This is true. When I sold cars we were told to forget about the old way of breaking stuff in. Manufacturer's tolerances are way tighter than ever before in history, and as such, engines don't need the tender loving in the beginning. They need a good kick in the @$$ to get them running like they should. If you plan on running an engine hard, break it in hard. It does make a difference. I had a brand new car running times on the track far below what everyone else was, because I ran the stink out of it right away. I didn't play nice with it, and it made a huge difference. Not to mention it ran fabulous and never gave me ANY issues what so ever, minus snapping a motor mount on a hard launch, haha.