Britain’s oldest and most influential motoring magazine, Autocar named their best driver’s car for 2010 and it’s no other than the Porsche 911 GT3 RS. For the purpose of this test, price was not an issue and they tested the £200,000 Noble M600 in the same way that they did the £23,000 Renaultsport Megane. And they picked the GT3 RS because it was “the most involving, enjoyable and satisfying of all the sports cars”.

Position	Vehicle	Donington lap time	Price
1st	Porsche 911 GT3 RS	1min 16.3sec	£104,841
2nd	Noble M600	1min 16.0sec	£200,000
3rd	Ferrari 458 Italia	1min 15.9sec	£169,545
4th	Lotus Evora	1min 21.8sec	£49,995
5th	Renaultsport Megane 250 cup	1min 24.3sec	£23,160
6th	Lotus Elise	1min 27.7sec	£27,450
7th	Mercedes SLS AMG	1min 17.5sec	£157,500
8th	Audi RS5	1min 22.8sec	£57,480
9th	Jaguar XJ Supersport	1min 24.6sec	£88,000
10th	Volkswagen Scirocco R	1min 25.1sec	£28,505
11th	Alpina B5 S Biturbo	1min 25.3sec	£70,500

Chas Hallett, editor of Autocar, said: “The Porsche 911 GT3 RS was a clear winner; each of our seven judges placed the car at the top of their list. On the day of our road and track testing at Donington, the GT3 RS’ drive was simply the most involving, enjoyable and satisfying of all the sports cars involved.”

The British-built Noble M600 was ranked in second place, with judges praising its polished, surprisingly benign chassis and steering, the progressiveness of its controls and its astonishing straight-line pace.

Third place went to the Ferrari 458 Italia, the fastest car on the day around the Donington circuit at 1min 15.9sec.

Autocar’s judging team included chief road tester Matt Prior, editor-at-large Steve Sutcliffe and senior contributing writer Andrew Frankel. They took eleven cars, worth just under £1,000,000 collectively, and tested them on some of the UK’s best driving roads, as well as one of its most testing racing circuits. After a lot of driving, and some equally intense deliberation, their votes were delivered and a final order decided.

“Some modern supercars are so quick that their electronic driving aids actually make them more enjoyable,” said Prior. “A moderately handy driver can often extend his own limits, and take the car’s performance further, while knowing there’s a back-up if things go wrong.”

“The best driver’s cars, however, are still those that don’t induce fear when you push the ‘ESP’ off button. They work with you, communicate with you, and allow you to exploit them for pure amusement. The Porsche 911 GT3 RS ticks all the boxes and more. It’s a very worthy winner.”