点评:Ooof, where to begin.
My wife purchased this for me as a birthday gift knowing how much I love cars and racing, so I was genuinely excited to give this experience a shot. Unfortunately, it was nowhere close to what I expected or hoped for, and there was absolutely nothing “extreme” about it.
I specifically booked and paid to drive a Porsche GT3. The day of the experience, while I was already two hours into a four-hour drive to the track, I received a text telling me the GT3 was no longer available and that they would be putting me in a GT4 RS instead. At that point, I was already committed and halfway there, so I accepted it without making an issue out of it, even though it was not the car I specifically signed up and paid to drive.
But that wasn’t even the most disappointing part.
I drove nearly FOUR HOURS to spend literally about FIVE MINUTES on the track. Three short laps. That was it.
The actual driving experience was also incredibly counterintuitive. The instructor takes control of your mirrors, which immediately felt strange. Then, rather than allowing me to focus on the car and the track, I had someone constantly chirping in my ear calling out cone colors and giving instructions every few seconds. I understand they need to design the experience around novice drivers and prioritize safety, but my God, it was unbelievably distracting.
I came there because I wanted to experience an incredible car on a racetrack and actually get a sense of what it could do. I absolutely did not get to do that.
At one point, the instructor actually grabbed my steering wheel because two other cars were approaching to pass us. There was no emergency. A simple, “Two cars are coming up on your driver’s side, stay right and let them pass,” would have been perfectly sufficient. Instead, the instructor seemed hyper-nervous and overreacted to nearly everything. That is the exact opposite of the energy you want sitting next to you when you’re trying to concentrate and drive.
Then there’s the nickel-and-diming.
Want two photos and one video of your five-minute driving experience? No problem - another $115.
They also give you a head sock to wear underneath the helmet, which covers your entire face and mouth. Naturally, I assumed something like that would be yours to keep afterward. Nope. When I returned my helmet, they made sure to tell me I couldn’t keep it and needed to throw it into a bin. Lmao. At that point, it was almost comical.
Ironically, the best part of the entire day was driving my own M car for hours on the open roads getting to the track. That was more of a driving experience than the actual experience I paid for. The second best part was the food at the pub at NJMP on my way out before making the four-hour drive home.
All in, I spent over $1,000 to drive a car I didn’t sign up for, for approximately five minutes.
This experience could be done SO much better. They give you the facade that the priority is making sure you’re having an incredible experience and enjoying these cars, but by the end, I walked away feeling like the priority was simply getting as many people through as quickly as possible while extracting as much additional money as they could. The instructor conducting the pre-drive safety course basically joked about that himself.
For someone who genuinely loves cars and driving, this was a massive disappointment.
Until they significantly improve the experience, I’d take the same money and put it toward something like BMW’s four hour Ultimate Driving Experience instead. You’ll actually get meaningful seat time and an opportunity to enjoy what you came there to do - DRIVE.
Super disappointing, especially considering this was supposed to be a birthday gift and an experience I’d remember for the right reasons.
翻译:哎呀,该从哪儿说起呢。
我的妻子知道我有多喜欢汽车和赛车,于是买下这个作为生日礼物送给我。因此,我真的非常期待能体验一下。可惜的是,实际体验远远达不到我的预期或期望,而且根本没有任何“极限”可言。
我特意预订并付费体验驾驶保时捷GT3。体验当天,在我已经进行了两小时、总共四小时的驾车前往赛道的旅途中……我收到一条短信,说我原本预定的GT3已不可供选择,他们会安排我驾驶GT4 RS。当时我已经下定决心要去,也已经出发到半路了,所以尽管那并非我特意报名并付费要驾驶的车型,我还是欣然接受了,没再计较。
但这甚至还不是最令人失望的地方。
我开了将近四个小时的车,结果在赛道上实际驾驶的时间只有五分钟左右。就三个短圈而已。仅此而已。实际的驾驶体验也完全违背常理。教练会控制后视镜,这立刻让我感觉很不自然。不仅如此,他并不让我专心驾驶和观察赛道,而是不断在我耳边唠叨,每隔几秒就报出路标锥的颜色并下达指令。我明白他们需要为新手驾驶员设计合适的训练方式并把安全放在首位,但天哪,这种干扰实在令人难以忍受。我去那里是因为想在赛道上体验一下这辆出色的汽车,切实感受一下它的性能。但实际上我根本没能做到。
有一次,由于有两辆车正从侧面靠近并试图超车,教练竟然直接伸手抓住了我的方向盘。其实根本没什么紧急情况。只要说一句:“有两辆车正从你的驾驶员一侧靠近,请保持在右侧车道让他们过去就行了。”就完全足够了。然而……那位教练显得极度紧张,对几乎任何事情都反应过度。这与你在试图集中注意力开车时希望身边出现的那种状态完全相反。
还有那些层层收费的套路。
想要获得你这5分钟驾驶体验的两张照片和一段视频?没问题——再付115美元就行。
他们还会提供一种戴在头盔里的头套,能完全遮盖住面部和嘴巴。理所当然地……我原以为那种东西事后能留作纪念呢。结果并非如此。当我归还头盔时,他们特意告诉我不能留下,必须扔进垃圾桶。笑死我了,当时真是滑稽到极点。
具有讽刺意味的是,这一天中最棒的体验反而是驾驶着自己的M系列车,在空旷的公路上驰骋数小时才抵达赛道。那种体验远比我花钱购买的“正式体验”要有趣得多。最不错的部分就是在我结束行程、准备驱车四小时回家的途中,在新泽西赛车场旁的酒吧里享用的美食。
总的来说,我花了1000多美元,却只开了大约五分钟一辆并非自己选择的车。
其实这次体验完全可以做得更好。他们表面上声称以让顾客获得绝妙体验、尽情享受这些跑车为首要任务,但到最后……离开时我的感觉是:他们的首要目标不过是让尽可能多的人尽快完成体验,同时尽可能多地收取费用。就连主持驾驶安全课程的教练本人也拿这点开了玩笑。
对于真正热爱汽车和驾驶的人来说,这次体验简直令人大失所望。
在他们大幅改善服务体验之前,我宁愿把同样的钱花在类似宝马提供的“四小时终极驾驶体验”项目上。你确实会有充足的驾驶时间,也能体验到自己来此的目的——开车。
真是令人失望至极,尤其是考虑到这本该是我的一份生日礼物,本应成为一段让我开心回忆的经历才对。