On January 13, 2013, Chevrolet will unveil the long awaited C7 Corvette, which is the next generation of America's greatest sports car.
But we couldn't wait until 2013 to get behind the wheel, so we said pish tosh to GM for making us wait and snuck in a (virtual) test drive last night. So is the 'Vette still raucous and scary, or is it calm and sedate? Yes and yes.
(Full Disclosure: Chevy wanted me to drive the new C7 Corvette so bad that they let me download a version of it and travel the globe to wherever I pleased. We went to Germany, Belgium, and Italy together, and the dress code said I just needed to wear my underwear and could eat a Falafel while I drove. It was nice.)
As we told you yesterday, the C7 'Vette was announced as a free download in Gran Turismo 5 from the Playstation Store at the LA Auto Show. As GT5 creators Polyphony Digital have done in the past with the Nissan GT-R, the Corvette Prototype is wearing the camouflage that has been on all the test cars we've seen running around.
In the styling department, the front end looks quite similar to renders some random car blog on the internet (READ: It was us) showed a year ago. Headlights look longer and more pronounced, and there is definitely a hood scoop. But around back, the styling may have changed slightly.
The 'Vette in the game definitely has four circular LED taillights, not the square Camaro-esque tails that we saw a year ago. Hey, things change!
But who cares about all that, what's it like to drive? Not too shabby. I found a bit of understeer on corner entry at Spa and the Nurburgring, along with a tendency to wiggle its hips on corner exit. It can be a bit of a handful as weight transfers over crests and rises, which made for some 'oh shit' moments coming out of Eau Rouge. Instead of being super aggressive, smooth, gentle inputs on my Logitech steering wheel were the best way to tame the beast.
I ran one very sloppy full lap at the 'Ring and had a time of about 7:50. If I didn't go off into the gravel trap and overdrive it, I'm betting a time in the 7:30 range is within grasp. To put that into perspective, the Corvette ZR1 I have in the game has run a 6:59 at the 'Ring with slightly stickier tires, and the new C7 feels more composed than that car without sacrificing that rawness that makes the Vette so appealing.
But we really want to know if you have gotten out on track in the new C7 in GT5? Tell us what your impressions were in Kinja below!