The short answer
Colour-change paint protection film gives you a new colour and a thick, self-healing layer that absorbs stone chips, which is why the Garage 46 Z wears Rosso Corsa red PPF rather than paint. Vinyl wrap is cheaper and offers more finishes but is thin and protects little. Paint is permanent and can be perfect, but every chip is in the panel. For a car driven on gravel-strewn Manitoba roads, film is the practical choice for a show finish.
Colour-change PPF
Paint protection film is a thick, clear urethane that has protected hoods and bumpers for years. Coloured versions do the same job while changing the car’s colour. The Z is finished in Project X60 Rosso Corsa red film over the whole car, including the Kuhl Racing kit. Minor scratches self-heal with heat, stone chips stop in the film, and the composite kit underneath stays untouched. The downsides are cost, a limited colour range compared with vinyl, and the need for a very good installer, because film shows every flaw in the surface beneath it.
Vinyl wrap
Vinyl is thinner and far cheaper, with a huge range of colours and textures. It is the right answer for a colour you might change in two years, for a daily driver, or for graphics. It will not stop a stone chip, it is harder to keep perfect through a salty winter, and after several seasons removal can be slow. A quality wrap on good paint, installed properly, still looks excellent.
Paint
A repaint is permanent and, from a good shop, can be the best finish of the three. On a widebody build it is often necessary anyway, because composite panels need priming and blocking before any finish. The cost is that every chip and scratch is in the paint, which on Highway 15 or Lagimodiere in April means touch-ups every season or clear film over the front end regardless.
What we did and would do again
The Z was paint-prepped where the kit needed it, then fully filmed after final fitment. That order matters: film goes on last, after every panel gap is set, so nothing has to be peeled back for an adjustment. For a GT-R that will drive to and from Las Vegas, the plan is the same.