Dan@SharkWerks

Hey Bmardini,
Although the gains are not quite as obvious and significant (as a Turbo for example), after years of owning multiple GT3s, testing and driving, logging, dynoing, and identifying and then modifying (properly!) the different maps, we have managed to eek out some gains. HP gains are about 12 to the wheels at the peak, smoothing of various kinks, enabling features like left foot braking and of course the throttle remap for sharper pedal. This is a small percentage of the overall power, but it is more power and icing on an already magnificent cake.

A lot of journalists and/or Rennlisters have installed the software on their own cars and had very good things to say based on the driveability, improved performance, and fine tuning for specific fuels like 91 octane. Look for another article in European Car from another editor that tested the software on his own GT3 even without the throttle remap and was pleased. We've also had ALMS, Grand AM and other race car drivers hop up their car with us in this fashion as even they enjoy getting a tenth here and there where they can. It works for them and of course I agree these are the kind of decadent modifications one does vs spending the same money on driver Ed -- you can always learn to use what you have versus spending more money on what you can't use. But it's all fun and helps some people get from a to b quicker. Even Akrapovic has recommended that anyone who buys one of their exhausts actually do so in conjunction with our EVOMSit software.

Is 12 HP worth it? Maybe not necessarily on paper, but it's all in the driving. We do really believe in it, but that's because we spend a lot of money R&Ding and driving these cars, various ones, as well as tuning them. The tuning process can take months or years (such as our 3.9L engine or continued development we do with our own cars). It's very hard to get any extra power out of these vehicles, and much easier to make changes and lose power on these vehicles, so any increase is welcome for us. Sometimes people bring in cars with "other" software, and complain of issues, we can look at the maps and see the timing increased recklessly, fuel trims adjusted improperly and the cars genuinely drive worse than stock. These show evidence of guesswork on a computer vs. real world testing, and these cars always run better after we tune with our software instead.

Absolutely, driver ed and seat time is the best way to go faster.

For those asking, here are a couple videos showing the emulator and live tuning in action. You'll see this is more complex than resistors or off the shelf shizen. It's a very meticulous process requiring expensive tools and sometimes hundreds of hours per vehicle: