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.
“Most cars are limited at low speeds”
I had not heard of this. Can you elaborate or provide a link