I think Drew said they had mapped this kind of ECU previously, so probably just made adjustments based on the standard map, their understanding of that and the maser engine, and as there's only a few parameters to play with they can get it good enough quite easily.
Chris has it spot on. The Maserati engine map is simple. MUCH more simple than you might imagine, with tables of parameters representing how to fuel the engine under various load conditions, and when to tell the gearbox to change depending on mode selected.
They have modified many of the same ECU for other vehicles, and Maserati haven't done anything new... As this was the first remap, they read the original from the car, studied the maps, compared to other similar cars (Ferrari with similar engines and same controller) then performed some calcs, made a load of parameter changes and discussed the different 3D visual representations of the original and new maps. This wasn't about making peak power, but also about making it nicer to drive lower down the rev range.
This new custom map was then flashed into the car and tested. You are right to say that having the car on the dyno all day and optimising every point could be done, but with a simple NA engine there's only tiny advantage to doing it, and a load of stress on the car. Not worth it to me... It's not a race car!
This new map could be dropped into another QP and the results will be the same - it's a simple machine control problem. I'm willing to bet there are tiny differences between the maps for all our cars...
