Alas by then, the race has been won. Thanks to gearing, grunt, and grip, the C8 is an astonishing straight-line performer. But the Corvette isn’t just about straight-line performance, and here’s where the mid-engine layout should pay huge dividends. And doesn’t.

Pulling 1.03 g of skidpad grip seems fine—until you realize that the base C7 Z51 managed 1.08 g six years ago. And in that car, the tester’s notes didn’t complain of plowing understeer.

Since understeer can be interpreted as “stability,” several of our editors suspected that this handling characteristic may have been engineered in on purpose by GM to ensure that C8 buyers who have never driven a mid-engine car won’t immediately wrap it around a tree. I doubt this. The violent lifts, spazzy steering flicks, and brake-stabs required to make the Corvette rotate are at odds with the new car’s delicate feel.

The steering doesn’t communicate the handling limits either, neither changing in effort as the front tires fall into understeer nor, more disappointingly, coming alive if the rear end does starts to rotate.

GM’s chassis-tuning track record is coloring our impressions here, but the previous Corvette—as well as the Alpha-platform Camaro, ATS, and CTS—seem to defy the laws of physics at their handling limits. Even if they understeer mildly, those cars’ chassis respond to miniscule additional steering inputs or slight changes in throttle position even at the absolute handling limit, making them continually adjustable. The C8 Corvette doesn’t perform this same magic trick.