Has VDC made you a worse Z driver?

butdamnbrian

so this thread was burning in my mind yesterday, and prompted me to do a bit of experimentation. (no, i didn't get wet, dog..)

i've had my car for about 3 weeks, and until yesterday hadn't turned off vdc at all. so yesterday, i stopped by a large empty parking lot, turned off vdc and... well, you guys know where this is going.

i got sideways a decent amount, and i learned a lot about the car. i can say it was a humbling experience to find out just how easy it is to initiate a slide with throttle input. typing it makes it sound rational, but actually doing it... pretty intense and visceral, man. i wouldn't want that to happen accidentally on city streets or freeway entrances.

i don't think i'd say vdc makes for a worse driver, but my experience leads me to believe that vdc makes for an ill-informed driver. having vdc on until now has hidden/masked many characteristics of the car (and probably also saved my *** without my even knowing it). i will need to spend time with it off in order to learn how to best drive the new z, but i think i'm going to save the trial and error for safe conditions. i just don't have enough rwd experience yet (my old volvo wagon doesn't count, i think).

with that said, i'm lookin' fwd to getting sideways again! oO