GT3 Tires

[ozwheels]

On a cool track say less than 90-100F the hard tires never get up to their operating window, even on a track like Silverstone, which seems to be around 185F. While softs overheat even at 60F track temperature. So far the softs appear to be happy in the 170F range. When they get to 190-195F there is a noticeable drop in grip and if you don't nurse the car you will spin. These track temperatures aren't always exact due to differing track characteristics.

The soft tires also wear extremely fast and the hards barely wear at all. Which would make since as a rule of thumb for tires. The problem with that is the two compounds aren't really interchangeable in a race unless you have some insane weather or time settings where you would get a massive change in track temperature. For the sake of one given track temperature in a race you can't change tire compounds because they need very different temperatures to produce any grip and need different setups particularly with the rear tire grip level varying massively the different compounds.

In short the softs seem to be too soft while the hards are too hard. I really like the idea of only using one dry compound for any given race with GT3 cars, but with most tracks set to a current date the track temperature, between 60-80F, doesn't suit softs or hards. In pCars 1 the tires had much wider temperature windows where they worked well.

 

[RomKnight]

Slicks need to be pushed in order to maintain temps. The problem is that usually it means driving of the edge side (in my case, MY edge cause I don't know better ) but still, need to keep pushing.

In long straights though it can be hard. Le mans is a great example. You need to really push the cars before mulsanne to have some temp left braking for the chicanes. But it's just normal.

Unless ofc it's too hot for the tyre chosen which means you'll have to go easier on the tyres

Compromises everywhere... it sucks but it is part of the racing.

Disclaimer: Unless there's a bug

 

[ozwheels]

Slicks need to be pushed in order to maintain temps. The problem is that usually it means driving of the edge side (in my case, MY edge cause I don't know better ) but still, need to keep pushing.

In long straights though it can be hard. Le mans is a great example. You need to really push the cars before mulsanne to have some temp left braking for the chicanes. But it's just normal.

Unless ofc it's too hot for the tyre chosen which means you'll have to go easier on the tyres

Compromises everywhere... it sucks but it is part of the racing.

Disclaimer: Unless there's a bug

What I'm talking about is with very competitive lap times. The hards only go up about 10 degrees a lap then level off below their optimum unless the track is over 100 degrees and your on a high tire load track. The softs are similar to what SMS did with the pCars 1 6.0 patch where they overheat quickly and need to be babied. In those situations where the softs overheat the hards are still too hard to work and never heat up. That is the situation I'm talking about, which happens a lot with current date settings this time of the year. On a hot track the hard tires work great. The lowest track temp I've seen is 60F and the softs still overheat after a few laps so I'm not sure what track temps SMS has in mind for the softs. All of this is in the race of course.

 

[RomKnight]

Best bet: official forums and with examples (ones can be repro'ed or else it's nigh impossible to find the issue).

Cars, tracks, laptimes, date and time, weather (wind included). Highly recommended to do a video with the telemetry screen enabled.

 

[F1Racer68]

Keep in mind that in the real world in GT3 there really only is a "hard" tire compound. This is at least true in PWC and IMSA. NOt certain about Blancpain, but I think it is pretty standard for all GT3 spec series.

The tire manufacturer selects a single compound for all the teams based on the track and conditions for the weekend. Tire temps is something all teams struggle with in colder conditions, or night time conditions.

Proper pressure and camber adjustments will help, but there will always be times where the tires struggle to gain heat. Another thing to look at, might be fast damper settings, especially FAST REBOUND. This had a big effect on temps in pCARS1, but I have not had a chance to test it properly in pCARS2 yet.

 

[ozwheels]

What I'm talking about doesn't seem like a bug more a design decision. This is purely a tire model heat range effect. Regardless of setup which while yes affects tire temperatures it doesn't make a big difference when the tire is already too cold or hot.

Another thing to look at, might be fast damper settings, especially FAST REBOUND. This had a big effect on temps in pCARS1, but I have not had a chance to test it properly in pCARS2 yet.

I don't really follow you here with why fast rebound would have a big effect on tire temperature versus all the other speed ranges. Maybe it was a pCars 1 setup exploit?

 

[F1Racer68]

What I'm talking about doesn't seem like a bug more a design decision. This is purely a tire model heat range effect. Regardless of setup which while yes affects tire temperatures it doesn't make a big difference when the tire is already too cold or hot.
I don't really follow you here with why fast rebound would have a big effect on tire temperature versus all the other speed ranges. Maybe it was a pCars 1 setup exploit?

It wasn't an exploit. It's totally applicable and true in the real world as well.

Keeping the tires on the ground more works them more, which results in more heat in them. There isn't a specific value/ratio. Just need to make sure that it's set properly based on the rest of your suspension tune. I just haven't had the chance to test how effective it is in pCARS2.

 

[ozwheels]

I did a test at Silverstone and the lowest track temp I could get was 55F in December at midnight. Even then the soft tires reach 195-200F after 3 laps and fall apart from there on out. The tire wear suggested I could get 8 or 9 laps before the dreaded wheel vibrations start, which is another topic in itself. That is insane tire wear. When are the softs supposed to work? Are they just a qualifying tire? With that knowledge I tried hard tires and after running around with them peaking at 160F for 4 laps I gave up. The middle and outside temps never even turned green. They were also 3 seconds off pace. That could probably be a smaller gap around 2-2.5 seconds with a dedicated hard tire setup. That is a huge time gap for two compounds in which there is no in between compound. I wouldn't expect the hards to work in those conditions I tested at. The issue is when the hards don't work the softs should and they should last more than 9 laps.

 

[danardif1]

I did a test at Silverstone and the lowest track temp I could get was 55F in December at midnight. Even then the soft tires reach 195-200F after 3 laps and fall apart from there on out. The tire wear suggested I could get 8 or 9 laps before the dreaded wheel vibrations start, which is another topic in itself. That is insane tire wear. When are the softs supposed to work? Are they just a qualifying tire? With that knowledge I tried hard tires and after running around with them peaking at 160F for 4 laps I gave up. The middle and outside temps never even turned green. They were also 3 seconds off pace. That could probably be a smaller gap around 2-2.5 seconds with a dedicated hard tire setup. That is a huge time gap for two compounds in which there is no in between compound. I wouldn't expect the hards to work in those conditions I tested at. The issue is when the hards don't work the softs should and they should last more than 9 laps.

Are you doing anything with the tyre pressures? If the softs are overheating in cooler temperatures, put the pressures up. If the hards aren't heating up, take some out.

I don't if its possible in the strategy settings, but it certainly would be good if you could set your tyre strategy around bespoke pressure settings for each compound...

 

[ozwheels]

Are you doing anything with the tyre pressures? If the softs are overheating in cooler temperatures, put the pressures up. If the hards aren't heating up, take some out.

I don't if its possible in the strategy settings, but it certainly would be good if you could set your tyre strategy around bespoke pressure settings for each compound...

The default pressures are very good as well as most of the car's camber settings. The amount of heat needed is not achievable through basic adjustments from my experience.

 

[F1Racer68]

I did a test at Silverstone and the lowest track temp I could get was 55F in December at midnight. Even then the soft tires reach 195-200F after 3 laps and fall apart from there on out. The tire wear suggested I could get 8 or 9 laps before the dreaded wheel vibrations start, which is another topic in itself. That is insane tire wear. When are the softs supposed to work? Are they just a qualifying tire? With that knowledge I tried hard tires and after running around with them peaking at 160F for 4 laps I gave up. The middle and outside temps never even turned green. They were also 3 seconds off pace. That could probably be a smaller gap around 2-2.5 seconds with a dedicated hard tire setup. That is a huge time gap for two compounds in which there is no in between compound. I wouldn't expect the hards to work in those conditions I tested at. The issue is when the hards don't work the softs should and they should last more than 9 laps.

In all honesty, Softs shouldn't even be an available option in GT3. As stated earlier, every GT3 series has a "sole supplier" and that supplier provides 1 compound of tires to all teams.

Here is the info for the Pirelli P Zero DHD which is the sole tire for the Blancpain series.
https://www.pirelli.com/tyre/ww/en/...li-p-zero-tyres-for-2017-blancpain-gt-series/

For the IMSA GTD class, this year the sole supplier is COntinental, but next year it will be Michelin. For the Pirelli Wordl Challenge, I guess it's pretty obvious who they are supplied by I think 24HSeries might be Dunlop if memory servers?

It's entirely possible that SMS has greatly accelerated the wear on the GT3 softs in order to prevent them from being used in races, and essentially turned them into a "qualifying spec" tire. In all honesty, I would have rahter seen them not make any other compound available.

 

[ozwheels]

In all honesty, Softs shouldn't even be an available option in GT3. As stated earlier, every GT3 series has a "sole supplier" and that supplier provides 1 compound of tires to all teams.

Here is the info for the Pirelli P Zero DHD which is the sole tire for the Blancpain series.
https://www.pirelli.com/tyre/ww/en/...li-p-zero-tyres-for-2017-blancpain-gt-series/

For the IMSA GTD class, this year the sole supplier is COntinental, but next year it will be Michelin. For the Pirelli Wordl Challenge, I guess it's pretty obvious who they are supplied by I think 24HSeries might be Dunlop if memory servers?

It's entirely possible that SMS has greatly accelerated the wear on the GT3 softs in order to prevent them from being used in races, and essentially turned them into a "qualifying spec" tire. In all honesty, I would have rahter seen them not make any other compound available.

I would rather have one dry and one wet for cars as well. The less trial and error in sims the better. Unfortunately as it is now there are a lot of questions and not a lot of answers. The hard tire from pCars 1 could of been used with the updated model and been fine. It had realistic grip and a usable temperature range.