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Performance cars could soon have a system to almost infinitely tweak the suspension, throttle mapping, steering and ECU while on the move.

IFR, the company behind the two-seat Aspid sports car, says it is developing the technology and says a number of manufacturers are interested in using it on their high-performance models.

The system would do away with only having pre-programmed Sport and Comfort settings, instead allowing the driver to fine-tune every aspect of the car’s set-up ...Read the full article

I like the idea, but I get the feeling in practise 99% of people will not use it, even on high end track biased vehicles.

Look at the BMW M5 and how complex that is - and how many people complain about that.

The other issue of course is reliability and the relevant component failure.  Could be a whole heap of trouble (and cost) a couple of years down the line.

Autocar:

The system would do away with only having pre-programmed Sport and Comfort settings, instead allowing the driver to fine-tune every aspect of the car’s set-up

 

I prefer real ( mechanical) tuning to virtual ( electronic) tuning .So many manufacturers have trouble making the electronics work for more than two or three years.

Agree with you both. Nice idea, but one that could overcomplicate the issue and thus be under-used in practice.

Reliability could also be a factor...but the technology is already there, so there's a window for this to work in time. Wouldn't want to be an early-adopter that shells out for it now though...

 

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Interesting... nothing really new there, it's just opening up the parameters to various ECUs through the car's own control interface, rather than requiring you to reflash the thing with aftermarket software.  One of those ideas that's been sitting around waiting for someone to try it, in other words.

I'm not sure.  In some ways I like the idea - having a control map that's personal to me only, a throttle that responds exactly the way I want, my ideal steering weight... but on the other hand, those settings on my car were created by experts, who drove many thousands of development miles to get a compromise that's just about right for all the situations the car will be driven in.

I wouldn't want to adjust my own dampers to what I think is a setting that gives sharp turn-in, only to find one day that I've made the car incredibly susceptible to violent snap oversteer, say.  (Much as it's got a nice "hero" image to it, oversteer is really not something you want unrequested on a road crowded with other traffic.)

 I suppose realistically the settings will be restricted to quite a small range in which they're all still "safe", so instead of having the idea of 'comfort' and 'sport', you'll be able to select anywhere from a smooth continuum between the two.

TegTypeR:

I like the idea, but I get the feeling in practise 99% of people will not use it, even on high end track biased vehicles.

I agree. The other thing is that I'd rather not meet someone coming the other way on the wrong side of the road who has ended up with no control because he miscalculated the effects some of tweaks he made before settng off. Nightmare. Anyway, would you get a reduction in price on that nice Ferrari or Lambo because they hadn't had to spend time setting it up on their test track before selling it to you ? I'd rather have it done by an expert, isn't that what you pay for with this type of car.

I was lucky enough to drive an M6 and that had way too many settings, you either have it fully turned down for when you are plodding about, or all up for when you are pushing on.  The most that's needed are Comfort, Normal and Sports modes, for 99% of people at least.