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January 24, 2025

Subaru And Toyota Offering Dealer-Installed Tune For GR 86 And BRZ


Realizing their owners’ quest for improved responsiveness and performance, both Toyota and Subaru have announced software updates for the second-generation GR 86 and BRZ, in Japan at least.

Starting with Subaru, they’ve come up with the “Subaru Sport Drive e-Tune,” an optional software upgrade that can be installed on all Subaru BRZ sportscars, manual or automatic, manufactured from 2021 to 2023. The update incorporates new throttle setting (in the case of the automatic, an additional transmission control update too) enabling better driver control.

The learnings from Subaru’s participation in the Super Taikyu racing series has led them to come up with a new tune that helps the engine “faithfully respond to accelerator operation at all revolutions.” Meanwhile, in the automatic models, the manual downshift control has been changed too expand the available rev range the driver can downshift too without risking overrevving.

The GR 86 Performance Software does the same thing. It’s all about improving accelerator response for quicker downshifts (both manual and automatic), and increased engine-speed tolerance during downshifts (automatic).

Toyota goes more into detail into the update by saying, that in the manual, “engine torque control has been modified for easier blipping, which is often required in motorsports. Also, throttle control has been adopted to obtain a more direct response to accelerator operation, improving ease of handling at the upper limits of performance.”

For the automatic, this is what they have to say, “responding to requests from customers who participate in motorsports with automatic transmission vehicles, the engine-speed tolerance range during downshifting has been expanded, enabling sporty driving supported by a wider torque band.”

Toyota hasn’t revealed just how much the GR 86 Performance Software will cost Japanese owners, but Subaru has said that the Subaru Sport Drive e-Tune will cost around 50,000 yen (P 18,800) for the MT and 30,000 yen (P 11,300) for the AT. Both carmakers will be offering these as dealer-installed options in the first quarter of 2025.

No word if they’ll be offering these updates outside of Japan.

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