Vivid Racing is very happy to launch our newest endeavor noted as VR Tuned. The VR logo symbolizes the simplicity and stripped down form of the niche Vivid Racing brand. Where things have gotten complicated and convoluted in this industry, VR Tuned has been created to offer ECU tuning with a different vision. Although we all love to see the high horsepower, record setting vehicles, many of us want the performance, reliability, and satisfaction in our street cars. With vehicle modding comes a sense of trust and weeding through the discussion forums to really find out what is best. What is best for your needs is Customer Support, Buyers Confidence, and establishing a relationship for your modding career, not just the hot vehicle in the now.

The performance vehicle market has grown and changed substantially since we started in 2001. Much like online software, many things have become available making the ability to provide customers an incredible service with a great product at an affordable price. In 2005, Vivid Racing purchased our Mustang all wheel drive dyno being what was the 2nd or 3rd in Arizona. Over the years we dabbled in providing the local Arizona market with a place to get their cars tuned. Subaru’s, EVO’s, and other popular cars of the time. As we grew as a company, we also grew as a team. We continued to push our global distribution and turned from hands on tuning of standalone systems, to ECU flashing of higher end European vehicles. With our entry in these platforms such as Porsche, BMW, Audi, VW, we were able to resell and personally use many different products. Each one of them more successful in certain areas than others, what did lack for us was the ability to control the customer experience. Hardware, software, convenience were all out of our control. So after 4 years of research on what would be the most beneficial to our customers and growth, we are proud to launch the VR Tuned brand.

Based on our success in the Porsche market, we are heavily focused there. However we have a strong base in other European vehicles. With customers all over the world, we aim to offer both OBDII and bench flashing for vehicle platforms worldwide. As we develop a strong network of customers, we hope you join in our Discussion Forum and spread the word of your experience to others. As you can see from our previous customer reviews, no matter the product, it is our expertise and service that earned us a customer. We are confident you will be happy with the results, service, and entire experience.


Q: If I buy VRTuned, who is tuning the files?

A: Having been involved in the Porsche aftermarket since 2005, we have acquired a vast amount of knowledge and experience. Having owned a 2000 Porsche 996 Carrera, 2001 Porsche 996 Turbo, 2007 Porsche 997 Turbo, 2011 Porsche 997 Turbo S, 2010 Porsche 997 GT3RS, 2011 Porsche Panamera Turbo, a slew of OTHER hot cars, as well as worked with 100′s of customers worldwide, we are in “tuned” with what works and what does not. So to answer your question, we have an internal partner to VR Tuned who is creating our files with the same ideologies we have been using. In the end, standard tunes can only be adjusted so much to ensure reliability, safety, and performance.

Q: Do you tune for different octane fuel, sea level, or other environmental differences?

A: We sure do. We have customers all over the world. You name the continent (except Antartica), we have a customer there running our products. Communicate with us and we will make sure to accomodate your needs within reason. If for some reason your car is experience weird symptoms, lets diagnose it together to see if it is mechanical or we need to datalog it to custom tune it further

Q: Do I need internet or a certain laptop to flash my ECU?

A: For those that have worked with us in the past, you can understand the headache of certain laptops not working with flash applications, internet connectivity, or simply having to have a IT degree to complete the flash. The VR Tuned iFlash dumbs all that down. No internet is required, will work with 99% of PC’s and can be used on a Mac if booted up as a Windows machine. There is no way to brick your ECU as your original full read out can recover any mistakes completely writing back to your vehicle.[/SIZE]

Q: I am still kind of nervous, can someone assist me?

A:Hey, not everyone is a computer person, so helping you out is no problem from us. As long as you have your laptop, cable, and car, we just need you to have internet where you are doing the read/write process. We can share your screen using Teamviewer or Join.me to do the process or walk you through it. No charge, just ask us and we can try to setup a convenient time.

Q: I still have my warranty. Will the dealer be able to detect the car has been flashed?

A: If you are doing your flash with our iFlash system via the OBDII port, you download your actual original file in full. If you load this back to your vehicle, it is your TRUE original file. This is not a stock map or stock tune like others provide. So what we tell people is this… If you are going in for general service, oil change, fix a window motor, etc, there is no need to flash back to stock. If you have a major engine or transmission issue, flash back to stock. If the manufacture really wants to investigate, they have ways. But when you take your car to the dealer and they plug in the factory tool, there is no flag that says your ECU has been flashed, modified, etc. Since 2005, we have never had a warranty issue with a customer and their tuned vehicle.

Q: What is your guarantee on your tuning software?

A: Yes our tuning files have been proven to work. Yes our flash client application is easy to use. Unlike other firms, history is not as important as a satisfied customer. We do have a guarantee in place.

 

Any board members with experience to share with us?

 

I have worked in the automotive aftermarket for the last decade as a sales and marketing executive on the manufacturer side of things (domestic performance exhaust company). Many of my industry friends, as you may guess, work for other tuning companies who do similar work as to what Vivid is claiming here. I'm of the opinion that much of what they're stating is entirely plausible and with a quick glance you can see they're quite praised by their customer base.

Personally, I would have no issues going with a flashed ECU for any vehicle granted the tunes are spot on. My only gripe is that it seems many companies seem to prey on owners of European vehicles with tuning devices priced out of bounds in contrast to other flash devices in the domestic or Japanese markets.

 

Jesse
I have no doubt that this a quality product, that is not the question that I am asking.

Most of use here are enthusiasts. We drive these cars for the joy. The feeling and the nirvana of ultimate engineering.

So my question is:
Has anyone from this board flashed their 997 with this product? and how does it feel in the hands of an enthusiast?

 

This a product just released to the market Friday after our in-shop R&D. I will be sure to post dyno sheets and client review right away when I get back into the office. Thank you for your support and feedback, we are very proud to release a product that is both user friendly and comes with extensive customer support that may have been lacking with previously offered tuning options. I dont feel that we have preyed on a particular market, but have found a solution for a majority of European models that will compare to the ease of use and affordability found on the Japanese market. Stay tuned! We are very excited about this!

 

Your entire paragraph regarding "Who is creating your tune files" isn't terribly reassuring. So you've owned a number of Porsches and been in the industry for 10+ years. That's great and all, but it still doesn't make a person qualified to be a Tuner.

There isn't a flash out there I would put in my car without knowing who was behind it.

Where does this leave SoftTronic for VR? Are you still a reseller?

 

What device or platform will you be tuning with? Maybe a list of parameters that are adjusted by your calibrator and also those that are manipulatable by the end user could benefit your cause here.

Also, I'd like to clarify I wasn't taking a stab at your product directly, but to the category as a whole. Tuning options available for our European cars pale in comparison to those offered for the other markets when it comes to features available. Especially when you consider their acquisition costs. It's a sad truth currently. :-(

 

I appreciate your concern. To clarify, this is not a product we are releasing blindly and we do understand the ramifications a poor tune would have on a vehicle of this caliber. The tuner we work with is heavily experienced with Bosch and Siemens ECU tuning couple this with our experience over the last 10+ years has helped us to run through our own checklists of previous tune issues and successes to develop the best product available. With our hands on experience and past R&D project builds you can rest assured that we have gone through all of the checks and balances to offer a product that we would use on our shop and personal cars that we love as much as our end user.

 

Is it not possible to just name your affiliate or tuner? Why the mystery?

Also, you didn't touch on the SoftTronic topic.

I'm getting the feeling VR Tuned files are still done by Scott just re-branded. If that's the case, that is fine in my book. If not well, that's what happens when things are left up to the imagination. People make assumptions.

 

We have a private partner employed with us. So there is no mystery. We are promoting a product, an experience, and a service.

 

So answer the bloody question directly. Geez I'm not trying to be a dick here but these vague half answers to what I'd consider legit questions are quite frustrating.

1. Do you no longer sell SoftTronic? You guys were the primary distribution point for them and they were one of the most widely used flashes. I think some explanation is fair.

2. These tunes are completely in house by your "mystery tuner" and no affiliation with Softronic or Scott? Correct?

 

I have the same questions...

 

I am sorry for the frustration, this is a new launch of a new product without any affiliations.

 

If you were sorry for the frustrations you would have answered the questions. Which you did not, yet again.
I was asking because I was literally hours away from ordering SoftTronic from you guys but I can't get a straight answer.

I give up. GIAC or FVD it is.

 

@AUZZIE

Softronic can be located at HTTP://SoftronicSoftware.com and the old site of Softronic.us will forward to it. No other site is Softronics. We will be posting a discount on 6Speed in the next couple days and all orders should go to us directly.


Best Regards,
Scott