Some aspects of the presentation were funny, especially with the long lead up and NASA history, but that's become par for the course in car unveils. It's become a bit of a joke among the auto press of how relevant some of that marketing really is to the vehicle, and how close the people depicted in the marketing match the real buyers. I found he preamble stuff to be quite cold and forced (which is to be expected), even though I do appreciate the NASA history, but then once the GM people were on stage they were on point.
The car is a considerable leap forward in performance, and even though I might be able to nitpick, I can't dismiss the performance for the cost. Corvette has offered some of the best performance for the dollar for years, and this car takes that to the next level, bringing it into supercar performance and design. The next most affordable cars with this level of performance are the Audi R8, Porsche 911 Turbo, Nissan GTR, Acura NSX, and McLaren 540C, all of which start around twice as much or more, with the 911 Turbo, GTR, and NSX being the only one ones with a sub 3 second 0-60 mph time.
I too am lamenting the lack of a manual, but it's important to note that the transmission is a dual clutch, so different from a planetary gear torque converter automatic, is the fastest and most precise shifting transmission, and if trying to achieve the best possible performance is the way forward. Obviously a manual is more engaging, so I do hope they recognize this and give people a choice, since Corvette manual sales are still strong, and many people do buy them as fun sports cars for the street, not track cars. Automation is a funny thing, as when autonomous driving systems are perfected, they will be faster and safer than a person, but what's the fun in that? Porsche received enough backlash when the 991 911 GTR didn't come with a manual, that they released the 911 R as the manual version, and then the 991.2 911 GTR came with a manual. The head of Aston Martin recently stated that they will continue to offer manuals, even in the upcoming mid engine Vanquish.
The styling nick picks are early on, and if the performance lives up to the expectation and then some, the naysayers will be in the few. When the C7 was debuted, many critiqued it for being to edgy compared to past Corvettes, using more of a Viper or Ferrari like design style, and for not having round tail lights (even though late model C4s didn't have round tail lights) then when the press cars went out for reviews it was highly praised and the naysayers were mostly forgotten. When the C6 came out, there were groups critiquing the lack of pop up headlights, even though the C5 was the last car (at least in North America) with pop up headlights, and the light buckets negatively affected aerodynamics so the C5Rs had composite lights.
My guess on the exhaust tips is they were moved to the sides to create more room for the cargo space behind the engine. The cargo well appears to be quite a bit deeper than the C5-C7 to make up for the lack of length. The C7 was the third generation with centre exhaust tips, just like the front engine rear transmission layout, so