Well, think of it this way: can you imagine someone who, in 1886, witnessed the birth of the Benz Patent Motorwagen, then looked at the Cadillac Type 53 (the first car with a modern control layout with the gearlever and handbrake in the middle and three pedals for clutch, brake and throttle) 31 years later and say, "This doesn't look like a car I'm used to anymore"? Would you like to drive a modern car with a tiller for a steering wheel and levers to operate the brakes
and the throttle?
Cars should always be evolving. If they didn't, we would not have all the amazing cars we've been lucky to have in the past (and request to be added to GT6
![Big Grin :D :D](/wp-content/themes/gtp16/images/smilies/biggrin.svg?v=3)
). It seems like these days we're stuck looking at the past to figure out what we should be doing, instead of putting our foot down and creating something for our generation that is truly memorable. All these highly-talented, highly-trained engineers and designers standing around in a corner going, "We need to make something we know people will want to buy. I know, let's make more crossovers and 500 new variations of the Mini!" As a lifelong car nut and an aspiring designer, I hate this. I hate this so much.
We're so caught up in the past, in the great history of the car that we feel forced to design our cars the way we know it is. We forget what made all the icons of the car so great -- that single spark of creativity. We forget that once in a while we need to toss that car encyclopedia aside and make something that actually changes something for the better.
That's why I look up to the DeltaWing. Ben Bowlby, the designer of the car, just tore up the race car engineering rulebook the entire racing community held dear and found an entirely new way to look at how to deal with the physics of cornering and acceleration. And yet, despite the success the car found on the track, people still find the need to go around laughing at the damn thing. I feel that there's no use for us car enthusiasts to go, "Look at it, it isn't even a proper car," because sooner or later the whole world is going to pass us by and we'll have not a leg to stand on.
In my opinion, if we want our ailing automotive industry to get back up on its own two feet and return to its heyday, we should at the very least give the DeltaWing (and other similarly "far-out" ideas on how our cars should be like in the future) the attention and respect it deserves.
EDIT: Sorry for rant. Got a little too emotional there.