Hard vs soft tires

Alltidxx · Mar 4, 2009

In real life, on some tracks hard tires are actually better than the soft tires. From what I've read, Studio Liverpool once hinted that this should be explored in F1CE as well. Did anyone notice better grip/performance with hard tires on any track or at certain conditions (sunny/cloudy)?

Kakundoo · Mar 4, 2009

Whenever I raced, I always chose Soft tyres, and I always got better times from them.

Alltidxx · Mar 5, 2009

Kakundoo
Whenever I raced, I always chose Soft tyres, and I always got better times from them.

So you did try to push with hard tires and then compared with the times you got with softs?

Shaggy Alonso · Mar 5, 2009

Alltidxx
In real life, on some tracks hard tires are actually better than the soft tires. From what I've read, Studio Liverpool once hinted that this should be explored in F1CE as well. Did anyone notice better grip/performance with hard tires on any track or at certain conditions (sunny/cloudy)?

Well, since they introduced spec tyres in '07 it has been the case that sometimes the hard compound is better than the softer one. This is mainly down to the fact that the difference between soft and hard tyres was less than in '06. So although technically the cars had more grip with soft tyres, they might feel unbalanced (maybe gave them oversteer/understeer) as the cars were designed and set up around a more standard harder compound tyre. I remember that in qualifying for Istanbul last year, Hamilton used the harder tyre because he didn't feel comfortable with the softer one.

However in '09 Bridgestone are providing tyres at each race with a bigger difference between soft and hard tyres. For example, they might take super softs and medium compound tyres, whereas last year it would have super softs and softs - not much of a difference. This should mean that using the option tyre really is an option instead of a hindrance.

In F1 CE there is quite a difference between soft and hard tyres, that I reckon adds up to about a second a lap.

Alltidxx · Mar 5, 2009

Shaggy Alonso
In F1 CE there is quite a difference between soft and hard tyres, that I reckon adds up to about a second a lap.

So are you saying that the only time to use hard tires in F1CE is for one stop strategy races regardless of track or type of dry weather?

The other info was cool too 👍

Shaggy Alonso · Mar 5, 2009

Alltidxx
So are you saying that the only time to use hard tires in F1CE is for one stop strategy races regardless of track or type of dry weather?

The other info was cool too 👍

Yeah, I'm pretty certain that the soft tyre is always better. Hards should only be used for 1 stoppers.

Peissi · May 23, 2009

I've noticed that hard tyres work better for me in Imola than soft tyres. I was driving as STR test driver and had a test in Imola, first with soft tyres. Last lap with them was a fast one, after which I changed to the hard compound ones. First lap with them (which was mediocre, had a few errors imo) was 0,4 secs faster than the best lap with soft compound.

sonny burnett · Jun 22, 2009

I always use hard/one stop setup. The reason being if the sim is real, the extra wear + the huge amount of time it takes to do the in/out pit sequence should give you a huge advantage. I know I have won many more races with this ploy.

Do the hards last longer than the softs? I have no clue. I guess it's test time.