I'd tend to think the same. Porsche is not sloppy on their engine software design, neither are other makes. The mappings etc are all trade offs. Power vs efficiency vs fuel type vs reliability/wear, etc. If you gain more HP by changing the software, you ARE giving up something else in exchange. It may not be something of concern, but there is a trade off. I don't think there are free 20hp just lying around that Porsche was too stupid to discover or activate.

When I went with APR I believe GIAC was the hot set up at the time. In fact my brother who lives in CA put it on his car. He liked it in combination with x-51 headers and a Remus Exhaust.

I went with APR because it a 93 Octane program(and they are local to me) as I remember GIAC had one program which was meant for 91.

So to answer your question you could probably get a little more HP with a program from APR for 93 Octane or from Softronic which adjusts automatically for different.

Does the GIAC give you more mid range and take away the throttle lag? If so that is what the APR does too and from what I have read the softronic does the same.

Bottom line it probably isn't worth the expense to change. IMO and I am not an expert by any means.

my understanding is that if you purchase direct from Softronic you get the cable included for the $995 ...others may choose to charge you $150 for the cable

I had GIAC on my first 997S, didn't impress me at all. I have had APR on 05 Audi S4 (V8) and that didn't make any noticeable difference either, but on my Allroad with the 2.7TT, it makes a massive difference. I think the fact that I haven't noticed any difference on a NA vehicle is were my reluctance to try the Softtronic Software comes from. Anyone else have the same experience?

You've already heard my opinion. I would ECU turn a FI car in a minute. Big gains. NA's, only if you have money burning a hole in your pocket. What does 10hp really accomplish on 350hp car anyway? We know exhausts for NA cars don't really do jack either, but at least it makes that noise we love

I am not sure about the exhaust not making gains, I was at a track day last Thursday and shared an instructor with another guy (Targatim) in his Club Coupe with X51. The instructor told me after back to back drives that my car pulled harder and felt faster. I have never tried a X51 yet, but I would imagine that any improvement that I have is due to the Cats. I don't think that the headers do a lot.

And yes the exhaust does sound awesome!

I was referring to mufflers specifically. They accomplish pretty much nothing on our NA cars other than adding to the "it sounds cool" quotient.

Cats and Headers do offer gains. Mostly in the upper end of the rev range and with a sacrifice to the bottom. I have before and after dyno charts on my car that show significant gains with headers (almost 25rwhp peak and 10rwhp on top) with a loss in lower rpms.

With regards to the x51 and your car, I would not be surprised if dyno'd within 1015 rwhp or so of each other. The extra noise of your full exhaust system sometimes ups what people believe about the car being more responsive. Butt dynos are just not reliable when doing such close comparisons. If you're comparing a Pruis to a Z06 maybe

I did before and after dyno on my NA car... 305.4 whp before and 352 whp after...

Mods are listed in my sig and include the Softronic...

I agree that butt dyno's are inaccurate at best of times, however when it is a third party and there is not bias, then I have to put some merit in the observation. Tim and I may swap cars this weekend for a drive and see what each others cars feel like to the other person.

Were running 100 octane for the dyno with the mods or was that someone else?

Almost 50 rear wheel HP (almost 60 crank HP) from bolt ons and a flash? Could we see your charts and were the dyno runs done progressively or did you install everything at once? Same dyno, same operator, same day?

Take them to the dyno, or even better the track. Same driver, both cars. Compare lap times.

We were on the track, same driver, can't compare lap times as my suspension is much better and will effect lap time. Just an observation from the instructor that was in them back to back.