Depends on car category. If you mean gt3 given it's the most famous one around (sadly), then yes you really need to warm those terribly awful Pirelly tyres as hard as possible, even drifting (in real life if you drift with these tyres when they are still cold you will kill them, and bubbles will form all around the tyre). If you are on qualy session and it's not very hot tarmac and air, then apply more pressure to the tyres so by the third and last lap you are on optimum pressure at around 1'80, little less if possible. If very cold you have to close air ducts by a good margin to keep the heat in the pathetic GT3 Pirelli tyres.
Then there are other classes such as GTE where the tyres are so good even the hard compounds that you don't really need to warm up the tyres that much, and can push hard since the very first lap. If you drift them hard when they are cold then bubbles will form too, and you will lose overall grip. This was one of most favourite FFB features in pc1. It's still in pc2 but you cannot feel it that much as you could in the previous game, but it's still there.
On road cars, powerful ones, the designed tyres to race are the soft compound (pirelly trofeo/trophy). Those are the only ones that can take massive drifting without getting red as fast as the mediums, and specially the hards (hards are better suit for raining). They also sport the best grip too of course and without barely warming them up. You don't need warm up with road tyres but getting them to proper 2'10-2'20bar pressure.
