. But I found it a little bit of 'too much information', like driving a computer - and also too many gears! If I didn't have the FGT, I'd probably have to have a 458 though! As you said, it doesn't really beat the GT, but it's certainly different.
 

texas mongrel

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
May 3, 2009
1,664
Houston Texas
Harris Hill is a fun course -a tight, bumpy track, with some intersting blind corners. I took the GT there last year and managed to spin off many many yards into the weeds. No damage other than ego. At the same track day, same corner, a Supra went off course, rolled and totalled, so I go off lightly. There were two 458's last weekend at the Ride and Drive event for Shriners - one of the guys seemed to spend 50% of his time with a lap-top plugged into the dash "adjusting " things, don't know if this is possible to do with a stock car? the GT got the number 1 vote for "best burnouts" - you can't do that with these new-fangled nanny-fied electronics!