981 coding adjustments

I've been making a few coding adjustments with PIWIS on my 981 Boxster S, and I'm curious how others have got on with these sorts of changes to their car, and if there are any other changes that people have done that they think was positive.  I'm pretty happy with the setup I have now, although there are a few things I'd like to do that I have been unable to get working. Currently I've made the following changes to my 981: GT3 steering - the standard steering on the 981 is the first generation of electric steering, and as such the first released iteration of coding for the electric steering system.  It's fine, but tends to be quite heavy around the centre, and generally a bit lacking in feedback.  The 991 GT3 had different and much improved coding for the electric steering, and changing the 981 to have this steering gives a much lighter just off centre feel, while loading up more progressively into the corner.  A very positive change, significantly improving one of the weakest parts of the car. PTV activation - torque vectoring is standard on all 981 GTS and GT4 models, but not on the base and S versions.  By enabling this, the inside rear wheel now brakes on corner entry, rotating the car into the corner more aggressively.  I've heard people complain about this for track use, but for road use I've been quite happy with this change. Rear spoiler adjustments - the standard settings is for the rear spoiler to automatically come up at 120km/h and go back down at 80km/h, to a height of 304 out of 360 possible increments.  You can literally set it to anything - you can have it not come up at all if you like (I believe people with ducktail spoilers like this), or you can set it to go partly up at slower speeds and then further up at higher speeds.  For mine, I have it set to go up to 240 at 70km/h and go back to 0 at 20km/h, and to go up to 320 at 100km/h and back down to 240 at 60km/h.  I'm pretty happy with that, but it's easily changed if I decide I don't like that later on. Instrument lighting always on - I've found it can be almost impossible to read the gauges in some lighting conditions where the headlights are not switched on, so having these permanently selected solves this problem.  It's a great quality of life change, although it does not light up the needles, so if anyone has done that successfully I'd love to hear about it. N (neutral) display on rev gauge - for my manual 981, the gear is displayed on the rev gauge, but this is blank when in neutral.  This setting changes that to have an N when in neutral. G-force screen enabled on instrument cluster - this adds a g-meter page to the intruments.  Completely unnecessary and pointless - I love it. Auto start/stop defaulted to off - the start/stop system is normally enabled when you start the vehicle, and you have to press the button on the centre console to disable it.  This setting changes it so that it is disabled whenever the car is started, and you have to press the button if you want start/stop to work.  It can also be changed to remember your last setting if you'd prefer that, but personally I like it disabled as the default. Rain sensor enabled - the 981's all come fitted with a rain sensor, but it is disabled.  This means you have to set the wipers yourself depending on rain intensity.  By enabling the rain sensor, the first click of wipers go to a rain sensing mode, and it will automatically adjust itself depending on rain intensity, like any other modern car.  A very nice quality of life change. These are all the changes I've made so far, and I'm quite happy with them, however there are a few things I'd like to do that I haven't managed to successfully activate.  Firstly I'd like to setup the DRL's so that the rear lights come on as DRL's as well, but that throws 'left DRL failure' error for me when I attempt that, even though it does actually work in enabling the tail lights as DRL's.  This might be because I have a reverse camera installed that takes power off the left tail light, I'm not sure.  I'd also like to be able to disable the number plate LED lights, they are super bright, look awful, and light up the number plate very unevenly - I'd rather they were just switched off.  There are a couple of settings in there for number plate lights, but I couldn't actually get them to switch off successfully.  The last thing I'd like to do is have the gauge needles light up at all times - I've heard this is related to the tail lights as DRL's settings, but I couldn't get this to work.  If anyone has had better luck than me with any of these settings, let me know!

I’ve just got a PIWIS setup and I’ll also get my 981 soon - with the expectation of doing most of the coding you’ve achieved already so I’ll be learning the process shortly. I hope ! Obviously I can’t be of any help at present (in fact I might need yours…) but keep in touch !

Not quite the same as I have a 982, but the general ideas may be applicable to the 981 in some cases: there is a long thread on the 718 forum about coding using an X431 device, which I have. https://www.718forum.com/threads/718-coding-with-x431.25831/ I have done many of the changes you have.  Plus: Keep car locked when front or rear hatch opening.  Just close the hatch when done and the car stays locked. Change turn signal "One-Touch flashing Cycle" from 3 to 5.  Aussie road rules require 5 seconds before changing lanes. Changing Sound Symposer (Soundaktor) sound loudness (to zero).  I'd rather hear the exhaust note only,

I'm interested in the GT3 steering, but have a couple of questions you might know the answer to... I get my car serviced at a local independent Porsche specialist. Will they be able to do this, and what instructions do I give them? Will making this change have any impact on warranty? TIA?

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If they have a piwis they will be able to do it, I'm not sure about other computer analysis tools.  The actual changing of the setting is very straightforward, once the piwis is connected and talking to the car, it only takes a few minutes to recode the steering.  It's also completely reversible just as easily. To actually change the steering settings, on the piwis you need to go to the Diagnostics menu, select 981.  Then you change the diagnostic mode to E mode (there are three modes, V for normal mode, E for development mode (this is in German only), P for production mode (do not select P-mode!). After that you exit the Diagnostics menu, and start PIWIS and select 981.  Select EPS module, select Codierung Anpassungen 'Coding Adaptations', select Maneulle Codeirung ohne MCR-Regeln (Entwicklung) 'Manual Coding without MCR Rules (Development)', select which Kodierwert 'Coding Value' you wish to change - for steering select Kodierwert: Codierung Fahrzeugklassen. select Next.  The default value is "981S, Cayman", you change this to "GT3", select Schreiben 'Write/Save' (F8) to code.  You can open up the dropdown box for the Kodierwert at this point to check it now says "GT3".  At this point you're done, exit piwis and go driving! I have no idea about warranty sorry, I don't have a warranty for my 981.  I can't see why it would be an issue, it's just a coding change, but I really don't know.

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Thanks very much. Would you happen to know if it works with PIWIS 3? Or just PIWIS 2?

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I tried to get some coding done the other day due to my recent BBK upgrade. I wanted to load the 2023 718 GTS 4.0 standard brake bias setting into my 2019 718 GTS 2.5, but of course when the workshop plugged my car into PIWIS the only options available were for my 718 GTS 2.5, ie., standard brakes or PCCB, so we left it as PCCB as the next best thing. However, my understanding is from above, the workshop should have entered 'Manual Coding' and then some how retrieve the 718 GTS 4.0 brake bias setting? Hard thing is finding someone who is not just limited to the basic option toggling.

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My understanding is that it works on PIWIS 3 as well, however some of the layout is different.   I haven't tried it myself though, so I can't tell you for certain. If they just go straight into PIWIS and load up the 718, they'll be in normal (V) mode.  This allows you to select most on/off functions (for example on the 981 I turned my start/stop function to default off, and enabled the rain sensor in V mode).  However, to actually recode computers in the vehicle where you're loading different programming, you need to go to development (E) mode.  To do this you need to go to the Diagnostics section of the initial piwis menu, and change the mode from V to E.  Once you do this, you can load up the piwis itself and it should all be in German, and you'll have different menu options.

Good on you @Moggy , thanks for sharing your knowledge!

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Thanks, this sounds doable, I just need to find someone with PIWIS in Sydney who is a bit more capable and speaks German which is easier said than done. I'm still not sure it can do what I want but sounds like development (E) mode will provide additional options not tied to my specific model car. Like loading up the PSM/Brake bias code from a different model and then loading it into my car.

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I’ve done mine too. I did try the GT3RS coding which seems an improvement to me but of course why wouldn’t it !  I did turn on Power Steering Plus as well… Another fun thing is to adjust the speed that the rear spoiler deploys but there’s more too.

Does the PIWIS enable a coding adjustment on a 981 Cayman to enable the speed limit display to be shown in the multi-function display? My owners manual includes a section on this feature but I understand it was not enabled for Australia. Has anyone attempted this locally?

Like this ? This uses Nav data which may be somewhat out of date… AFAIK, the 981’s never had cameras to actively read speed limits which is obviously preferred. I rely on Google Maps or Waze in CarPlay as I have a different head unit. Not ideal but we have old tech…

Thx @Miffy - 981 models have the capability and it’s outlined in the owners manual but I understand it’s not enabled for the Australian market for reasons unknown. So question if this can be enabled via a PIWIS coding change? The illustration in the owners manual appears to indicate it utilises the same camera as the rain sensor (fitted to my car) so not sure if the system uses nav data but assume the basic hardware to read speed limit signs is installed?

A few years ago I had a Skoda which I was able to activate the TSR system on but the windscreen cameras/sensors seemed more sophisticated than on a 981. Supposedly: It is part of the Lane Keep Assist camera system. If you don't have LKA, you don't have the hardware for traffic sign recognition. When you have it, the signs, including turn ahead and speed limits, will display in the location to the upper right of the speedo. I’d like it too but I haven’t seen any way to activate in PIWIS.