Has VDC made you a worse Z driver?

nismolife

If you are like me, you enjoy driving your Z pretty hard at times, often with the traction control disabled. Last weekend I was driving my Nismo with VTC off. There had been one of those misty first rains after a period of hot weather. My Nismo came around on me so fast all I could do was go two-feet-in and wait for the crunch!

I'm 40 and have been driving since I was 16. I had a 07 350z & other sports cars prior to this and rode streetbikes for years in all weather. I've tracked my Z and driven numerous other high powered cars. This was my *first* accident. Fortunately it was a low speed bounce over the curb backwards, which did in the wheel, tie rod & who knows what else under there. Passenger side airbags went off also (though I was alone in the car).

So I was thinking - what the hell happened?

I came to the realization that lately I've been just mashing the pedal and letting the Nizzy's very capable traction control save me. I never intended to lose my "feel" for the edge of traction & feedback from the car, but this change in my driving style has just happened slowly over time.

So has VTC allowed me to become a worse sports car driver?

This isn't a question about safety - obviously had I left VTC on, my car wouldn't be in the shop right now and I wouldn't have endangered myself and others, but is the safety of the throttle-dump experience worth the trade-off in driving experience and actual driving skill?