Indeed. There's a TRD supercharger for the iForce 5.7l V8 in the Toyota Tundra that bumps the power from 375 (stock) to 505hp and the same number of torque.
I know a supercharged Tundra 4x4 owner who will not drive his here in the winter when the ice covers the roads: The computer-controlled Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) and traction control does absolutely nothing. You can't even creep off the line in that monster giving *any* gas on the pedal without starting to go sideways in 4x4 locked. And this is on snowflake-sidewalled DuraTrac tires which are one of the best snow/ice hybrid tires you can buy. Just ridiculous. A bone stock Subaru Legacy wagon could easily whoop him in a drag race in snowy conditions; just leave him sitting still.
There's other guys in town with 700hp Ford turbo-diesels that are as nervous as first-time drivers when the flakes come down.
You CAN have too much power.
Yup. Big time. Years back I had a 77F250 with a breathed on 460 that literally got stuck on wet grass with ‘normal’ tires. Just sat and spun off idle thanks to the weight distribution issue. Not fun in the snow at all. Today, it would be a dog comparatively.
But what you don’t take into account here, is that the ECM may have been tuned for the boost, but it wasn’t tuned to be “safe” at low speeds.
We hot-rodders can definitely build some scary cars, even from new stuff, but it’s very hard to build scary cars that seem harmless enough for the wife to drive, in your garage. Vehicle stability programs, traction management (and not just via braking, but throttle management & torque vectoring), etc. are all expensive to develop technologies we take for granted in stock vehicles.
If Toyota had made the Tundra with 505hp out the door of the dealership, I will bet it would have driven like a Buick Boat till you tipped in deep on the loud pedal.
Most cars are limited at low speeds and/or RPMs to prevent driveline damage. It wasn’t better alloys that allowed the big increases in horsepower in stock vehicles, it was software that kept the high-perf motors from tearing out the driveshafts, rearends, and transmissions :)
For an example of what all the dev money goes too, pull a new vehicle off to the side of the road, that has a lot of HP under the hood. Make sure the grass is damp and muddy. Now nail it to the floor before getting back onto the pavement. The computer will find every bit of available traction, and keep touching the edge of severe wheel-spin, and you will safely and directly go just about in the direction you aim.
That doesn’t happen in home built race cars.
Of course, the computer can’t keep you from sinking if it is severely muddy...
This works the same on ice for most cars. But often at least in NC, ice is so bad it doesn’t matter what you have, you may still not move, even with 4 wheels driven.
The maxim my Dad taught me: 4x4 just means you have a better chance of taking off, everybody has 4 wheels and brakes on each, stopping is the real kicker.