You mentioned ...other side of the world..uhhhmmm......Holland

Here the two most familiar with dutch GTI clubs are JD Engineering and ABT

JD Engineering is cheap(er) and I would say very very experienced the amount of GTI's chipped and dob'd by them are enormous, check it out maybe worth a nice boattrip...to Hoek van Holland.

I myself did ABT ...only reason was the warranty...but they did a great job.
DSG smooth under all conditions a very little bit holding back in "D" mode some instances particularly when you suddenly floor it, I guess that is in order not to spin on the spot or collect unwanted DSG-spare parts behind you....although my tuning only launches 390 torque on a DSG which can have 500 torque before meltdown I guess they still do it for a reason. (If anyone wants to comment ...I think it remains on topic)
In the "S" mode it is a different story a one way trip to max speed...as if you have no gears....
