that 458 is a stunningly good car which is good to see, aesthetically pleasing racing machines are all to rare these days

well…italia is my fav car, i will love it to see on circuit and i think i am lucky as i joined the game today and it came out yesterday !

430 with its smily face… may be good to drive but i dont like it… now italia is whole diff thing for me… i shud burn some records… :)

New car is amazing, and it could be a winner at Sebring and Le mans in 2011

looks good! i like it

It shares more similarities than I thought. More cooling up front and less in the back. Flatter rear deck and more sculpted front bonnet. Audi leds in there too.

dh

i think the front is ugly but i guess all that matters is that its fast…

As a Ferrari fan. I like it it, but the front nose, im not feeling it.

The cars lookd great, till you look at the front nose. The car kinda looks like a shark lol.

I seriously dislike the front bumper treatment.

For some reason – The first thing that came to my head when I saw it was Flying Lizards??

It’s ok, I’d like to see it on a track and see all angles. I never really liked the 430 anyway, much prefered the 360.

I think the 430 looks better, and the front bumper leaves something to be desired.

Perhaps it’s something we’ll all learn to love and appreciate more and more as time goes on.

The front looks menacing, almost angry…

At least it would if not for that ugly front bumper.

Looks really cool.I can’t wait to see and hear it in real life once Risi competizione reveals and race their version.

2 things about the front of the car.
First of all, there is a lot op tape there (it was very could and snowy at Fiorano). Without the tape it might look slightly better.
No distinctive sharknose inlets like the 430, no 458 production nose with the special flaps inside it.
It is quite a annonimous front.

Rear wings look similar and the planes look equally steep. The endplate of the new car suggests the wing can be put even steeper. Don’t know what to conclude from that. Less drag from the car and therefor more room for higher downforce?

But of course it’s the speed of the car that counts and rumors are that it’s 2 sec’s faster around Fiorano (is that even possible under GT2 regs?).

About 458 GT2 production.
There are a lot of teams claiming to be racing this car in 2011. Of course not al series start as early as Februari / March but I doubt that all these teams will start there seasons with the new car, or even get it delivered before summer.
Any comments on that?

really really ugly, I am Ferrari fan, but this one is far behind the F430 GTC and even the 360 Modena :(

@ SUBARU WRX. All i can say, is “i agree”….

I agree w/ other comments that the front end looks ugly. To me it looks the result of someone’s home built “special” attempt to improve on a manufacturer’s design. Hopefully this is an interim test mule which Ferrari will complete before releasing the production version.

Well the main teams will definitely get it…AF Corse and Risi

Visually? A BEAUTY! Don’t get the disliking of the front end look, I can’t fault the overall appearance of this 458 as a whole one bit TBH, love it. An improvement over the 430 – it will be interesting to see it’s performance figures in all good time though…

@ SUBARU WRX: Im a Ferrari fan also. But trust me, it will grow on us in the coming years.

I LOVE it ! What a stunning racer to see ! I agree with the not-so-nice-to-look-at lower nose section but hey, in racing some beauty has to move aside for effectiveness.

Can’t wait to see (and hear) this on the tracks.

With the more agressive body shape, it almost looks like it would rather be running in GT1 rather than GT2 or 3. Not a huge Ferrari fan, but I think it looks like a rather exotic car, more so than the 430 & 360. JMHO

While the 430 looks very similar to the series production version, the new 458 is much different from its series origin. Good to have some change – the Porsche 911′s are looking more or less the same since 40 years…
By the way: if you want to see a really beautiful GT race car visit
http://autowallpapers.net/w/search/Mercedes-Benz_SLS_AMG_GT3_2011.htm

The front is okay, not great but sometimes function and form don’t always agree and I rather have another dominate season from Risi and AF Corsa than have a better looking car (subjective) and loose the Drivers and Manufacturers title again…(ALMS)

If it really bothers you, just wait for the Extreme Speed cars which are BLACK.

Who are supposed to be getting these for the 2011 season? I expect Risi and AF Corsa as they are the de facto teams for their designated championships for Ferrari, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see teams like CRS, Hankook Farnbacher and Extreme Speed sticking with the proven and cheaper 430 for at least one year while the 458 gets sorted out by the big boys.

If I were Scott Speed, I’d be sticking with my competitive 430s and I’d be rubbing my hands for Sebring. If Risi break down with their new car, and theres every chance that they will, EMS could be in their best position yet to win their class as the only team to be campaigning the winning car for the last two sebrings.