[Updated with LSD/GHAS settings]
I thought it worth sharing the differences to be found with the M4 GTS coding – there are posts here and there which mention it’s “better”, but very little detail in terms of what differences are experienced. I’ve been using this now for a few months and love it!
The M4 GTS coding affects 2 areas: MDM mode, steering.
MDM Mode (applicable to M2 OG & LCI):
I was a little nervous about coding this (given all the press reports of how knife edge the M4 GTS is with regards to handling), but I needn’t have been worried! On the M2, the balance and grip offered by the chassis mean that GTS coding works very well and is very liveable day to day.
The GTS coding affects the MDM modes (Sport+, Traction), but not Comfort or Sport, which will still feel the same.
The most immediate thing I noticed (in Sport+), was how much sharper the turn in was, my initial thought was that this was related to the GTS steering coding (which we cover below), but then quickly realised that this was due to the diff being now free to do its job – unless you get to drive a GTS coded car, you will never fully comprehend how restraining the traction control is to the diff – now, the car’s direction can be easily changed on the throttle – the diff just gets stuck in (now free to do its job properly) and all that traction now helps the rear of the car push the front round (but not in a tail out smoking tyres sort of way) – it just feels so much more agile and it able to change direction much more quickly.
In the dry, I have had no pant staining moments at all - generally, there is just mountains of traction. The rear is a freer and could be stepped out if you really wanted to, but you would really have to tell the car to do this – it won’t go sideways at all at speed unless you use throttle that’s way excessive, or accelerate very hard over a crest whilst turning (e.g. off a roundabout). I have not been on the track yet with it, so I don’t know exactly how sideways it will get in the dry, but on the road it’s stepped out maybe up to ~1ft at speed off a roundabout before the traction light started flashing. In the wet, it is still generally drivable, but I have had two massive completely out of shape slides on roundabouts, so Sport mode is recommended when it’s damp.
To code this, change the DSC module’s " C_Variante_Fahrzeug_e" option to “F082GTS” (reference to this post).
Also if you have a US based car, you will need to code EuroMDM to get the same experience, which I understand is done by setting the “C_Laenderkennung” to “ECE” (although I haven’t had to do this myself as I’m in UK anyway – reference to this this post)
Limited Slip Differential (applicable to M2 OG & LCI):
The LSD in our cars also can run in different model modes - I honestly wasn't expecting much, but it makes quite a striking difference.
With the LSD (aka GHAS in Esys) configured to M4 GTS, any hint of understeer is completely gone and the car feels much sharper into turns. When going around a bend, the car's line can now be tightened purely with the throttle (yawing) - the LSD is now putting more torque to the outside wheel, which is then pushing the car around the corner much more sharply (but only when asked via throttle input, not in a scary way).
To achieve this, update the following inside GHAS to "F082GTS":
- DSS TASC
- DSS IPM
Steering (applicable to all M2 (including Competition), plus M3 and M4:
Some of you will have seen a few posts from me related to steering (a little obsession of mine!) and I can now report that this is truly good now for an electric rack.
With the GTS coded steering module, the road surface is far better communicated than ever before and the steering wheel relays undulations far more as well. For instance, I can clearly tell the difference between shell grip and normal surfaces purely through the steering sensations, which was not really possible before.
Even Comfort mode is not too bad now in terms of feel (just very light). Sport is pretty good, and actually has the best feel for high frequency vibrations (e.g. stones, shell grip) but has less reaction to undulations. Sport + is the best though, with great all round feel, balanced weighting that doesn’t feel artificial and it reacts well to undulations.
I have driven 3 x different steering/coding options across 3 x different ISTEP versions and this is the best yet in terms of feel.
I have a friend with a 1M – he has long toyed with the idea of moving to an M2, but hasn’t primarily because of the steering – he has driven my car many times and loved it all expect for the steering. However, with the GTS coding, he is quite impressed and said that if a modern BMW got delivered to him with this feel of steering, he would be quite happy with it.
To put the level of steering here in context/comparison, the feel of the road now is much better than our ’11 plate Merc C-Class (with hydraulic steering), and that Merc was streets ahead of my previous E90 Alpina in terms of steering satisfaction. Don’t expect it to feel exactly the same as hydraulic steering, as it is slightly different in feel, but now at last all the information is there, it’s just a case of recalibrating yourself slightly to the way it’s presented.
To code this, change the ESP module’s "variantencodierung normal" option to “F082GTS”.
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Overall, with both of these things coded, the car is now a real joy to drive, much more raw and far less “digital” in feel, and I’ve fallen totally in love with my car – I will be keeping it for a very long time!
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Note about ISTEP Version:
All of the above is all based on ISTEP F020-19-03-530 (v4.16.40) – there was an ISTEP released at some point during late 2018/early 2019, BMW made some quite big changes to the steering module software and the feel/weighting balance was drastically improved by default for all M cars and coding options. If you use this coding on an older ISTEP, your experience may be different.