With the introduction of its 458 Italia supercar, Ferrari made a significant design change where most of the driver’s controls were clustered on or around the steering wheel. This is akin to Formula 1, where a myriad of controls located on the steering wheel control nearly all of the functions of the car.
In the real world, and to the average driver, this close proximity of controls and buttons with more than one function can prove difficult to use without practice, especially when driving at speed.
Functions found on the steering wheel of the 458 Italia that normally would be placed elsewhere on the dash include indicators, the windshield wiper controls, headlight high beam, engine starter, the horn, audio volume and track selection, suspension de-coupling, and of course the famous Manettino switch.
If all this is starting to sound a little complex, Ferrari has produced this video to show how each and every function located on the steering wheel can be used. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear to make things any easier.
After the video, see what we thought of the 458 Italia by clicking here.
[Ferrari via Carscoop]
