You don't get a racetrack if you buy the next car I lined up...But you do get just about everything else...

Autumn drifting with the 599

Sorry for that title because that was a reference from Jeremy Clarkson's 2007 DVD titled "Clarkson: Supercar Showdown". Anyway, this is a Ferrari 599 and offers just about everything just about everyone they want for a supercar. The Fiorano name from the 599 GTB Fiorano comes from Ferrari's private test track called the Fiorano Circuit, located next to the global headquarters of Ferrari. Designed by Pininfarina under the supervision of Ferrari's Frank Stepheonson, it was premiered at the 2006 Geneva Motor Show in 2006. The exterior was designed by Japanese designer, Ken Okuyama, who took various cues from the 250GT and incorporated them with some modern interpretation. You know, by looking at the ingredients of this exotic might seem to be convincing but this car is something special...

The 599 and the cherry blossoms

The Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano comes with a 6.0L V12 engine that was derived from the legendary Enzo Ferrari but it has been toned down to have 620PS of power, 608Nm of torque, and a power-to-weight ratio of 362hp per tonne. It can go 0-100kph in 3.7 seconds and top speed over 330kph. But that's not all just to performance figures, this car has over 5 decades of racing pedigree, a doll-up of Pininfarina styling, leather seats made from half a dozen cows, and computing power that NASA would only dream about such things. It even has a suspension system that is so complicated, that Jeremy Clarkson can't say the name of it. It goes like Magneto...Mani...Manietto...Mag...Magnetoholog...o...anyway the dampers are filled with iron filings and when you hit them with an electrical current which runs around the outside of the damper, they became firm. It comes with a gearbox that can disengage the clutch, change gear, and reengage it in less than a hundred milliseconds and they called it "F1 SuperFast". Under the 599 GTB Fiorano, it has some aerodynamic aids which provides 160kg of downforce, and it comes with an all-aluminum chassis for enhanced strength and weight loss.

The Stig knows how to drive the
599 in Tokyo, Japan!

When you drive the Ferrari 599 at Gran Turismo 5, you realize that it is just full ahead of its rivals. You might think that it's just an expensive version of the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 and you're darn right! While the Corvette C6 Z06 may cost about 94,500 CR, the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano costs about 320,300 CR. As a general rule, I really don't like the styling of the Ferrari 599 because it looks like a dinosaur politely chuckling. It's a Dino! That's what that is! It may have a V12 engine on the front but it's behind the front axle as well as the transmission, making the weight distribution very perfect but it doesn't respond to such brutal treatment. You have to be gentle with it where the smallest input makes a difference. If you get it wrong, you might crash it. If you get it right, it feels like bathing in six million gallons of double cream. This is much easier to drive than the Lamborghini Murcielago LP640.

This is an epic long distance cruiser but I'm very pity that Ferrari has lost some of its sense of humor when making this car.