Porsche 997 Carrera

One of the most popular reflashes has been for the 997 Carrera. Customer feedback is always so proactive about how much the cars driveability is increased. Noticing the increased torque and pull to redline, customers always seem to be awaken with the VRTuned flash for the 997 Carrera or Carrera S. As tested, the ECU flash gained both horsepower and torque on the 3.6L and 3.8L cars.

3.6L Stock Power – 325HP and 273ft/lbs
Tuned Power – 345HP and 295ft/lbs
3.8L Stock Power – 355HP and 295ft/lbs
Tuned Power – 389HP and 330ft/lbs

VRTuned flashes the 997 Carrera through the OBDII port of the car. With their Flasher Client software, they are reading a full 1mb of the file to completely tune the ECU. Other companies claim to be able to do this, but are only read 128kb and making global changes. The ECU flash will alter your fuel and timing maps to give you a very linear increase over stock. For those worried about check engine lights, there are none! For those running a high flow cat or straight pipe exhaust systems, VRTuned raises the O2 levels which will remove the possibility of having a CEL from this type of exhaust. Once the car is flashed, the low end torque and throttle response will be much improved. The mid-range of the RPM band will feel stronger as well. The overall improvement of drivability makes the 997 Carrera even more fun then it was originally. Another great feature VRTuned can add to your car is the Sport Mode. For those that do not have this as an option, VRTuned can turn Sport Mode on permanently so you have 100% of the electronic throttle. If you have Sport Mode, you can choose to have this be left as its original function or turned on all the time.

Since warranty is always a concern, VRTuned also provides you with your original file. With this original file you can flash your car back to stock at any point. If you go to the dealer, there will be nothing visible through the Porsche PIWIS system. VRTuned can program your vehicle no matter what country you are from or what octane you use. We have different maps for those running 91 octane or 93 octane and higher.

soft997graphThe baseline test of our car with the exhaust shows the Porsche 997 C4S making 280awhp and 230ft/lbs of torque. With the car in sport mode, we made 290awhp and 244ft/lbs of torque. Without sport mode the car made 293awhp and 243ft/lbs of torque. The car will always make more torque and low end horsepower as the dyno graph shows because of how the sport feature works. It gives much faster throttle response and immediate power. With outside air temperatures at around 110F degrees and the dyno room temperatures at 105F degrees average, it is hard to really get a strong run. If the air temperature was around 70F degrees, this car would pick up another 10HP guaranteed.

What are the benefits/functions of going with VRTuned compared to the competition?

  • VRTuned does not require the removal of your ECU from the car. There is no down time at all.
  • Your car can be flashed at your convenience from the comfort of your own garage.
  • VRTuned reflashing is done via a Client Cable that is connected to the OBDII port. The customer simply plugs the cable into the car and reads the file with a laptop per the instructions with the cable. Once the file is downloaded, it is emailed to the VRTuned secure server where the file is tuned and then emailed back to the client. The client simply uploads the file and they are done. Total process is about 1 hour.
  • Reflashing is done according to the vehicles octane level of pump gas and modifications are taken into account (Intake, Headers, Exhaust) to enhance power gains.
  • For all Regular ECU FLashes – All ECU Flashes include FREE of charge the ability to use the Durametric diagnostic tool with the Basic Flash Cable included in the flash price.  This is a $287 value at no additional cost to you!
If you have any questions about the Porsche 997 Carrera ECU Flash, please contact us using our Support Page.

About The Author

Dan Mermelstein - Co-Owner, Blogger, Porsche Enthusiast, VRTuned Marketing and Technical Support. Available to make your car faster!

16 Responses

  1. Guy

    The VRTuned wakes up the car, my 997 C4S was a whole different animal after the flash.
    The best thing about it, is it ran 100% perfect, no issues whatsoever, it’s the way the car should have come from the factory. Installation is easy, and painless. You can’t go wrong.

  2. Scott

    I’ve got a 2007 C2S and wasn’t sure if I wanted to mod my car for performance. With Dan offering a full refund if not satisfied, what did I have to lose? Unfortunately, I won’t be getting money back because there is NO way my car is going back to stock! (Well, except temporarily when I have to take it to the stealership.) VRTuned makes the car the way it should have been from Porsche if they didn’t have to soften the factory coding to meet gas and emission variances for all 50 states. Automatic Sport mode makes throttle response much better and car really pulls strong in the midrange and I love having the 7,500 RPM redline.

  3. Pav

    I recently purchased a VRTuned remap from VividRacing and I thought I’d share my experience with you.

    My Car – ’55 (MY06) 997 C2S, ~67K on the clock, no modifications

    This is the remap. I managed to get it for the 911uk price of £540. I’ve noticed its down to £599 on the website, I’m sure it was around £800 only a few days ago.

    http://www.vividracing.com/catalog/VRTuned-ecu-flash-porsche-997-carrera-38l-05-p-25305.html

    I spoke with Darren and found him to be very helpful. This is the first time I’ve ever “modded” a car and I had loads of stupid questions that he was more than happy to answer.

    The cable arrived from the US in about a week. The whole process of setting up the software / cable and downloading my original file (20 mins) and uploading the remapped file (15 mins) was a doddle.

    When I first took the car out after the remap I was pretty under whelmed. This being my first experience of a remap, I guess I was expecting a transformation. Then I slowly began to realise that the car is pretty spectacular normally and it would be hard to make any significant improvements (especially for £540). After living with the remap for a week I discovered that the changes were subtle, but were exactly what the car needed. This is how the car should have been set up out the factory.

    Here are my thoughts against the claims made on the VividRacing website for the VRTuned remap:

    Tuned Power – 389HP and 330ft/lbs – luckily I got my car onto a Dyno, before the remap, at the recent 911uk meet at Evolve. I’m hoping to go back to Evolve at some point to see if there are any power gains. I can’t imagine I’m at 389HP for £540 though, but its not always about the figures.

    Once the car is flashed, the low end torque and throttle response will be much improved. – the car is pulling better between 2K-4K revs in all the gears. I don’t feel a difference in the throttle response.

    The mid-range of the RPM band will feel stronger as well. – power deliver feels smoother and more linear than before. A couple of flat spots I noticed around 3.5K and 6K seem to have lessened.

    The overall improvement of drivability makes the 997 Carrera even more fun then it was originally. – totally agree

    Another great feature VRTuned can add to your car is the Sport Mode. – my Z4 had a sport button and when I pressed it you could immediately feel a change in throttle response. I don’t get this feeling here. Maybe someone with the Sports Chrono option can tell me if they can feel a difference when the sport button is pressed.

    The bottom line is that for the price I would absolutely recommend this to any C2S owner. The only problem now is that I’ve got the tuning bug, but can’t decide where to go from here.

    I hope some of you found the above useful.

    Cheers

    Pav

  4. Matt

    Once I installed the VRTuneds tune on Monday the car really woke up. It seemed to compliment the exhaust mods perfectly. The 7500 RPM rev limit makes a big difference believe it or not. It also helps to keep the car in the higher powerband when you shift to the next gear. My car is much more responsive than before and it really brightned the mid range for me. There is NO doubt that the car is quicker than before. Its very noticeable and if youre going to get the sport cats and headers, I would highly recommend the VRTuned tune to top it off.

    Also about the tune…I called and requested that my “sport mode” be always on. I wasnt sure if they had enabled it since I forgot to mention it in my DME file upload to VRTuned, so I called and left a message right after I uploaded it. They emailed me back and said it was enabled in the file they sent me. However, if that is the case, the Sport Mode throttle that VRTuned applies and the one by Porsche are not alike. The Porsche sport mode throttle is still much more sensitive than the sport mode by VRTuned. In other words, when I push the sport mode button I can still feel the difference in the throttle input. This is unfortunate as I was hoping the only difference I would feel would be in the tighter suspension and not in the throttle input.

    I will say though the “regular mode” throttle sensitivity is much improved over the sluggish stock version. All in all VRTuned has an excellent product. Install was a snap and its nice to have a stock file to reflash when I go to the dealer, and I can do it all myself without having to send out my ECU.

    View more at – http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/997/192498-short-review-VRTuned-x51-awe-cats-bmc-air-filter.html

  5. Jean Claude

    I just installed the software last week. My porsche 997 S4 came without sport mode (i bought it used with 4,000KM and I did not notice it until it was too late) and it was a bit sluggish as the revs came down too fast, especially when not driving too hard. Now I have permanent sport mode and the car is a joy to drive. The accelaration is much improved in normal and hard driving style and its easier to make a soft kick down to accelerate to pass or just to drive faster.
    The installation is easy but make sure you have a battery charger connected when you do the upload of the modified software.
    Thanks to Dan for his kind cooperation and patience.

  6. Gary

    I just installed my VRTuned flash for my 06 997 C2S. I was impressed the first time I ran it through the gears, but one blast through the canyon, and I was hooked. The car pulls strong all the way to 7500 rpm, then drops right into the sweet spot when I shift. Normal mode is more like sport mode used to be. Sport mode now is very crisp and responsive. Dan was a big help with the whole process. To say I am happy would be an understatment.

  7. Eric

    Ive had my VRTuned in on my 997 S for about a week and a half now and all i can say is i LOVE IT! The car just powers through the RPMs in every gear and drives like a monster. I wasnt sure what company and read many posts on them all and VRTuned was always the most recommended. Sure enough they were right, ive noticed a great increase in performance and an even more exciting ride then before. I wouldn’t go any other route because i am very particular about my car and i was looking for results. This software has them, so i highly recommend it to anymore looking to add a whole new edge to their car. Also Dan was a great help during the whole process and was always easily reachable for anything.

  8. Lee

    Running VRTuned map on my 997 2S along with K&N Filter and Shell V-Power fuel.

    Getting nearly 2mpg more than on stock
    map!

    Car pulls nicely through the rev range. No flat spot like before.

    Word of warning – FOLLOW THE INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS TO THE LETTER!

    Very satisfied overall with the product and particularly the aftercare.

    Chester, UK

  9. Drummer

    Installed installed mine on saturday. On my butt dyno is like 20 hp (with intake), but throttle response shows a huge improvement in sport mode. Has better fuel efficiency, sorry no numbers to show. Very easy to install and fast, faster than vendor claim.

  10. Eguchi

    I installed the software last month. My porsche 997 C2S updated my record of MAX speed on the same road more than 20km after FLASH! The throttle response is fine also. The exhaust fumes is smelled little more than before.
    Thanks to Jim for his kind cooperation and patience.
    Takanori, JAPAN

  11. James P

    Flashed the car last night, pretty simple and straight forward process. Once I plugged in the cable, it took less than 5 minutes. I was able to do a quick test run last night and I can definitely feel the difference in both the throttle response from the sport mode now being on and the increased torque at the bottom and top end. Where before when it would get close to the redline the power would really drop off and shifting into the next gear was very rough, now it continues to pull hard into the high rpm’s and when shifting to the next gear is much smoother.

  13. Bob Lussier

    I have a 997.1 C4S all stock. I’m interested in your tune, but I would like to make the most of it by getting a good set of headers and cats. Can you recommend a good set of headers and cats?

  14. VRTuned.com

    The ECU flash does not require special tuning for bolt on mods. The ECU will adjust to all basic bolt ons such as exhaust, headers, cats, intake. So it does not matter if you do them first. Do you already have an exhaust system?

    For the headers, I would do the Agency Power ones –
    http://www.vividracing.com/catalog/agency-power-performance-headers-porsche-996997-p-24314.html

    For the high flow cats, do Fabspeed –
    http://www.vividracing.com/catalog/fabspeed-sport-catalytic-converters-porsche-p-23312.html

  15. hai le

    Got my VRTuned ecu tuned last night for my 997 c2s without sport chrono, after the tune my throttle response was incredible car pulls a lot harder from 2500 rpm on , feels like a totally different car. at first i was kind of worried about the tune but after the tune every time i drive the car it makes me smile 🙂

  16. Reys

    Hello,
    I’m Reys from Belgium. My car: Porsche 997 4S MKI/2005/ 65.000km/sport chrono/ GT3 Spec short shift/030 suspension springs/(full GT3 body)
    I’m intrested in the ECU tuning.
    Does it also works on a European car like mine?
    How about the Porsche warranty? General warranty ?
    I like more detailed information about this, thanks.

    Thanks for answer, regards
    Reys JP

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