The ancient 458? The 458 is still damn fast today, of course.

I mean the platform is still getting used today soo

The new C8 is more Ferrari than the 458 "successors". At least the Z06 will be.

I have mixed feelings about the new Z06.
On the one hand, on paper it looks just great, especially in our age of hybrids, turbo and AWD. Undoubtedly, it will be fast, and the level of driving fun will be on par with the elite European supercars.
On the other hand, as a long-time big fan of Corvettes, I'm a little annoyed that this is no longer a familiar Corvette. Old Corvettes were loved for the large V8 wih elephant pull from the very bottom and light rear axle, which going into a sliding with pleasure for any occasion. This won't happen again.
Perhaps for the new Z06 it was necessary to come up with some other name. In fact, it seems to me that the modern Camaro, being no longer a musclecar, is now more of a carrier of almost 70-year-old Corvette heritage than the C8.

no.

I agree. The C8 Z06 is definitely going to be a great car, but not a Corvette.

The thing is, I'm starting to think GM wants to replace the C7 Corvette more or less with the new Camaro as fun, front-engined performance car. And I absolutely have no problem with that, because it's doing incredible for the price you pay for it.
As for the Corvette, I think it was eventually time to break tradition and add some new features, like a super fast shifting DCT and making it more supercar-like. And besides, there's only so much you can do with a front engine concept. Maybe Mercedes and Ferrari can push a lot of power out of them, but who else? Even the Viper is gone now. There's simply no way the Vette can keep up with modern supercars if it doesn't start using similar approaches.
We're in an era where cars don't really impress us anymore and we'd rather say things like "At least it's still N/A" or "At least it's still a V8" or "At least it's manual", you can continue this list forever. But cars will never be the same as before. If the people at Corvette have to make a change to make their cars incredibly fast for half the price, I have no problem with it. Cause it still has the sweet pushrod V8.

And besides, consider the following: a Corvette C3 has more in common with a C6 than a Porsche 993 has with a 991. I think the Corvette broke much less traditions than the average sports car manufacturer, and we should buy them while we still can.

I understand, well if so.
But think about this: when the Corvette C5 appeared, it was almost as fast as C4 ZR1; C6 was close in speed to the C5 Z06; the base C7 Stingray was going as quick as 2006 C6 Z06. However, new C8, thanks to its bigger power and better weight distribution, is ahead of C7 on the straight, but does not look faster in corners. C7 GS is faster on the tracks, not to mention the Z06.
Based on all this, I have a question: "Perhaps the latest evolution of the Corvette is not so much related to making it faster, but to make it more comfortable, obedient and pliable in favor of the main category of buyers (elderly playboys), and also to give an extra reason to brag, to say I have almost Ferrari?"

Hope I'm wrong after all...

Base C7 being as quick as the C6 Z06? That would be the first time I actually hear of it. Especially after 100 it's definitely over for the C7 due to much less weight:

I agree on the C7 GS as it was a monster with its grippy tires, but except for that it wasn't really all that fast in a straight line. I think the C8 fixed the aspect of it being easier to control for the average boomer who decided to buy one. But that's actually the same with every (modern) base model Corvette: they're meant to be driven by everyone and are therefore softer than its much harder to drive brothers Z06 and ZR1.

If you want my opinion on this, I think they didn't really have a choice. The manual part was obvious as almost everyone bought them in automatic, the mid engine design was planned since its debut and the car getting more comfortable is simply technological progress. Even JDM cars aren't the same what they used to be (the fact that the Nissan R35 got called a computer on wheels says a lot about the current state of performance cars).

I think the best choice we can make before we all have to switch to electric is to buy the older models and enjoy the driver involvement that went missing in many new cars. I mean, why buy a boring gasoline car when its era is almost over anyway? Even hybrids like Prius will be crippled by rising gas prices.

"Base C7 being as quick as the C6 Z06? That would be the first time I actually hear of it."

I mean C7 was faster on tracks and relatively close on the straight:
https://fastestlaps.com/comparisons/ldjdk10z2nft

"I think the best choice we can make before we all have to switch to electric is to buy the older models and enjoy the driver involvement that went missing in many new cars. I mean, why buy a boring gasoline car when its era is almost over anyway?"

That's very true

Sorry guys I'm a bit late to the discussion, but I have a few things to add. Well maybe too many things to post here so I'll just create a new post about it