ace996,
If you want a cheap, industrial, uncompromising trackday car which is hellish quick then by all means buy the Viper. Like I said on the other post, national pride is clouding your judgement and in this I can understand, I too would be feeling the same especially as American is the butt of all jokes when it comes to handling.
But like I keep insisting, making something handle well is not the difficult part, making it handle and still feel like quality, ride well and have finesse in it's controls is what separates the good from the brilliant. Viper is the good and the rest that are up around it are the brilliant.
You mention all the other brands I listed as ultra expensive to own and run and you are quite correct, the reality is that quality costs money, lots of it. That is why when one tunes their 335i they may achieve similar results as the M3 but it's no M3 and that is the thing, the Viper is the 335i and the GTR and others are the M3.
If you were to put the Viper up against a car which is closest to it is philosophy then pick a Radical SR8, price would be similar and both can be driven on the road but the Viper would finish a distant second in any race that didn't involve maximum speed.
Here's a video to show the difference between the two.
Feel free to disagree but to me these cars are closer than any of the others, it too is totally uncompromising, though with it you are getting a quality in it's controls that the Viper could only dream of.
P.S.
Take these two away from the ring where top speed has such a bearing of lap time and you will see the Viper being totally destroyed by the Radical.