Tire set oddness

[Greycap]

I searched and found nothing relevant to this (but a lot of other tire things).

When you go into the pits and receive a new set of tires, can they be different than the ones you traded in? I've noticed that on one set of tires I can drive very fast laps, but after the pit stop I can hardly control the car. The same seems to apply to B-Spec too.

Is it just my imagination or are the sets different?

 

[ferrari_chris]

Your imagination. They're the same type of tyres.

It could be down to two things:

1. The tyres are cold when you come out of the pits.
2. By stopping the racing, (only for a brief period while in pit lane), you've lost your rhythm, and it can take a bit to get back. This is more noticable if you leave the PS2 and go outside for a couple of minutes. Come back and the car's all over the place... You need to get your eye in sort-a-thing.

 

[kungtotte]

Well, when you pit out you're back to square one. Your tyres are completely unworn and they show up as blue in the status display, that means they haven't achieved their maximum amount of grip yet.

Max grip is when they show up as green in the status display, and that won't happen until you drive with them for a while. How long you need to drive depends on tyre type, car and track.

Maybe this is what you're experiencing?

 

[Greycap]

I didn't mean it like that. I know they are the same type of tires but it feels like there was a difference in tire pressures or something. And what makes this even stranger, the whole thing can be reversed (no control --> pit stop --> lap record)

Kungtotte, I've played Gran Turismo for over eight years, I know the difference between cold and warm tires.

 

[F310B]

I don't understand quite, the way you have worded your posts. Do you mean *whenever* you receive new tyres at a pitstop?

Whenever you receive a new set of tyres, they have different grip from the previous set? This happens a lot in real life, but I doubt it happens in GT4. I have not noticed it.

Also, you didn't say whether the grip ever goes up after a pitstop. Surely if the new set of tyres is *always* worse, then that means that the problem is not to do with inconsistency between tyre sets?

 

[StevenDunn99]

You are an experienced user so I hope this doesn't insult:

I haven't noticed any difference, other than what I would expect from cold tyres. However check you getting the same compound (R1, R2 etc) /type (N or S, I believe you can change from Ns to Ss) when you pit. Are you taking into consideration the fuel load ? Although IMO GT4 doesn't factor in fuel load as well as other games, annoyingly.

Now going off at a slight tangent; why couldn't PD give the option to change downforce or suspension during pit stops, again like other games....

Otherwise I have no idea.


Steven

 

[Greycap]

Whenever you receive a new set of tyres, they have different grip from the previous set?

It's not always worse, it's quite inconsistent. Set 1 can be good, set 2 horrible, set 3 excellent, set 4 excellent, set 5 horrible and so on. It really makes no sense to me.

 

[Greycap]

You are an experienced user so I hope this doesn't insult:

I haven't noticed any difference, other than what I would expect from cold tyres. However check you getting the same compound (R1, R2 etc) /type (N or S, I believe you can change from Ns to Ss) when you pit. Are you taking into consideration the fuel load ? Although IMO GT4 doesn't factor in fuel load as well as other games, annoyingly.

Now going off at a slight tangent; why couldn't PD give the option to change downforce or suspension during pit stops, again like other games....

Otherwise I have no idea.


Steven

No, it doesn't insult a bit. Always the same compound and usually I always take a full fuel load.

I really wish there were other settings too.

 

[StevenDunn99]

The only other thing I can think of is the effect of 'wear and tear' your hp goes down and chassis softens with mileage/abuse etc. But, I wouldn't think that this + tyres + fuel would be noticeable between pit stops ??

Steven

 

[Greycap]

It's not about wear and tear as I was driving the El Capitan yesterday. I had a horrible set of tires and hardly could keep the car on track. Then I visited the pits, came out and set three lap records in a row.

 

[Alfaholic]

However check you getting the same compound (R1, R2 etc) /type (N or S, I believe you can change from Ns to Ss) when you pit.

I haven't tried this in a race. I have tried it in a free run, and the option is available when pitting to select a different class of tyre (i.e. swap from Rs to S or N). BUT... although you can select, say, N tyres when you were running on S tyres, when you exit you will still have the same amount of grip you had originally. i.e. you are still on S tyres.
If I switch from N2s to N1s, I notice a marked reduction in grip and my lap times increase. However, if I started the session on SMs, do some laps, then pit and select N1s, my lap times stay constant. So it allows the change across types but does not action that change correctly, or at all.

A change of tyre compound would explain a difference in performance as greycap is experiencing, but since it would likely stay in the same class, the time between pitstops would change accordingly. If it gave him hards when he was on mediums, he would notice that he can run a few extra laps and so on. Also, unless it is some obscure bug, one would have to actually actively select different tyres on the pit menu, which would likely get noticed. BUT... when playing with the Driving Force wheel (not DFP) I have on occasion involuntarily selected the OK button on the pit menu when pitting by pressing the accelerator at exactly the wrong time. It could be possible to unintentionally alter the tyre choice setting in a similar way. But, as I said, tyre life would change too.

Grand Prix 2 used to vary it's grip in a random fashion. I'd sometimes start the game, drive around for a while, and notice that the car was a complete handful, and struggle to keep it on the track. If I quit and restarted the game, the handling would improve markedly. Dunno if it was a random thing or a computer use thing, but it changed on entering the game, never in a pitstop.

I've noticed no changes in grip while racing in GT4 personally.

 

[niky]

It could be any number of small factors, related to wear and tear, the fact that you've just taken a little break or a difference in tire compounds. But since you always take a full load of fuel, maybe it's the changed car balance?

No matter how little some members may believe this, the fuel load does add a bit of weight to the car, and a car can feel very different between half a tank and a full tank. Maybe, as an experienced player, you're automatically compensating for the amount of fuel left in the car before the pitstop. (I do this also... compensating for fuel and tires without really noticing)

After the pitstop, the car feels different, but you don't really know why. So you have to readjust, and on some cars, the extra weight provides good ballast, on others, it makes it a turd. It'll feel different each time due to varying factors including fatigue, inability to adjust to the previous balance, which finally clicks when you go back in and reset it, and the resting period in the pits.

I'm a vet, too, but my performance can vary wildly depending on the mindset and preparedness I have before the race... and in a long race, I can drive like a dog during some stints, and like a genius in others.

 

[Greycap]

... and in a long race, I can drive like a dog during some stints, and like a genius in others.

That was nice to hear. I thought I was going crazy but now I see I'm not the only with this problem.

 

[niky]

That was nice to hear. I thought I was going crazy but now I see I'm not the only with this problem.

Yeah... but I don't think it's the tires. It's just that everything changes after the pitstop, and unlike in GT3, you have more variables to contend with (weight+tires+engine condition+chassis looseness) that makes the car feel markedly different at different times during the race. Strange thing is, chassis-loosening actually makes the car feel better at times and worse at others. It's just a matter of adjusting to it all.

 

[Greycap]

Strange thing is, chassis-loosening actually makes the car feel better at times and worse at others.

Yep, some corners are taken faster with a "softer" car and that's what the car becomes when the rigidity decreases. On bumpy roads it can be significantly better as all tires can touch the track at the same time.

 

[Uncle Harry]

Greycap,
I have also sensed this feeling of one set of tyres going off in a long distance race.
Could PD have a programed in a change of weather into the physics engine and because of limits in the PS2 the visual effects are not present?
Does this indicate weather changes for GT5.

 

[slotcarrod]

Do not take this wrong!

If you do a long endurance race and check your lap times at different stages of tire wear they are close times after each pit stop, and I mean driving tight consistant laps.

I think your problem is what many endurance drivers have. When they get tired they do not drive a tight line, so they do a driver switch. You may need to take a break at times. The only other thing is you are switching tires in your pit stop.

Just a note: You can't change from N tires to R, Only to a different compound in N, even though is says R tires on the screen, you will not get them!

As StevenDunn99 says, I wish PD allowed set up changes during a pit stop just as in real racing.

 

[niky]

As StevenDunn99 says, I wish PD allowed set up changes during a pit stop just as in real racing.

Hear, hear! 👍