Dumping clutch is also unrealistic to anything done daily. Or them most likely doing that test in absolute best conditions possible.
Personally I'd like more 5-60 test results so no traction control/clutch dumping or other tricks to shave fractions.
What's more of a problem is the opposite: if you increase the rollout so that the car's ECUs think it's being driven normally, and then mash the pedal to see how fast it goes, you get dramatically slower numbers: https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/buying-maintenance/...
That reflects how fast a car will feel in daily driving as opposed to a drag strip
>>"It’s that 5-to-60—the first number you should look at, and when the light turns green, the only one that matters. "
I think 0-60 from stop, 0-60 with foot rollout, and rolling start 5-60 are all valid and useful metrics, when explicitly indicated as such. While I've never participated in a public-street red-light drag race, I don't think 5-60 is a valid metric for it, precisely for the reasons it mentions - the 5-60 eliminates a lot of drivetrain and surface components which would impact the launch; and more directly compares just the pure power. My Subaru WRX has less power, but has AWD and grippy tires, will leave my 1-wheel-drive heavily-traction-controlled, all-season tires Minivan in the dust at launch (but things may become more equal from the rolling start or even on highway overtakes).
That's closer to what most people racing in a straight line want to measure as opposed to who can hook faster: hence drag racing using a two stage starting position
No metric will every reflect racing from a dig on a public street between the random surfaces, heat soak (it takes one or two pulls for most cars to start pulling timing stock), tires, etc... and I don't think any publication is really interested in satisfying that comparison.
Anyhoo. Good read nonetheless :-)
No, that's a good thing, maybe that would force them to not fuck up their throttle response!
I think that particular quirk is just car companies trying to make slow speed driving easier by filtering inputs more.