mschuyler

I just got back from a 4000 mile trip from Seattle to Gunnison, Colorado, down to New Mexico, Vegas, and LA. I normally do Tour mode on the highway, but for those nice curvy roads like I-70, and US 50, and US 550 I stuck it in Sport mode (with an A8.)

Seems to me the only thing I could really feel was a slight difference in gearing, and I'm not even sure about that. Of course, the roads were modern, new, and smooth for the most part. One thing I did notice is that coming downhill where you tend to pick up speed naturally, if I braked at all, the tranny would shift down to a lower gear, from circa 2000 RPM to 3000 RPM and stay there as I more or less coasted down, then would give an audible and physical "thump" as it shifted back to the higher gear when I applied some power. I felt that was actually to my advantage because I basically used a "jake brake" to keep the speed reasonable on the hill, and the car seemed to know what to do in that circumstance without my intentionally needing to do it myself.

But my real question is, what are the differences between the two modes?

village idiot

Seriously? Owners manual? Google?

Your driveline gear ratios don't change one bit. You have an A8 so your shift points/shift pressure may change.

From Touring to Sport:
If you have MRC, your shocks stiffen up and stuff.
Your exhaust (if equipped) is louder
Your steering ratio tightens
The amount of assist you get decreases (steering gets heavier)

mschuyler

'

There's very little on this forum that can't be googled and get some sort of answer. I'd rather ask the Village Idiot. I get better information.

97Black

Tour mode is really a much nicer ride if you're traveling far. Sport definitely firms things up, but still a decent ride. Also, the steering and throttle response are different in sport (more lively).

Steve Garrett

I drive in Touring mode when my wife is in the car. I drive in Sport mode when she's not.....

davidtcpa

I could help you but my car has never been out of sport mode.

mschuyler

Okay, but what does that mean, exactly? My problem is that I'm not seeing or feeling a discernible difference. As the Village Idiot said, it's not gearing, and the exhaust can be tuned independent of the mode, so it's not that, either, or at least it doesn't have to be. I don't have MRC, so I can't judge that.

Add to this the environment. I was blessed with extremely smooth new asphalt with nary a bump in sight. The car just seemed to effortlessly flow around the curves--you know how that is. It really was a beautiful ride either way, so I finally took it out of Sport and just went with Tour.

So I must be missing something. Perhaps I'm not aggressive enough, but frankly, I had it up to 120 at one point, so it's not as if I keep it under 55. I'm just a bit puzzled is all, and thought someone might have some insights that defy googling.

So I guess the real question is, if someone secretly put it in Tour and didn't tell you, could you tell the difference?

village idiot

steering and exhaust, easily.

Silver Stingray

You answered your own question. Without MSRC you won't notice much difference except exhaust note assuming you have it set to mode dependent. There is a huge difference in ride quality with sport vs tour mode with MSRC. Night and day.

village idiot

Steering?

Silver Stingray

Yeah that too!

joemosfet

Here ya go.



Source: the first google result when searching "c7 drive modes"

And for the performance modes (edited for clarity: )



As for my experience, I love switching between the modes. I don't really tell much of a difference between Eco and Tour since I got the blower and tune, but Eco will go into 4-bangity mode.

When switching from tour to sport, the HUD and dash change, the steering tightens up a bit, the exhaust opens up, accelerating out of corners becomes a bit easier, and faster (less torque is pulled during yaw maneuvers, the e-lsd will lock a bit quicker at the end of a corner). The suspension tightens up a bit, and I can feel bumps in the road a bit more.

Then, when flipping into track, the exhaust stays open a bit longer, the steering is much tighter, the bumps in the road travel all the way to your spine. 1st & 2nd gear wot pulls work a lot better, less wheel spin due to the tighter rear end (no wheel hop). Around the corners is the same as sport, until...

Track mode, perf mode Dry: Launch control is now available, if that's your thing. If you've never felt oversteer, here is where you start. Liberal throttle application around the corner will kick the back end out but then quickly snap you back into place, as torque is pulled, and the stability and traction work the various brakes to apply torque where it belongs. E-lsd is unlocked through the entire corner, to allow the stability control to manage per-wheel torque, but thats ok, torque is pulled anyway, you're not putting much power down.

Track mode, Perf mode Sport 1: Ok, now's where we start feeling that e-lsd really kick in. Accelerate halfway out of a corner and you'd expect to end up in circles? Nah, e-lsd unlocks, and a bit torque is delivered to both wheels, according to the torque/yaw table, though a bit of oversteer correction will be needed.

Track mode, perf mode Sport 2: Now I have to manage the throttle a lot more coming out of a corner, even small ones. Stabilitrack is off. I could end up ***-around, but I also could get some sweet oppo-lock... if I can afford the rubber, anyway.

Track mode, perf mode race: Abandon hope all ye who enter here.... here be dragons... All torque is available at all times. Stabilitrack is off. A very careful application of throttle is needed. E-LSD locks up under acceleration at the end of a corner, so gotta watch for that as well. Though, if you want to drift, here is where you live.

That's my 2 cents worth, anyway.

LT1 Z51

The steering ratio doesn't change (that's a mechanical constant), what changes are the "boost curves" aka the level of input torque needed to get a specific output torque from the assist motor.

Sport has "less" assist than Touring, and Track has "even less" than Sport. Basically by removing assist along the range they "tighten" up the steering making you the driver do more work. This can increase road feel as the motor isn't over assisting you. I find Sport to be a good balance between low efforts and good feel. Track is a PITA to do any sort of parking maneuver, and Tour feels sloppy to me.

LT1 Z51

Take a look at this picture for defining how a "boost curve" works.

https://patentimages.storage.googlea...828-D00008.png

Basically there are curves from 0 kph to 200 kph (usually 8-16) with input torques from 0 Nm - 10 Nm (tuned specifically at 8-32 points), with an output of 0 Nm - 10 Nm (depending on motor strength, and motor to pinion ratio which is about 20:1, meaning 10 Nm of motor torque is equivalent to 200 Nm of torque at the steering wheel).

So an example would be, you put in 2 Nm, on Sport this equals 1.5 Nm of motor torque (Tour would be 1.6 Nm for example, while Track would be 1.4 Nm for example). If the motor to pinion ratio was 20 to 1, the outputs (in addition to your 2 Nm input) would be 30, 32, and 28 respectively, meaning the equivalent assist would be 32, 34, and 30 Nm into the system. If the car had no electronic (or in the old days hydraulic assist) you'd have to put in that force yourself, and with the tiny diameter wheels we have today (specifically the tiny one on the C7) you'd struggle to put that much in without making an effort.

mschuyler

Google is great when it tells you something. Look at this graph now. What does it say about the differences? In Tour Mode the Throttle Progression is "Normal." In the Sport Mode the Throttle Progression is "Sport." Look at each issue there and it's pretty much the same. "Tour" Mode does something listed as "Normal" or "Tour" and "Sport" Mode does something in "Sport." So what information does this "first google result" actually tell you? Nothing useful. So when you guys say, "Ha ha. Just google it!" you're not offering any useful information. I was hoping some real world experience of actual Corvette owners could come up with what the actual differences are. I kinda thought that was the intent of the forum, owners helping each other out with real-world information.

I do appreciate your text about Track mode differences. That is useful and I'm not dissing that at all. But of all the answers so far, even Village Idiot has been reduced from an extensive list down to one difference: Steering. and LT1 has taken that apart. M'K. I'm not seeing it, but it could have been the benign roads. I do also appreciate the issue of MRC might make a big difference, and that may be why I'm not seeing much here. At this point I'm glad I didn't pay extra for it.

joemosfet

Sorry, I provided my experience and offered anecdotes which cover several noticeable differences between the modes, which I thought were noteworthy or remarkable, even if not necessarily a direct answer to your question. My apologies if its not up to your standards of what qualifies as an answer to this simple question, I'd delete my post if I knew how...

rrsperry

Here's a great answer,

It depends.

There. Almost everthing can be programmed. If you can't feel the difference between tour and sport, (assuming you have mag ride), you need to sell the corvette and buy a Camry. Trust me, it'll be great for you.

That said, go through the settings. Make sure everything set to be linked to the mode setting. Then you selectively change 1 thing and see what's what.

Foosh

Pushing hard on the track with MSRC is where the differences are most apparent.

In normal street driving, without MSRC, which the OP has said he doesn't have, the most noticeable difference for the average person will be steering feel, which will be heavier in Sport, and heavier still in Track. If you have NPP and it's switched off, you won't notice a difference in exhaust loudness either. If you have it set to mode dependent, you'd hear the difference.

With MSRC is where the biggest differences are felt by the average person in street driving. There is a noticeable difference in the ride. Tour is a comfort setting, Sport get's stiffer, and Track is stiffer still.

Rooster OG

Sport has five letters in it and tour has four. Therefore sport>tour.

joemessman

The major difference for my preference in Sport is that the steering stiffens and when doing wide open throttles the RPM holds on a lot higher waiting for your next throttle stomp. Even without your foot off the accelerator the RPM is running high waiting to spring into action at a optimal torque level. Also the throttle is a lot more sensitive. Your gears stay down level. I do a lot of foot stomps so the difference between tour and sport is quite apparent. Like night and day. Of course this is just one aspect of the difference between tour and sport because one can really feel it. I have a borla xpipe and you can really hear the difference too. (foot stomps implies wide open throttle)