And I've read the new Vet comes with an electronic parking brake. Push a button and it's all or nothing. That's gonna make drifting a bit trickier.

Hooker <-- wishing I still had my Healey 3000

And I'll bet you cannot engage the parking brake if the vehicle is in gear or moving. Because the computer knows better than you. (never mind you might be in a brake failure mode and a lousy brake is still better than Flintstoning it.

Well, that wasn't exactly clear from the article I read. The article implied that the EPB (emergency parking brake) system was designed to stop the vehicle faster due to the increased power and acceleration in the C8.

Since the entire braking system is designed as a unit I suppose that the writer of the article meant that the "eboost" system in general is more powerful, not necessarily including the EPB.

Clarity of technical articles today is significantly poorer than back in the days when I was writing them.

took my drivers license using a 1973 chevy nova, "3 on the tree", no power steering, no power brakes... parallel parking was a workout for this 135# 16yr old.

My mother taught me that "back in the day" the different manufacturers had different arrangements of the gear shift lever positions on the steering column. The phrase "standard shift" meant their car's shift lever positions were the same as the agreed-upon standard: 1 was up toward you, 2 was down toward you, 3 was up away from you and R was down away from you with a special push in to get past the safety stop.

I haven't seen one of these in many years, what with the change to 4 and 5 speed transmissions and relocation of the shift lever to the console between the seats, let alone the disappearance of stick shifts from the market.

Do you remember when they introduced synchromesh transmissions? Sure took the fun out of double or even triple clutching while shifting. Of course, when I had learned that skill (on a 1.5 ton '49 flatbed truck on mountain roads) I found that I could shift an old VW into first gear at any speed up to about 20 mph and never clash gears or worse.

Yeah, mid-engine is understandable as others have posted, but the worship of speed and power leaves me a little uninterested.

--JMM

I was of the understanding that the 'standard transmission' was a manual and for more money, you could get the "option" of an automagic transmission.

My uncle's three-on-the-tree Dodge pickup apparently was a standard shift. ;-)

My driving lessons started with a Chevy C10 dump truck with a five speed with a split rear-end.

That shift pattern is not very standard. All the column shifted cars and trucks I am aware of had reverse top and toward you. First was at the bottom toward you. I would be very confused trying to drive one with the shift pattern you describe. What kind of car would that have been?

My faulty memory would be hard to drive! I think you're right. --JMM

This is all about marketing, but I've read elsewhere it's also because the C7 had maxed out the performance envelope of the front engine/rear drive layout. Each new generation of Corvette has to enhance the performance capability so moving to mid-engine was necessary.

As for no manual, it's disappointing but not surprising. I really enjoy the feel of working the 3rd pedal and shifting but it's never going to perform as well as a dual clutch automatic.