I genuinely think this is part of the reason for cycling-as-hobby, aka Middle Aged Men In Lycra.
I want a hobby vehicle to present some sort of challenge. Now maybe you shouldn't ever be "challenging" yourself on a public road, but doing so in an old sports car at 45 mph, is clearly not the same level of risk to others as pushing equivalently in the modern version. It's just less acceptable, even before environmental concerns. So that leaves you with "push the throttle for maybe five seconds, then back off before you plough into a shared-use bridge at 120 mph" (something I've unfortunately seen, recently). Neat trick, but really a skill as such, is it?
Meanwhile, I hit 40 mph yesterday, on a twisty road, using gravity and oatmeal. That's my accomplishment.
Then there's the noise. An old sports car made noise because the designer wanted, was singularly focused on, making a powerful engine. A new car makes noise because, after the team of engineers make a powerful engine, then design an efficient suppressor system to comply with laws, the marketers come along and find regions of the engine map the laws do not cover, and order the engineers to make it very loud in those regions specifically. The former is charming, the latter is just cheap. More so when you're embarrassed by an EV - scratch that, a practical EV, with storage space and stuff - during acceleration.
And for all that, the sports car is still usually pretty rubbish on a track compared to a purpose-built vehicle. Pro tip: real mechanical engineers worry about heat dissipation. A lot. Really a lot. Your road car almost certainly doesn't have enough for sustained track work. They manage a few laps, then important components - the brake discs, brake pads, brake fluid, dampers, maybe even some of the sensors and power steering - start fading. Again, in comparison a few thousand on bike stuff gets you something entirely race-worthy. Yes I know it's still just a bicycle - it is - but you do notice the sense of purpose, that things are there because they make the vehicle better at its one job.
If OEMs want ICE sports cars, arguably any sports cars, to have a future, then the Top Trumps needs to stop. Rediscover that sense of purpose. Either the point is "fun at socially acceptable speeds", in which case manuals are just better because they're more fun, or it's "prove I have lots of money", in which case stick an electric motor in and coat the interior in gold, because the current crop of go-fasts don't have long for this earth, legislation will see to that.