I participated in early part of this thread, arguing w/ the OP. Welp, I think time has come to go DSC off.
As stated earlier in this thread, I've stubbornly stuck to tracking in MDM, even in mostly sunny Southern California. As long as I was making progress (as evidenced by steadily decreasing lap times), I felt that MDM was a safe way to track and is still a blast. But, I've hit & gotten stuck at a plateau a little while ago, and just can't seem to get beyond it.
But, I don't want to just throw money into better equipments to shave lap times. I've gotten to know the local tracks fairly well, and I'd rather improve my driving and learn to attack the tracks progressively better.
Using Buttonwillow and Big Willow tracks as examples, I've gotten to 2:06 at Buttonwillow 5 track days ago and can't get to 2:05. In fact, I did 2:07 during last 2 events there as the temperature/weather is getting very warm. Same at Big Willow - 1:36 4 track days ago and can't get into 1:35, and yesterday (a warm day and R-S3 with not much tread left) managed only 1:38.
While those times are good enough to let you run in Red groups, it got to the point where, yesterday by lunch, it wasn't much fun any more. Of course, lap time is not everything; but, how else do you measure your progress? Anyhow, the weather from this point on is only going to get hotter. So, take a sabbatical from tracking 'til October or November? (It's not a coincidence that my best lap times all came during January & February, and in morning sessions)
But, I can't stop tracking, lulz. After averaging about 2.5 track days per month since I started tracking in this April of last year, I now get a serious case of the jitters if I don't track more than 2 to 3 weeks. So, not track 'til end of the year? LOL, naw.
So, ran the afternoon sessions yesterday at Big Willow w/ DSC off.
As Big Willow is a fairly fast track, and there are many areas where you simply don't want to go off, I took it easy and it felt like I was learning to track-drive all over again.
But, while that is precisely the main reason why I didn't want to deviate from tracking in MDM mode [i.e. after going to 5 local tracks at least half dozen times each, all in MDM mode, having learned the (MDM) lines, (MDM) gear selection at various corners, (MDM) throttlling, etc, the prospect of relearning all that in TC off mode seemed only a month ago an unnecessary prospect/exercise], I think now is the time. I guess, rather than letting people who are in different situations and with different outlooks trying to convince you, I just had to come to a self-realization.
Meanwhile, yesterday, my track buddies who have been tracking from the beginning w/ TC off (primarily due to lack of MDM, or something similar to MDM) are flying around the track, and one even set his personal best time this weekend.
Good for him, and them, but I'm keeping my ego in check and will go slow so that I can eventually go faster. And, start experimenting at various corners of various tracks.
An example: turn 3 at Big Willow requires a major braking, and then the left turn takes you up the hill. In MDM, I used to downshift to 3rd gear (DCT), turn, and start pumping the gas pedal (essentially fighting the MDM computer that was cutting the gas on me due to the steering wheel angle). Welp, I quickly learned that things get dicey if you exit that same corner in 3rd gear with DSC off, as the following video shows. Keep in mind that, a lot of cars go off there, left & right. Yesterday, an E46 M3 spun there and hit the wall on the left side.
Anyhow, I guess this post sort of morphed into a blog. I plan on doing the summer track days to re-learn the various tracks and hope to be besting my personal best lap times by October/November. It's gonna be a blast.