I believe Hothonda's point was in reference to previous statements that the R8 and/or Porsches were not considered Exotics. not that the reason he buys a specific model sportscar is so he can get the most attention at these events. I would very much consider the R8 an exotic. I was grabbing some lunch with an absolute non-car girl yesterday and she literally stopped in her tracks and muttered some kind of gibberish as a V10 R8 slowly cruised past in the car park. based on that, and the performance of the R8, not to mention the exclusivity of the car, I would safely say you could consider it an exotic.
Porsches I have never really considered exotics personally, due to the fact that there are so many of the base models floating around. to be honest, I never liked them at all until I drove the latest Turbo S 911, boy did that car change my mind. you want to talk about mind blowing performance?! it absolutely deserves all the praise heaped on it. many people on this Forum have GTR's, and many people really love them and consider them exotics. but in mine and many other's opinions the 911T is simply so much better of a car in every way. and even the little Cayman R, what a magnificent car. simply amazing little machine. certain model Porsches, I would say are exotics. the Carrera GT, yes. a base 911 Carrera, no.
my '02 Imola orange NSX got a bit of attention at a
Cars and Coffee meet two weekends back, but not nearly as much as my mate's Ferrari 355 parked next to it, and certainly not as much as the two new 911 GT3's in attendance.
I think stuntman's point is that the NSX was supposed to be the
first hybrid supercar, of which it is obviously not. N Spec also stated earlier in this thread that the Japanese are waking up. on the bike side of things both Yamaha and Honda are releasing road going versions of their MotoGP machines (although the Yamaha looks exactly like a regular streetbike with an extra letter in the name, quite sad really).
Yamaha R1M:
http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2014/Nov/14101103aa.htm
Honda RCV 213:
http://www.superbikeplanet.com/image/archive/14archive/streetrc213/1.htm
but again, Ducati made theirs 7 years ago.
http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2008-ducati-desmosedici-rr-first-drive-review
so again it would appear the Japanese are just running a little behind the times these days. they used to be the inventors and innovators, but those times are gone...