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I can tell you guys from my actually looking at the engine and trans calibrations in some of these late model Ford's, there is a TON of potential for increased efficiency, power and a little bit of light load gas mileage increase. The stock "tune" is extremely conservative to say the least.
The two biggest factors hindering the performance, engine safety and efficiency are PE (Power Enrichment) fueling and ignition timing. Power enrichment is when the fuel mixtures go from stoich to the richer mixtures that are needed for maximum power. Ford, like several other manufacturers, delays the switch into PE. The difference with Ford is they delay it for 60 SECONDS!!! That means when you go WOT to pull that grade, your engine is running dangerously lean for a full minute until it starts getting the proper amount of fuel. They basically depend on Cat Converter overtemp and a few other strategies to keep the pistons from melting. This is done for emission and mileage reasons. It's basically the worst thing you can do to an engine if you want it to run properly.
Secondly is ignition timing. These late model Ford V10's DO NOT HAVE KNOCK SENSORS!!! (Shocking if you know anything about modern engine management.) What that means is they have no way of knowing or protecting themselves from piston damaging engine knock. So how do they spec cheap 87 octane gas in these engines and still keep them from blowing up under all the different conditions everything from trucks and vans to loaded box vans or huge Class A motorhomes will encounter? They keep the ignition timing WAAAAAYYYY retarded. That way even in the worst conditions, like in Death Valley, pulling a toad with a 30' Class A, in 110 degree heat at sea level, it still won't knock.
The problem with that is for the guy in the little 23' RV, not towing anything, at 2000' and nice 72 degree weather, his ignition timing is anywhere from 10 to even 20 DEGREES away from optimum. That could be costing him a ton of power and efficiency, not to mention being much harder on the engine itself running overly retarded ignition timing.
I've personally tuned my V10. I've been "tuning" engines for a living since the '70's. I've taught guys on the tuning forums how to read their engine calibrations, what the tables mean in the tuning programs and how to interpret all the information in log files. I know what I'm looking at when I look at one of these engine calibration files. I can guaranty you there is room for improved engine efficiency in most all of these late model Ford engine calibrations. The trans calibrations are much better since '16 or so, there's not a ton that can be gained there imho. Personally, I'd MUCH rather have a GM 6 speed in my RV than the Ford 6 speed, but that's another subject. lol. The Ford 6 speed and it's calibrations are "OK" stock.
This is me trying to "tone down" the hit of the power in the engine I built for this Pirelli World Challenge GTS car. The test driver we had in the car that day kept coming back in saying "This thing is TOO strong, it's hard for me to control it in the turns". lol. He's a world class pro driver. I was able to smooth out the power delivery but maintain the peak power for the straights. He was thrilled with the car and wanted to race it after that, but the car owner/driver wanted that privilege. Unfortunately he was a little too aggressive on the clutch and exploded the rear dif on the standing start of the Long Beach Grand Prix shortly after that track tuning session.
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