32 CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK | APRIL 2019Does it
work?
Tech
Porsche’s track
driving app
Hone your circuit skills via Porsche’s free-to-download Track
Precision app, now in heavily-updated Mk3 guise. By Ben MillerGET THE APP
Download the free app to your
Android or Apple phone. Sync with
your Sport Chrono-equipped Porsche
via Wi-Fi or cable.GO FOR A PERSONAL BEST
Live displays help trim tenths on the
track, while the app lets you plough
through myriad data traces between
sessions to help buff your skills.SECURE YOUR PHONE
Stick your phone in a handy mount if
you’re recording video, or just stash
your phone somewhere secure if
you’re only interested in data.T
his is the third generation of Porsche’s
Track Precision app, and the thinking
behind it is simple enough. Porsche’s
Experience Centres are over-subscribed
and its customers keener than ever to exploit their
cars on circuits. Hence a big development of the
app, now available with a wealth of additional
functionality, from easy video and lap time record-
ing to the ability to scrutinise and compare many
parameters, including turbo pressure, revs, throttle
position, stability management intervention and
individual wheel speeds.
Set-up is simple enough, though your new
Porsche will need the Sport Chrono pack to access
the app’s full functionality. (Previously the app
only worked with Porsche’s top-end GT sports cars
like the 911 GT3 RS.) Don’t own a Porsche? You
can still download and use the app, though it will
clearly be restricted in the data it’s able to record.
Hundreds of circuits are loaded into the app
but it’s easy enough to add new ones. Just pull up
a satellite view of your location and set a start/
finish line and intermediate sectors as you wish.
A Preparation section runs through a checklist for
you and your car, including a glossary of terms.
Hit start, head out for your session and you
needn’t worry about the app again. It’ll go on
recording data every 100 milliseconds and
displaying your times, including deltas and your
predicted lap time. You can also bring up a nattygraphic that analyses your driving relative to the
potential of the car in that moment, the display
filling with feelgood green if you’re exploiting the
car to its limits (which the app calculates from the
car’s sensors and systems, primarily those related
to its stability management) and turning red if
you’re under- or over-driving.
But it’s between sessions (or once you’re home)
that the magic really happens. Watch the video
feed and the obvious information is displayed in
simple graphics: steering angle, brake and throttle
pressure, stability control intervention, and
understeer and oversteer. But dive into the data
(you can look at any number of data sets, though
steering angle, throttle and brake are the most
obvious for self-improvement) and you’re able
to quickly and easily work out what you did and
where you did it to find time on your fastest laps.
You can also compare your laps to those of friends
or your instructor.LAP (TIME) OF LUXURY
HOW IT WORKS1
3
2
It does. Developed by keen drivers for keen
drivers, it’s rich in functionality and easy to use.
Given third-party video and lap time recording
equipment tends to be costly and fiddly, the Track
Precision app scores highly on value and ease of
installation. Richly informative if you’re fortunate
enough to own a compatible Porsche, it’s also
a handy piece of software for anyone keen on
enjoying and recording their precious track time.Does it work?