People typically go with the ITV22's because with the iridium plugs, you can't adjust the gap as much as you need to with the NGK's.
Yes you can. I don't know why people typically go with Denso rather than NGK. For some of us who have run NGK's in many vehicles, both NA and forced induction over the years, we just get used to a particular brand, don't trust pre-gapping, and are used to making adjustments.
I can say that irrespective of preference, the NGK Irridium IX's that I put in my car proved to be easily adjusted to .030 while still having the ground electrode properly centered over the tip.
Both Denso's and NGK's irridium plugs in proper heat range work very well, IMHO.
I do totally agree that you can't blame AP (or Standback) products themselves for blown engines. It's not the hardware or software, it's the knowledge and skill of the tuner that determines if a tune is both power enhancing and safe. But in the hands of someone just chasing hp/torque maximums for dyno sheet show and tells, or just trying to push the envelope on boost or leaned out AFR's, tunes can become engine grenades.
BTW: A good launch control would be a fabulous addition. But flat shifting is already there in the stock ECU's soft rev limiter. The first Car and Driver test on the MS3 even quoted a Mazda engineer recommending this for strip runs, saying go ahead, "it won't hurt." Here's an accelerometer run on my own car showing flat shifting rpm spikes going into 3rd, 4th and 5th gear. Disregard artifact at end. This happens on that device at the end of a run. Don't get a tune to acquire flat shifting. You already have it if you choose to do so. Not saying a lot of it is good for the life of the clutch, lol, but it's not a software concern.
Just one guy's opinion.