Throttle mapping: Sport+ vs. Track

[Vlad Soare]

So if it’s not the throttle mapping, what causes the obvious difference in how the car accelerates?

With an A10 the shift strategy differs from one mode to the next, which has a signifficant effect on acceleration (possibly even more significant than the throttle mapping).
With a manual, after editing the map I posted above and making it identical to the Normal one, I can now perceive no difference whatsoever between modes as far as the acceleration is concerned. But mine is a 2020, and apparently they changed something between 2020 and 2022.

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[Gregdd]

This video explains it on mach1 manual. No idea how accurate it is. I am stuck on sport+ .

 

[ZXMustang]

I agree - very jerky and unsmooth shifts at anything under WOT.

That’s the non linear throttle to pedal map. Normal should be 1:1.

 

[Oakley]

And you can really feel the 100% throttle vs 80% pedal when you let off. It feels like a throttle hang.

so this is how i noticed the diff between track and sport. when i went to track mode all of a sudden the car felt more sluggish cause i had been running around in sport mode all the time.

then i noticed normal (At least for PP cars) and track mode felt IDENTICAL while sport was a lot more sensitive. then i found out the throttle map is different for sport which basically shortens the effective pedal travel by 20% because it opens up to 100% at like the usual 80% range.

its dumb and I have no idea why ford did it with stick shift cars.
I suspect its just an oversight or some bean counter got in the way.

the stick shift cars should all have a 1:1 throttle map across the board.
not sure why ford did this but its definitely a thing.

 

[Mikepol2]

The modes in my manual Mach are all very different. I could tell you what mode it’s in with my eyes closed.

In Track it feels like limp mode till you’re past about 1/3 pedal travel. Basically in Track you either have to floor it or be at a stop light.

In Sport+ the tiniest amount of pedal travel make the car take off like a rocket. It was hard to use Sport+ around town before the Livernois flex tune, and now it’s basically undriveable unless you’re thrashing it.

Normal mode feels halfway between Track and Sport+ and is just right for around-town cruising.

 

[engineermike]

I'm very surprised it's that aggressively flat. And that they thought it was a good idea to go to 100. Why not just make full throttle say 60pct?

In the mustang the pedal torque demand is overridden to push the blade wide open between 83 and 90% pedal. So even if it did stop at 60%, it would still almost switch to wide open before 90% pedal. Of course this can be turned off and the throttle be managed like the ecoboost if you want. I’ve actually made a “torque by drive mode” tune using this capability.

 

[wynand32]

I'm coming into this thread a bit late, and I'm an amateur at all this, at best. But I'll say that my favorite mode even for casual driving is Track mode. It's so much smoother than Sports+ mode, while being so much quicker than Normal mode. From that perspective, it's overall a lot more fun to drive. And I'm not aggressive enough that I'm worried about losing things when traction control is turned off.

My only problem with it is that it's so loud it gives me a headache after a while. And I can't drive in that mode with my wife because she's even more sensitive to the noise than I am. So I'll drive around by myself in track mode 80% of the time and switch to Sports+ mode when my head starts throbbing a little.

 

[ZXMustang]

I'm coming into this thread a bit late, and I'm an amateur at all this, at best. But I'll say that my favorite mode even for casual driving is Track mode. It's so much smoother than Sports+ mode, while being so much quicker than Normal mode. From that perspective, it's overall a lot more fun to drive. And I'm not aggressive enough that I'm worried about losing things when traction control is turned off.

My only problem with it is that it's so loud it gives me a headache after a while. And I can't drive in that mode with my wife because she's even more sensitive to the noise than I am. So I'll drive around by myself in track mode 80% of the time and switch to Sports+ mode when my head starts throbbing a little.

Um put the exhaust mode in normal manually. This is easy to do once you are in track mode. I do that all the time as I feel the same. Track mode is better than normal, but too loud with the exhaust and my no cat headers. Exhaust in normal mode but car in track is MONEY.

 

[JetGray_Mach1]

I agree - very jerky and unsmooth shifts at anything under WOT.

Maybe for the GT. My Mach 1 is always in sport + and shifts are perfect.

 

[wynand32]

Um put the exhaust mode in normal manually. This is easy to do once you are in track mode. I do that all the time as I feel the same. Track mode is better than normal, but too loud with the exhaust and my no cat headers. Exhaust in normal mode but car in track is MONEY.

Huh. I didn't even know that was possible, thanks. I assumed that when you selected the mode it locked in the exhaust. I'll probably put the exhaust in Sports+ mode then, because that's a more aggressive sound, which I like, without being so obnoxious that it gives me a headache.

 

[ZXMustang]

Huh. I didn't even know that was possible, thanks. I assumed that when you selected the mode it locked in the exhaust. I'll probably put the exhaust in Sports+ mode then, because that's a more aggressive sound, which I like, without being so obnoxious that it gives me a headache.

Yeah man you can over ride the exhaust mode once you put it in the drive mode you want.

 

[WD Pro]

Huh. I didn't even know that was possible, thanks. I assumed that when you selected the mode it locked in the exhaust. I'll probably put the exhaust in Sports+ mode then, because that's a more aggressive sound, which I like, without being so obnoxious that it gives me a headache.

Yeah man you can over ride the exhaust mode once you put it in the drive mode you want.

That’s what my mode is for

I daily drive mine Sport +

My default is also sport+

WD

 

[junits15]

I've always believe that the issues people point to with sport+ on a manual may be a bit overexaggerated. However I absolutely despise the idea of a fake snappy throttle that changes with drive modes.

The difference between normal and sport doesn't start until you get above 28% throttle input. So for starting from a stop and creeping around it shouldn't make a difference unless you are using a lot of throttle.

With that said, I remapped my sport mode to be entirely linear because its herky-jerky when you are in gear, and I think fake snappy throttle mapping is dumb and useless.

More importantly if we're trying to drive the car well and near its limits it's critical the the behavior of the car is predictable. When I'm driving my car every day I'm not just getting to work I'm learning how the throttle translates to power at the wheels. So then, I switch to Sport+ when I want to drive hard and now the throttle mapping is very aggressive and different from what I'm used to. We're combining an unfamiliar throttle response with reduced AdvanceTrac intervention, with hard driving, that feels like a recipe for disaster. I have to wonder if it contributes to the number of people who send these cars flying into the ditch. Anyway that's my rant against weird throttle mapping thank you for coming to my ted talk.

 

[engineermike]

This is why I think pedal commanders are dumb.

 

[shogun32]

The difference between normal and sport doesn't start until you get above 28% throttle input. So for starting from a stop and creeping around it shouldn't make a difference

You'd think so but it sure isn't.

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