d motorofficial f motor_mag^143Jethro Bovingdon
CAN I LET YOU IN ON A SECRET?
DIGITALLY AUGMENTED ANALOGUE
CAN BE PRETTY DAMN EXCITING
WE’RE ANALOGUE PEOPLE, RIGHT? We appreciate the finer things
in life: steering feel, naturally aspirated engines, lightweight design and
raw, unfiltered feedback. We don’t like digital. Electric power steering?
Barf. Contrived driving ‘modes’? Pah. Stability control? Are you calling me
a vegan? We are drivers. Hear us roar.
Can I let you in on a secret? Digital can be great. Or at least cars that
are perceived to be digital can be great. There is one very obvious one in
this issue – the big, bad, harder-than-titanium-nails Nissan GT-R. And
I’m going to reference another car that’s been on my mind of late, the
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII.
Even weighed down by four-wheel drive, active-yaw control, driver
modes, turbochargers, ABS and, in the case of the GT-R, stability control
systems and (shock! horror!) a dual-clutch gearbox, both cars provide a
challenging driving experience. They do not ‘drive themselves’. I know
this for I’ve heavily crashed an Evo VIII MR. It was all me.
However, up to the point you crash, there’s no question that the
technology adopted for these cars is an enabler. And I’m not talking
about outright speed and grip. Those things might take a leap upwards
because of the clever hardware and software, but I’m talking about the
things we prize: feedback, response and character. In fact, the tech is
intrinsic to how these cars make you feel, from the Evo’s spooky agility
and wild four-wheel-drift mode to the GT-R’s bludgeoning gait. Both
are wickedly fast and thrumming with feedback. Digitally augmented
analogue is pretty damn exciting.
There are a million other examples. The cliche is that Ferrari is
all passion and Porsche is techy and clinical. In reality, Ferrari uses
technology to create that impression of ‘soul’ that people talk about.
The latest models have e-diffs, rear-wheel steering and stability control
systems, and Ferrari dropped manual gearboxes years ago. Nothing is as
evocative as an open, metal-gated ’box, but a couple of fierce upshifts and
perfectly rev-matched downshifts (controlled by huge, tactile paddles) is
enough to bring you out of mourning.
The point is that all the old icons we love might have once been
considered ‘digital’. A Ur-quattro might seem almost agricultural today,
but when new it was cutting-edge compared to, say, an Escort MkII.
The E34 M5 adopted Boge electronically adjustable dampers for the
‘Nurburgring’ package, but it’s hardly a Playstation car. And if you don’t
appreciate ABS then you are, quite simply, an idiot.
So-called invasive technology quickly feels like part of the fabric of a
performance car. Progress need not dismantle everything we love and
appreciate in great cars of the past.
The biggest challenge to this idea is electric power steering (EPAS).
Early systems were crap, and everyone from Renault to Honda to Porsche
battled to create any sort of feedback. However, EPAS has improved. It’s
still not quite on the level of the best hydraulic systems, but a really good
EPAS set-up is better than a bad hydraulic one.
One day, digital will subsume analogue and even us purists will
slowly accept it. Want proof? The deified original Honda NSX, for all its
aluminium monocoque, mid-engined purity, adopted EPAS as standard
from 1995 (automatics always had it) and it was, frankly, rather awful.
You still want one though, don’t you? Because it’s analogue. And we’re
analogue people. Well, mostly.