I'm considering a remap for my 2011 vRS - and have been advised that the ECU has to come out as the OBD cannot be used to flash it

- will this be the case forever, or is it likely that tuner(s) will get over this obstacle?

- If the ECU has to come out, is there any soldering of chips etc? I wouldnt be keen on this :-(

TIA

The only soldering I've experienced is the soldering off a cable on the ECU.

You do not remove any chips at all and if the one who is soldering knows what he's doing it doesn't leave any marks either.

Nothing goes into or out of the ecu. They just temporarily connect a cable or prong in it to bypass the encryption.