2014 Porsche Cayman gets a performance-testing iPhone app

To promote the new 2014 Cayman, Porsche has cooked up an iPhone app called “Cayman Code of the Curve.” You're probably already rolling your eyes at the prospect of another automaker app that is little more than a downloadable advertisement, but this seems to be something different -- the app is designed to record your driving performance in real-time and then share results with friends.

Porsche enthusiast site flatsixes.com has an exclusive first look at the app, which is still in development but is reported to be coming “soon.”

Based on preliminary screenshots provided by Porsche, the app instructs users to set up a variety of courses -- cone slalom, autocross and reaction-time challenge courses are shown -- then uses the iPhone's internal accelerometer and GPS receiver to track and record your performance.

You'll also be able to use the app's “record your curve” function to share favorite drives with friends on Facebook. Apparently, there will be some sort of scoring system for this feature as well.

It all seems a bit video game-like -- and we suspect that's exactly the intent. The ability to record and share results via Facebook is likely modeled after the leaderboards for multiplayer online games. It ought to inspire some friendly (and, we hope, responsible) competition.

We see a lot of potential here, and we can't wait to try the Code of the Curve app out in person. In the mean time, head to flatsixes.com for more details.

By Graham Kozak