In Featured MP, the x4 tyre wear multiplier has been on for weeks now, I believe most people who are familiar with this game mode are acclimated to it and as a result, the strategies are basically set in stone. They only really vary based on the track length, race duration and the time a pit stop takes, making the 15mins practice kind of redundant to be honest.
But anyway:
What would you do to spice things up in 20 - 30 mins Featured MP races?
Random Tyre Wear multiplier !
Forced Pit Stop (s) !
Variable Weather !
A combination of those (define which in comments) !
Nothing ! It’s fine as it is right now !
0voters
My whole thing is making the META a moving target. Obviously it would benefit the seasoned players over the newcomers but the game’s been out a year now, I’m not sure we can expect waves of new racers. Of course if you have any other suggestion, feel free to share it.
I’m fine with the overall tyre wear structure as it is now, it’s predictable and comfortable. Also in some tracks/classes it’s pretty well balanced and offers slight strategic variances.
However, I think Medium/Long/Endurance races should have variable weather. They’re long enough for dry to wet and wet to dry to have meaningful strategic impact on races. Short races should stay with static weather, pitstops in an 8 minute race simply don’t make sense.
The tire wear is still to high.
After testing competitiveness, 3-3.5X is best for long races.
Now it is impossible to challenge the harder tire strategies against player with similar pace…
Because you can not gain 30+ seconds with the few laps the tires last.
Also the difference is to narrow.
It should be around 1 sec per minute, now it is less then that.
Another thing they could tackle is the pit exit where after the pit exit line, the car keeps driving really slow, you loose a lot of time there.
Another thing is driving in to the pit box, where it is ridiculous slow compared to real life.
If this is adjusted correctly then tire strats could really work, if the total race time is within roughly 5 second between 2 or 3 compound then it will be a lot more fun.
Some like to chase, some like to be chased. If the the tire wear makes it so it is competitive ppl are gonna have a lot more reason to mix it up.
Making the the middle and the end of a race much more exiting.
That on it self will most likely motivate more ppl to stay in the race till the end.
I worked out recently that the pace difference between each tyre compound is about 1-2% on a single lap. It’s something close to this, although during an actual race you’ll have many more variables (like fuel, track rubber, drivetrain etc.):
100.0% - Soft
100.7% - Medium
101.5% - Hard
A pitstop is roughly 30-40 seconds from pit in to pit out, depending on track/car. Let’s say 30 seconds for ease of maths.
In a 20 minute (Medium) race, 30 seconds is 2.5% of race time.
Therefore a driver that makes a pitstop needs to be at least 2.5% faster per lap than no-stop drivers. If the maximum consistent pace gap between the Softs and Hards are 1.5%, then no-stop will always be the optimal strategy. No-stop Medium will be faster than 1 stop Soft, and no-stop Hard will also be faster than 1 stop Soft and 1 stop Medium.
One potential solution to this is to drastically increase the pace differential between Soft, Medium and Hard while maintaining existing tyre lifes. Give the Softs more grip, take more grip away from the Hards. The pit lane auto-drive speed limit should also be increased.
I would say you’d want Softs to be 2.5% faster than Mediums, and 5.0% faster than Hards. For reference that’s 2.5 and 5 seconds seconds on a lap of 1:40 respectively. This may have knock-on effects elsewhere in the game.
At the moment the tyre grip levels mean that outside of extreme wear multipliers, it’s impossible to build races with strategic variance unless they are very long (over an hour), as the “penalty” of taking a pitstop is so severe.
I believe the two points are super important and would like to add a few more ideas:
Mandatory Pit Stop and Tire Compound Requirement: First, implement a mandatory pit stop where drivers must use two different tire compounds during the race. When the race starts, the tire compounds are randomly chosen between soft, medium, and hard. If possible, add two more types of compounds to make the strategy even more varied. Additionally, introduce a new pit menu that can be accessed before entering the pit during the race, allowing drivers to adjust car settings, such as the front and rear wing aerodynamics, depending on the car and track conditions. In the menu, players should be able to choose fuel in liters rather than percentage, as the current system isn’t ideal. The pit stops should also be more realistic, with the duration varying depending on the car type. Currently, pit stops are too fast, similar to F1-style stops, which doesn’t reflect the diversity of vehicles in the game.
Dynamic Weather (Microsoft Flight Simulator-style): Incorporate realistic and evolving weather changes, similar to how Microsoft Flight Simulator handles it. This could include sudden rain, fog, wind, or temperature shifts that change throughout the race, making it a challenge for drivers to continuously adapt their strategies and tire choices.
These additions would significantly improve the racing experience, making it both more strategic and immersive.
I think the mandatory 2 compounds would work, i also think adjusting the hard tires like pj explained above would work as well as changing weather conditions, they all could work.
I think something that would be interesting would be similar to what happens in f1, is when different compounds work differently day to day. Sometimes the mediums work well one day and the next sometimes they dont. I think a mandatory 2 compound choice coupled with a dynamic tire wear multiplier would work really well.
So lets say for a particular race softs would have a 2x rate, mediums were 5x and hards were 1x. It would make practice actually useful as each tire would need to be tested to determine longevity. It would increase the differing types of strategies while also rewarding people who actually took the time in practice to figure a good one out.
It would keep people engaged through the entire event, so it wouldnt seem like youre just waiting around 10-15mins for a race.
All great points! And the levels of rain included in the game allow, in my experience, to take a gamble and run Mediums instead of Wets. It’s slower but degrades so much less that it can/may be viable. I don’t know if anybody’s experienced this too, for me it was Touring Cars at Brands Hatch.
But yeah the whole pit stop animation/sequence needs a refresh. The game always recommends M tyres and more fuel when most people start the race with all the fuel required since, as stated above, you can’t adjust precisely (liters/gallons).
I had a thought about tire wear and how it could be made more immersive. Instead of just using numbers for tire wear, what if each level was represented by a descriptive name that better reflects the condition of the track? This could make it feel more realistic and dynamic. Here’s what I came up with:
Tire Wear:
1x (New Track): Minimal tire wear
2x (Slightly Used Track): A bit more tire wear
3x (Moderately Used Track): Noticeable tire wear
4x (Track With Some Wear): Obvious tire wear
5x (Used Track): Considerable tire wear
6x (Well-Used Track): Fast tire wear
7x (Worn Track): Accelerated tire wear
8x (Very Worn Track): Very fast tire wear
9x (Extremely Worn Track): Extremely fast tire wear
10x (Deteriorated Track): Almost immediate tire wear
I actually thought about this and used featured MP practice sessions to test the wear of a same car (BMW M6 GTLM in GT2 class) on a variety of tracks.
I was wondering if certain tracks were more or less abrasive, leading to different levels of tyre wear. In the end, I think it’s mostly based on distance and obviously the layout. The longest tracks wear the tyres more each lap so I doubt track surface is taken into account which is a shame.
It seems like tires wear at different rates not only at different tracks, but also during different sessions (practice, qualifying, & race), and in different weather, and in different cars, etc., so I’d prefer to have the game just calculate & display the expected rate of tire wear for the current session (same way it already does for fuel) - as percent per lap and as the total number of expected laps until minor/50% & moderate/60% & major/70% wear hits.
I completely agree with your observation. I think the game calculates tyre wear based on factors like distance traveled, acceleration, locking up, and the intensity of corners. However, it’s a shame that tyre wear doesn’t vary depending on the specific characteristics of each track. It would be interesting if the type of asphalt or the abrasiveness of certain circuits influenced wear, as it would add an extra layer of strategy and realism.
As for Daytona, it’s curious that even with completely worn tyres on the trioval, it’s still possible to drive without major issues. This might be a decision to balance gameplay, but it sacrifices some of the challenge and immersion that such conditions could provide.
