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Thank you for the questions. We do not offer firmware change. The firmware combined with the hardware type creates a version of the DSC controller for a specific vehicle, including the generation of the vehicle, and the generation of the controller(the device) itself. Each generation of the device has been thoroughly tested to meet specific performance criteria for that generation. You could think of it as like a car manufacturer for example, each generation of car is the best produced at the time of that design. Also like car manufacturing, suspension tuning is an evolving technology, to which we take pride in developing every generation of our controllers to our best for the 9x1 cars since 2014. Each generation of DSC controller has been highly praised by users evident by the all of the positive reviews since 2014. Like other manufacturers of products, we have to keep selling new products in order to stay business. Which is why we do not try to change a previous generation device to the newest. Whether you have a 2014, 2017, or 2019 generation DSC controller it is not a bad thing in any way. Each generation controller have many merits and received many praises from users. For example, the 2018-2019 DSC controllers received so many glowing reviews with our "GT3 Tour" file. So if you have that generation of DSC controller with our GT3 Tour file and love it, then there's no need to change it. Some drivers must have the newest year car and/or newest year product(s) for the car with the best engineering at the time, which there's absolutely nothing wrong with that at all, and if that is how you roll then we are delighted to furnish your ride with our newest. If you have the previous generation DSC V3 controller we still have what is considered the best calibration file on our website for download. Or you can custom tune your calibration to your personal preference using our self-service resource. Below is a youtube to video to show how to identify the generation/type of a DSC controller. Knowing the generation and type is useful to find the calibration file(s) available, should you decide you want to make a change. Hope it is helpful. As a separate note, the 01/2021+ DSC V3 controller is likely to be the final generation of controller for the 9x1 cars.
I am bummed that my relatively new v3 controller cannot accept a new file. I do get the need to innovate but this feels like forced obsolescence. I am sure I am wrong but not a great look IMO. To the long-winded statement above, you should probably have just said it has new hardware and the old v3 cannot support it because it is too slow for the cool new firmware we've developed. Short and sweet is best.
Also, you really should change the name as there are many buyers that will not be savvy to the fact that there are two generations of v3's. It will lead to frustration that will not be good for the brand.
I'm in the same boat. I have an early V3 that would need a firmware update to be able to get the latest files. Frankly, you would think there would be a relatively nice side business just facilitating upgrades. No hardware costs, just shipping and firm- and soft- ware updates. I have to believe there's reasonable margin in there somewhere, but maybe i'm over simplifying.
@Tom@TPC Racing Tom, for those of us interested in selling our existing old v3 and upgrading to the new v3, can you clarify what differences there are between the two? What benefits would one expect to see in the newer vs. the older model?
2014-2017 V2, designed for and compatible for 991.1/981 only, control logic primarily uses G-force with first intro of suspension travel velocity tuning using data from OEM network. 2018-2020 V3, designed for both 991.1/981 and 991.2/718 generation cars(controller must ordered for the correct generation car, not interchangeable between car gens), intro of travel velocity tuning via Pulse-Density Modulation for more active travel tuning. Still is truly F'ing amazing tech if I may say so.. 2021-present day V3, designed for both 991.1/981 and 991.2/718 generation cars(controller must ordered for the correct generation car, not interchangeable between car gens), further refined Pulse-Density Modulation tech, further refined transition between low to high G-force changes.
Originally Posted by Jeahbladejeah
What benefits would one expect to see in the newer vs. the older model?
Benefits are difficult to explain in words. I'll do my best. All three will actively command the suspension to max damper stiffness to high G-force load and min damper stiffness at low G-force load, if that's the only desired feature. To me, the earlier version controller feels more deliberate for the active commands, which some drivers may prefer to know that the controller is working as intended. The newer version feels smoother and more seamless to me.
One way to think of it is to think of the controller version as a Musical Conductor who orchestrates a band, and the calibration file as the music sheet. The Conductor orchestrates the timing and the blending in/out of the instruments playing from the sheet. The music sheet holds the sound notes that people hear, the cal file holds the stiffness that drivers feel. I would imagine Conductors get better and smoother as they evolve in their career.
For users chiming in or just reading this thread who are feeling disappointed in some way, I am sorry you feel this way. Regarding the music sheet (the calibration file itself), I purposely posted screenshots of the actual new cal file and filled in the numbers and created text bubbles with explanation for in case for those who watched the support videos to make these changes should they want to try the new music...using the same Conductor, of course.
Hope this helps.
__________________
PCA National Instructor
TPC Racing stats:
2023 Porsche Sprint Challenge 992 Cup Am Champion
2023 Porsche Sprint Challenge GT4 Pro-Am Team Champion
2022 Porsche Sprint Challenge 992 Cup & 991 Cup Champion
2020 IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge 2nd Championship
2018 IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge 2nd Championship
2016 IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge Champion
2013 IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge Champion
2006 Rolex-24 @ Daytona GT Champion
2004 Grand-Am SGS Class Champion
Last edited by Tom@TPC Racing; 01-13-2022 at 01:03 PM.
2014-2017 V2, designed for and compatible for 991.1/981 only, control logic primarily uses G-force with first intro of suspension travel velocity tuning using data from OEM network. 2018-2020 V3, designed for both 991.1/981 and 991.2/718 generation cars(controller must ordered for the correct generation car, not interchangeable between car gens), intro of travel velocity tuning via Pulse-Density Modulation for more active travel tuning. Still is truly F'ing amazing tech if I may say so.. 2021-present day V3, designed for both 991.1/981 and 991.2/718 generation cars(controller must ordered for the correct generation car, not interchangeable between car gens), further refined Pulse-Density Modulation tech, further refined transition between low to high G-force changes.
Benefits are difficult to explain in words. I'll do my best. All three will actively command the suspension to max damper stiffness to high G-force load and min damper stiffness at low G-force load, if that's the only desired feature. To me, the earlier version controller feels more deliberate for the active commands, which some drivers may prefer to know that the controller is working as intended. The newer version feels smoother and more seamless to me.
One way to think of it is to think of the controller version as a Musical Conductor who orchestrates a band, and the calibration file as the music sheet. The Conductor orchestrates the timing and the blending in/out of the instruments playing from the sheet. The music sheet holds the sound notes that people hear, the cal file holds the stiffness that drivers feel. I would imagine Conductors get better and smoother as they evolve in their career.
For users chiming in or just reading this thread who are feeling disappointed in some way, I am sorry you feel this way. Regarding the music sheet (the calibration file itself), I purposely posted screenshots of the actual new cal file and filled in the numbers and created text bubbles with explanation for in case for those who watched the support videos to make these changes should they want to try the new music...using the same Conductor, of course.
Hope this helps.
I've fi ally bite the bullet after thinking about this hard for 3 days... Tom has been extremely helpful explaining things to this newbie and help me getting shipped to Canada. Tomorrow it shall arrive but in the middle of winter so not going to install it nor even attempt to drive the car hard enough to fully feel the benefits so will report back later..
My 2 cents on previous model... just going to be candit here and may rub people the wrong way.. I don't think any of us got to where we are not working hard and/or running a profitable business. Same with Tom and TPC.. I am sure they would love to do this probono but they have overhead and a profitable income statement they need to produce.. not going to get into possible fees for upgrades ..etc.. I am sure they have their reasons and If the reason is profit margins, so be it! If you are a pioneer then you need to br paid for your efforts.. eg Apple is a prime example.. why couldn't they give us a damn SD slot vs selling different size IPHONE.. yet they still sell and sell them well!
I just don't see why they don't immediately change the name to either V3.1 or V4. There is confusion at the moment, and this will just repeat itself every single month, every post. The ship has not sailed, just every unit they sell with the same name but different functionality makes the problem worse.
It's made worse because visually there is no difference. What if you had no way to tell if a car was 991.1 or 991.2 from the outside, but one was turbo and one was not? Or the iPhone 13 was also called the iPhone 12, just with support for different accessories?
Because the name is the same, it opens the door to questions of "getting the new firmware" or "downloading the new files". Many of us are from the tech world. If the hardware version has the same name, it is assumed you can update the firmware. Maybe TPC isn't as close to the tech world, and that's fine--don't need to get into who goofed and didn't decide to increment the name to V3.1 or V4. But it definitely a customer service and marketing goof. Increment the product name and you will eliminate the requests to get new firmware/software. TPC can decide for themselves if they want to deal with the customer support headache of course, but I (as a fan of theirs) would beg them to get ahead of this and change the name of all new shipping units to V3.1 or V4.
Thx Tom and TPC.. orde placed on 2 days ago and just arrived in canada ans to my place.. you guys rock.. must resist installation.. its negative -20 c today
First impressions... the car seems a lot more smooth..not sure what other word to use but because it's winter , didn't want to push it so hard.. in sports mode with sports chassis on, the car goes over bumps a lot better.. cant wait till summer so I can it on the back twisties to truly get a good sense of it.. is the worth the money.. personally I think k so but will I use it to ita full potential.. probably not as I am no speedster nor racer
a little paranoid but if the two connectors are not fully connected, would the car show an error? I hate to pull the back seat cover and foam out again to check... that was a real pain
I guess this is as good a place as any to share this.
I did not order the data cable with my unit. I decided to add one and leave it installed as I want to play with settings at the track. While I love my FVD Brombacher harness bar and LWBS; both make accessing the DSC extremely difficult.
I tried installing a spare mini-USB cable I had lying around but the plug hung far out of the DSC and prevented it from seating properly in its foam cradle. I purchased this to solve the problem:
The 90 degree bend allows the DSC to sit where it belongs. I routed the wire into the cabin through one of the holes in my factory rear seat delete. My plan is to stuff it back in the hole when not in use. The wire is long enough that I can sit in the driver seat with a laptop on my lap.
01-12-2022, 07:56 PM
