Pedal Commander

[Rwebman]

Anyone hook one up on a 2023+ Z Performance Manual? I wanted to see if this is worth while or even worth looking into for this car?

Thanks

 

[greg1199S]

I had one on my 2018 Alfa Romeo Giulia 2.0. Madness GoPedal. it worked great until it didn't--it threw a throttle error while in traffic and the car became disabled. I was able to limp home (it would go about 5 mph) and remove it. It now sits in a box in my garage. I'm prone to avoid throttle control devices now--all they do is increase throttle actuation based on a given pedal angle. Just press the gas harder!

 

[takemorepills]

All a pedal commander does is take your throttle input and change it.

You can do that for free with your right foot.

With AT cars, people feel like it "tricks" the AT into shifting better. That's possible, but again, a free mod you can do just by modifying your right foot.
I have a 9AT Titan and it is like every other Nissan 9AT, except the one in the Nismo. I hated it, considered a pedal commander and after looking into it decided against it. Now I know how to "trick" the Nissan 9AT with my foot.

With a 6MT, I just don't even see the point. The car makes no more power, and since the 6MT is dumb, there's no tricking it into shifting better.

Save your money and flex your right foot.

 

[LosalZ]

All a pedal commander does is take your throttle input and change it.

You can do that for free with your right foot.

With AT cars, people feel like it "tricks" the AT into shifting better. That's possible, but again, a free mod you can do just by modifying your right foot.
I have a 9AT Titan and it is like every other Nissan 9AT, except the one in the Nismo. I hated it, considered a pedal commander and after looking into it decided against it. Now I know how to "trick" the Nissan 9AT with my foot.

With a 6MT, I just don't even see the point. The car makes no more power, and since the 6MT is dumb, there's no tricking it into shifting better.

Save your money and flex your right foot.

Anyone hook one up on a 2023+ Z Performance Manual? I wanted to see if this is worth while or even worth looking into for this car?

Thanks

 

[LosalZ]

I had a Sprint Booster on an 06 Cayman with MT. I really liked it. I would stall, taking off from a stop sometimes, before I installed it. Never had that problem once I put it in. I had a 2012 Porsche, again with a manual, but it came with a "sport" button. That button did what the sprint booster did. So I left that button on. It doesn't increase the power. For me it just smoothed out the throttle response. Had it on a BMW with an auto trans. Didn't do anything to smooth out a Jerry throttle on take off. I'd put one on my current Z but Sprint doesn't offer one for it.
Hope this helps.

 

[Pragmatist]

With a 6MT, I just don't even see the point. The car makes no more power, and since the 6MT is dumb, there's no tricking it into shifting better.

Save your money and flex your right foot.

Sounds like you've never driven a manual transmission with a throttle by wire. I'm on my second (first a Maxda and now a Z) and I can tell you the throttle blade movement is not linear. When downshifting I usually have to floor it to get the revs even close in regular driving. I have not tried this product but I'm hoping it does a better job at matching my pedal to the throttle blade. That is all it's meant to do.....

 

[Matth1000]

All a pedal commander does is take your throttle input and change it.

You can do that for free with your right foot.

With AT cars, people feel like it "tricks" the AT into shifting better. That's possible, but again, a free mod you can do just by modifying your right foot.
I have a 9AT Titan and it is like every other Nissan 9AT, except the one in the Nismo. I hated it, considered a pedal commander and after looking into it decided against it. Now I know how to "trick" the Nissan 9AT with my foot.

With a 6MT, I just don't even see the point. The car makes no more power, and since the 6MT is dumb, there's no tricking it into shifting better.

Save your money and flex your right foot.

You can't do it for free. It changes the throttle curve or "expo" of the curve, not the speed of you pressing the throttle. I have one on my Z because I felt the car was slow to accelerate then jerky when it catches up. Now I have the Ultimate 9 EVCX and on setting 4 it has a much more flat line of acceleration.
If I go through the city and its stop start traffic I put it on setting 1 or 2 and it's doughy but very smooth on/off throttle at low speeds.
An added benefit of mine is it has a throttle lock and valet mode.

 

[takemorepills]

Sounds like you've never driven a manual transmission with a throttle by wire. I'm on my second (first a Maxda and now a Z) and I can tell you the throttle blade movement is not linear. When downshifting I usually have to floor it to get the revs even close in regular driving. I have not tried this product but I'm hoping it does a better job at matching my pedal to the throttle blade. That is all it's meant to do.....

Sounds like? I've been driving MT DBW vehicles since they came out.
And I've driven the 6MT Z.
I also own a J32 V6 car that is old enough to still have cable throttle. There's a noticeable difference in how the engines react to your foot, and in my opinion, cable throttle does feel more natural.

My point stands, pedal position signal modifying accessories don't do crap about how the ECU controls the DBW throttles. These devices just remap how the ECU sees your foot on the electronic pedal. You can modify your foot position for free, no need to buy something.

 

[FSUZ33]

Get with the program @takemorepills!!!

Why go through all the trouble of tilting your foot another 2.5 degrees when you can pay hundreds of dollars to have the car do it for you?! I mean, you do risk codes, limp mode on a 70mph freeway, and maybe other stuff, but think of how much money it will save you by not having to visit a chiropractor every week for those ‘chronic overuse’ ankle injuries.

 

[Pragmatist]

You two are missing the point of this product. I can floor either of my cars on drive by wire and if it's not in gear the throttle blade barely moves. When I down shift I have to hit the pedal to the floor to rev match, even in casual driving. The throttle blade is not in sync unless it is in gear.

 

[Apex_Z]

I had one on my manual C7 Corvette and I liked it, but that engine is way different than ours.

I don't think I would like it on my manual trans performance model Z. The weird throttle responses on these has more to do with the turbos and the tuning. I could see the pedal commander actually making it more difficult to drive.

From what I have heard a completely new tune from a knowledgeable tuner is the answer.

 

[FSUZ33]

You two are missing the point of this product. I can floor either of my cars on drive by wire and if it's not in gear the throttle blade barely moves. When I down shift I have to hit the pedal to the floor to rev match, even in casual driving. The throttle blade is not in sync unless it is in gear.

Did I just get smacked with some of your self-described Pragmatism?

I must admit, I’ve never researched or used one of these.

 

[SleepyD7]

"Pedal Commander Chat:

Thank you for visiting us
Do you have a fitment question? Let us know!


ME: Hello! Is the Ped Commander for the old Nissan 370Z and the new Nissan Z the same unit?


—5 minutes ago
Hello thank you for reaching ou to us. Yes, they both are using the PC51 unit. But before you install the unit, please check the new Z's gas pedal plugs to see if they are a 6-pin or 12-pin configuration.
If you have a 12-pin configuration, the PC51 unit will not fit.


—Jason ·2 minutes ago
ME: Thank you for this information


—2 minutes ago
You're welcome! If you have any further questions please let us know.


—Jason ·1 minute ago
ME: It is a 6 pin config


—1 minute ago
Okay, then it will be compatible. Since the Pedal Commander units have a 6-pin configuration, it will fit without issues."

----

According to above Pedal Commander Chat: The new Nissan Z takes the old 370z throttle maps. This confuses me and is antithetical to what their website says. Since I have the 370z unit... Probably gonna try it out.

Anybody else wanna weigh in here?

 

[FSUZ33]

Prepare for your exhaust to sound like a trumpet once you plug it in…lol
Although I’ve always liked the sound of the VQ.

 

[Xylander]

The problem with the Pedal Commander specifically is that it's a really old design that was first invented before we all started getting adaptive PCMs (power control module/car's computer). These PCMs learn and adjust their baseline expected values as we drive. Thus, if you live in Death Valley, CA and you're always running hi IATs (inlet air temp), the PCM learns to not throw a CEL (check engine light) for routinely having excessive timing pulled due to the heat.

The system also learns your driving habits. As in, if you always nail it up the same onramp, even on a day where you want to go slow up the ramp, it'll hold gears without shifting to keep you in the powerband because it knows you usually rip it at that location. Thus, I'm simply getting at that the PCM is always watching and always learning.

Now, the Pedal Commander monkeys with this setup by injecting a controller between the pedal position sensor and the PCM. It modifies the signal the pedal sensor sends to the PCM by simply ratioing it higher. So, if you press 15% and have it set to the most aggressive setting, it will decrease the response time while also doubling the pedal movement to 30%. Thus, it mashes the gas quicker and harder.

Now, initially, what the Pedal Commander does doesn't trip the system so much because you're not doing 50 WOT pulls as soon as you leave the driveway. Most of your driving is going to fall well within the normal paramaters the PCM is used to. Over time, it'll detect the periodic higher or elevated unexpected numbers coming from the pedal sensor. So long as they don't meet whatever threshold is built into the tune, it does nothing. Over time, it learns that the throttle opens X quickly during Y (% throttle).

Where you will run into problems is if you routinely drive with it set to max, the PCM learns this and will go apesh*t if you ever remove it or dial it back down to the lowest setting. All of a sudden, the PCM is expecting the prior X and Y figures, but now they're suddenly much lower than expected. This is how you get the catastrophic limp mode, as the PCM thinks you're experiencing some undetectable power loss and it prevents the car from potentially hurting itself from an unknown problem.

This can also appear as a CEL without a limp mode if it's detecting increased/decreased numbers but not severe enough to warrant the CEL.

*The other issue I have seen is they can cause a limp mode if the actual Pedal Commander shorts out and causes a voltage loss from the pedal sensor. That'll brick the car pretty much outright. * - I don't have as much experience with Nissans as I do with some other brands. I have seen both Ford and Dodge cars go into emergency shut off / fail to start mode if the Pedal Commander is causing a short. I'm not entirely sure Nissan's PCM behaves in this manner or not.

That being said, I don't ever recommend using one of these. It technically doesn't do anything except add some faux throttle response. This can also be adjusted in the car's tune with a dyno/remote tune service. If you remap your pedal response in the tune, it will never throw a CEL, FYI.