From The Fantasy File

Ferrari 488 GTB: aesthetically, everything I could carp about on the 458 Italia (which wasn't much) has been fixed.

The important part of the video, the technical part and road driving impressions, begins at 11:50:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlvMRTQ6-X0


One of the subtexts of Chris Harris's videos is "I'm the expert: here's the truth."  As he is a much better driver with personal experience with many cars, and I have never driven a Ferrari, I can't and won't quarrel with Harris's implicit self-assessment of his own credibility.

But I can quibble.  How Harris could feel "...meh..." about the 458 Italia escapes me when it followed the likes of the 355, 360 Modena, and F-430.  A Porsche 911 GT 3 was, for me, a clear choice over those cars.  Nor was Harris impressed with the looks of the 458.  I have seen a couple, and beg to differ.  The few styling details on the 458 that gave me pause have been fixed on the 488.  It is flat lovely.  And again, consider the Ferarris that came before: those were "...meh..."

He says a driver won't miss the sound of the normally aspirated 458 in the 488.  It didn't stir him that much anyway.  I would miss the 458's bark.  Harris says he sits too high in the 458/488.  I like good visibility (which he remarks on).  He wants a tighter seat.  I am the "larger gentleman" for which the seat in which he sat was made.

The 488's all-singing, all-dancing, electronically managed suspension and diff will keep average drivers like me out of trouble.  Mostly.  And thanks for Harris for applauding that.  As for the relentless drifting in the video, enough already.  That's not how the 458/488 were meant to be driven.  Show us a hot lap.  (The road driving footage was fine.)  The 488 is brilliant.  And the 458 was too.