Chris Harris Rants against Ferrari

Except for when I go on about how they're inferior. I love the cars, but I'm not exactly a blind fanboi. :p
 
Spectre said:
Pretty sure - but it was Ferrari's policy for years (was also why there weren't Ferraris in Test Drive III or IV), and there was an article in one of the gaming magazines at the time wherein this was stated (I think it was EGM). Microsoft's Ferrari exclusive didn't start until 2009, IIRC.
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Also no Ferraris in any NFS game after Hot Pursuit 2.
 
Well Ferrari is stereotypical Italian. Narcisstic, cheating, dishonest people who try to silence everyone who does not praise them like gods. Ferrari is like the Italian soccer team, which is why I hate them equally. Real Italian cars now come from Pagani or Lamborghini, Ferrari can DIAF, I wouldn't even blink.
 
Dr_Grip said:
I think the problem is not that Ferrari is sending a specially checked-up car as a press car. I bet quality control has to work overtime on all press cars at all manufacturers. [...]
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That?s the same with any manufacturer if you ask me. 5 extra horsepower here, a tad better rubber there ... the difference to Ferrari will be that they don?t bother showing up with a team that sets up the car. They take that to a new level ... but the game is played by everyone in the buisness.
 
If anything, this thread has proven that big butts from Germany > *.
 
Interrobang said:
That?s the same with any manufacturer if you ask me. 5 extra horsepower here, a tad better rubber there ... the difference to Ferrari will be that they don?t bother showing up with a team that sets up the car. They take that to a new level ... but the game is played by everyone in the buisness.
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Maybe but not as dirty and not with such a bad attitude.
 
As some of you know, I'm a journalist for consumer electronics. From time to time, people take me aside and ask me whether the majority of devices we get from the manufacturers isn't rigged in some way. An amplifier which was handcrafted and polished and got an extra treatment in terms of better components, a loudspeaker which was pair-selected and got better crossover components, you name it. I always laugh when people ask me this, because quite the contrary is the case. We often get half-finished prototypes which work ... just. We get finished speakers in prototype enclosures. We get devices straight off the production bands where noone even bothered to check whether they are okay. We get loads of stuff, but rigged stuff we don't get.

Now, the car business may be slightly different there. I'm sure that a range of manufacturers doesn't really care what state press cars are in. I'm sure a lot of them do make sure that the cars are in good shape and are one of the better examples of the breed. But there have to be limits. Most manufacturers are careful to overstep that limit and explicitly ask the press to make sure that their cars get off well. That is one specific step they have to take deliberately however. Once they crossed that line, the press becomes a mere instrument, something they need to promote their products.

Chris Harris simply was fed up with that shit, so he made it public. Is that news? Not really. The level Ferrari has brought it to however is something worth of thinking twice about.
 
the Interceptor said:
As some of you know, I'm a journalist for consumer electronics. From time to time, people take me aside and ask me whether the majority of devices we get from the manufacturers isn't rigged in some way. An amplifier which was handcrafted and polished and got an extra treatment in terms of better components, a loudspeaker which was pair-selected and got better crossover components, you name it. I always laugh when people ask me this, because quite the contrary is the case. We often get half-finished prototypes which work ... just. We get finished speakers in prototype enclosures. We get devices straight off the production bands where noone even bothered to check whether they are okay. We get loads of stuff, but rigged stuff we don't get.
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Well, there is that rumour, that English loudspeakers for example are tuned differently for the German market, since the German hifi fans are "messwertgeil", which means they rather have a nice technical sheet to look at, than actually listen to the sound. So the speakers for the German market sound worse, than the originals from Britain.

Don't know if it's true but it would fit ;)
 
I don?t want to upset any other members here, but I also don?t want to jump on the Ferrari bashing bandwagon. Don?t get this wrong I don?t like what they did. Sadly I sort of understand why they (and probably other manufacturers) are doing it.
Of course developing a car is quite costly and obviously you want to sell the car, so I understand that some manufacturers have press cars. I don?t like it but it?s not going to change very soon for a number of reasons (some have already been posted in this thread).

The thing that annoys me is a bit is that sportscars nowadays seem to be judged primarily by their performance. Yes, it?s a sportscar after all and it?s supposed to be fast, but if you read through car forums or comment sections of carsites I think you?ll see what I mean.
It?s almost like a car is only good if it does 0-60 in 3.2 seconds and laps the N?rburgring in less than 7:30. If it does not it?s crap and there is almost certainly someone who will post a big fat FAIL.
By the way I am not trying to bash the GTR with this, in fact I really like that car. I am impressed by the numbers it lays down, like I am extremely impressed with the new mp4-12c. It?s staggeringly fast, but I am not sure it would be my first choice. I am not going to pretend that I can afford any of the cars I have mentioned, but if I could afford a weekend toy I think I would get a ZR1 or a GT3. I am sure I wouldn?t be able to drive it at the limit or get close to it without wetting my pants, but I think I would have more fun with it than with other (faster) supercars.

That?s one of the things I like about Chris Harris, he isn?t a guy that just looks at numbers and figures. In his rant he said that Ferrari doesn?t need to do all this crap because their cars are good enough. I agree with that, I think that Ferrari makes fantastic cars.
If I had a 458 I couldn?t care less if a GT3 RS or any other car beats it around a track, sadly Ferrari and some other people apparently do.
Sorry for the long rant.
 
PM_83 said:
I don?t want to upset any other members here, but I also don?t want to jump on the Ferrari bashing bandwagon. Don?t get this wrong I don?t like what they did. Sadly I sort of understand why they (and probably other manufacturers) are doing it.
Of course developing a car is quite costly and obviously you want to sell the car, so I understand that some manufacturers have press cars. I don?t like it but it?s not going to change very soon for a number of reasons (some have already been posted in this thread).

The thing that annoys me is a bit is that sportscars nowadays seem to be judged primarily by their performance. Yes, it?s a sportscar after all and it?s supposed to be fast, but if you read through car forums or comment sections of carsites I think you?ll see what I mean.
It?s almost like a car is only good if it does 0-60 in 3.2 seconds and laps the N?rburgring in less than 7:30. If it does not it?s crap and there is almost certainly someone who will post a big fat FAIL.
By the way I am not trying to bash the GTR with this, in fact I really like that car. I am impressed by the numbers it lays down, like I am extremely impressed with the new mp4-12c. It?s staggeringly fast, but I am not sure it would be my first choice. I am not going to pretend that I can afford any of the cars I have mentioned, but if I could afford a weekend toy I think I would get a ZR1 or a GT3. I am sure I wouldn?t be able to drive it at the limit or get close to it without wetting my pants, but I think I would have more fun with it than with other (faster) supercars.

That?s one of the things I like about Chris Harris, he isn?t a guy that just looks at numbers and figures. In his rant he said that Ferrari doesn?t need to do all this crap because their cars are good enough. I agree with that, I think that Ferrari makes fantastic cars.
If I had a 458 I couldn?t care less if a GT3 RS or any other car beats it around a track, sadly Ferrari and some other people apparently do.
Sorry for the long rant.
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Well, no offense but I don't think you got the point.

The point is, that Ferrari is overdoing the whole press-car-preparation-rigging thing by miles and comes with a whole team of watchdogs to every review. Also it's obvious, that they set journalists under pressure by threatening them with excluding them from further Ferrari tests -- not because they have been treated unfairly but because they have been treated equally.

Being treated equally isn't enough for Ferrari. They want to be preferred and treated better, than the others, because they are Ferrari. They have a problem with megalomania and they're pulling any dirty trick to get what they want.

If you ask me, it's a result of the success in Formula 1 with Michael Schumacher. For decades, Ferraris have been enthusiast's cars for people, who don't care, if the car breaks down every 20 kilometers. Any 1980's Fiat hatchback has a better build quality, than Ferraris of the time. But it never mattered to the Ferrari drivers and Ferrari didn't care, because they had the playing field for themselves. Porsche? Mass manufacturer. Lamborghini? Always bankrupt and the cars were just for show, not driving. Maserati? Practically gone.

But today Ferrari faces something they didn't have to deal with before: Serious competition.

Lamborghini has become a serious alternative, since Audi took over. Aston Martin has been revived with great success, too. Porsche is more popular than ever, even Lotus has awoken from the almost-dead. Then there is the Audi R8, the Mercedes SLS, the Nissan GT-R. It seems like almost every mass manufacturer of cars is also able to make a great sports car these days.

I wonder how the Bugatti Veyron was received at Ferrari, because it demonstrated the possibilities, when you had the money to achieve the impossible. Imagine the horror of a Ferrari test driver in an Enzo, when he gets flashed off the left lane on the Autobahn by what essentially is a Volkswagen! Then there is Pagani with the Zonda and McLaren, the arch-rival of Formula 1, is now coming out with their own car.

If you ask me, folks at Ferrari are massively afraid of losing their status, afraid of not being special anymore. And that's why they're doing all they can, including cheating and setting journalists under pressure. Because at the end of the day, the name Ferrari is the only thing left, which sets them apart from their competition. And not the tiniest stain must be allowed on that name, no matter the cost.
 
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None taken :)
I get the point and I absolutely agree with you. Ferrari has clearly overdone it. All I am saying that I understand why they did it. I wish they would stop, I wish that car journalists had the freedom to write what they want, but sadly that?s not the case.
There are quite a few cases where I thought ?that has to be a press car? after looking at it?s performance numbers. Sometimes it turned out I was right and sometimes I was wrong. Nowadays a lot of customer test their cars and post the result on car forums. Obviously you have to careful if they are trustworthy or have the ability to get the maximum out of the car, but it gives you at least an idea which cars perform the way manufacturers claim and which won?t.
 
The problem is: The Italians have a massive problem with accepting serious competition. The only reason they still have a car industry at all, is that they installed protective taxes on imports from Japan. Otherwise the Italians would now all drive Toyotas, Mazdas and Nissans instead of Fiats.

Instead of accepting the challenge and grow beyond themselves, they try to go the convenient way and cheat a bit to have their nose on top without too much of an effort.

Don't get me wrong: I love the Italian people, their lifestyle, the country and their food -- but I have problems with some of their national characteristics.
 
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vikiradTG2007 said:
That's the most ironic thing in this whole matter: this kind of publicity throws more mud on their name than any fair comparison test can actually do.
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Only when it gets out into the open -- and that's the reason why they set the journalists under pressure. Strangely enough it seems to be accepted as a kind of quirk by the "funny Italians".

I don't think that Porsche or Aston Martin would be able to get away with the same kind of chuzpa.
 
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I agree with you. The competition in this segment is fierce, remember the GTR vs. Porsche at the Ring battle. It looked a bit like they were losing their nerves. Now Ferrari is also worried by the looks of it. I don't want to offend the Italians (I like them) but when it comes to Ferrari they are (understandably) extremely proud and it sometimes makes them do things they just shouldn?t do. This is one of them.
 
Only constant struggle to get better and better will achieve their survival in the end. Playing dirty won't. I'm not worried about Ferrari yet but they are very close to becoming too arrogant for their own good.

As composer Gustav Mahler said: "Tradition is the handing on of fire, not the worship of ashes"
 
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the Interceptor said:
That is all? There I was, hoping that the Ferrari nuts come into this thread and threaten to kill everyone, and all I get is this lousy picture? I am disappoint!
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How dare you! I've been wanting to use that brilliant macro for ages and you call it a "lousy picture". That is what's truly disappointing... :lol:
 
MacGuffin said:
Only constant struggle to get better and better will achieve their survival in the end. Playing dirty won't. I'm not worried about Ferrari yet but they are very close to becoming too arrogant for their own good.

As composer Gustav Mahler said: "Tradition is the handing on of fire, not the worship of ashes"
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One of the things I love about Mclaren and the mp4-12c respectively, they have done it properly as far as I can tell at this point. Ferrari has made a good car as well, a great one in my opinion. As I said before I wouldn?t care if it is slower around a track or in a straight than the Mclaren. It is Ferrari that feels very threatened and is doing sh*t that harms them more than it is helping them. I am starting to like McLaren more and more and it is mostly because they know what they are doing (when it comes to making cars) and seem to play fair. Just look at some of the interviews of Antony Sheriff, I don?t think a Ferrari representative would talk like that.
This may be a bit of topic but it?s not just Ferrari that is playing dirty, they have just completely overdone it and didn?t hide it very well. You are German, so I assume you know car magazines like Auto Motor und Sport, Auto Bild etc. Readings those magazines sometimes feels like reading a commercial for German cars. Don?t get this wrong I like German cars a lot (and the Germans), but that doesn?t mean I want to read an article about the greatness of, for instance, Audi and how monumentally stupid you have to be if you buy anything else. That?s what it feels like sometimes. I completely understand that you are proud of your cars, the Italians are proud of Ferrari etc. As I said earlier I wish that motoring journalism wouldn?t be the way it is now. One of the reasons why I started watching TG was because of Clarkson, who at the time seemed to say what he really thinks of a car. In recent time even that has somewhat changed. There are very few car journalists I really respect, Harris is one of them.

@Gman333: The combination of username, Avatar and that lousy picture cracked me up ?
 
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