One of the parameters I discovered in HPTuners while monkeying around with it is a rather interesting display called "TRQ Dlvrd (ft.lb)" which I am assuming means "Torque Delivered".
Now this presents all kinds of interesting possibilities if it actually means what it says. Does the PCM actually provide a data feed or REAL and ACCURATE torque measurements coming from the engine/drivetrain? If you take a look at this graph I took while data logging my C5Z after having the STS twin turbos installed, you can obviously see SOMETHING being shown that certainly does seem to represent power delivered SOMEWHERE by SOMETHING....
So the question is, does this REALLY provide us with some realistic data indicating the power being delivered by the engine? At least realistic enough so that a person could see some TRUE changes being made from modifications done to the engine and be able to judge relative changes in the power output of the engine? Maybe I am barking up a wrong tree, but I think this would prove to be extremely useful if it provides something akin to real world data.
Of course, there are other questions.... (1) HOW is this data derived? What sorts of sensors are used to determine how much torque is produced and HOW? (2) Where is this data collected from the drivetrain? In other words is it showing torque directly at the engine (which I suspect from the figures showing in my graph) or elsewhere along the drivetrain somewhere? And (3) How can this data be used to interpolate a horsepower figure? I'm assuming HPTuners can mingle data streams to give you a calculated result for a graph..........
Of course, the implications of this are that perhaps we all have something akin to the data produced by a dyno right at our fingertips if you have the tool to read the data...