What exactly is so shameful about using Racing Soft tires?

[MNLumberjack]

I have a force feedback g27 and racing soft tires kills the feel of the car plus the tires on your car should cost as much as a small car.
I generally use cs, sh, ss
And rh for high powered racecars or endurance races.
I just think its more fun.
Each to their own but I'd give it a try without them
I used to use them but the game is more challenging and fun without then

 

[Greycap]

I love R3's and they come with their own set of limitations and require skill to use to their full advantage

So very true. I'm willing to bet 95% of the people who think Racing Softs provide practically unlimited grip are more or less incapable of driving the car as hard as the tyres really allow. The limits are high but they definitely do exist and it takes more than a leisurely attempt to keep the car on them for the entire lap.

Furthermore, when you screw up on sports tyres and the car loses grip you can very likely catch it as the slide begins in a pretty calm manner, at low(ish) speeds and with a shallow angle. The "breaking point" for racing tyres is so much higher that when the grip is lost you'd better make the exactly correct move and do it lightning fast or the car is in the wall before you realize what happened. If you never get into the described situation with Racing Softs you aren't pushing hard enough. It's more than possible to spin a well setup GT500 car with Racing Softs and that combination should be one of the best handling out there. Well, it is, but it has its limits too.

And before someone asks, I usually use Sports Softs on street cars. Even on those with four digit power figures.

 

[chuyler1]

A fast driver will be fast on any tire but it takes less skill to be fast on racing tires. Typically, an average DS3 user can keep pace with a G27 user on racing tires. The same is not so with comfort or sport tires. Greater throttle control and management of your slip angle entering turns is required when there is less grip to be had.

So in short, less grip = more challenge.

 

[watermelon punch]

So in short, less grip = more challenge.

This sums it up really. With ... the more you play the game, the less challenging it will seem.

The stuff about "realistic" is just game-talk about it being immersive for someone.
Guaranteed, if the game was TRULY realistic, and you got concussions, broken bones, or wound up in the hospital from playing the game... Nobody would be on here talking about "too much grip" or wanting a more realistic experience. LOL

 

[mr_VOLCANO]

So very true. I'm willing to bet 95% of the people who think Racing Softs provide practically unlimited grip are more or less incapable of driving the car as hard as the tyres really allow. The limits are high but they definitely do exist and it takes more than a leisurely attempt to keep the car on them for the entire lap.

Furthermore, when you screw up on sports tyres and the car loses grip you can very likely catch it as the slide begins in a pretty calm manner, at low(ish) speeds and with a shallow angle. The "breaking point" for racing tyres is so much higher that when the grip is lost you'd better make the exactly correct move and do it lightning fast or the car is in the wall before you realize what happened. If you never get into the described situation with Racing Softs you aren't pushing hard enough. It's more than possible to spin a well setup GT500 car with Racing Softs and that combination should be one of the best handling out there. Well, it is, but it has its limits too.

And before someone asks, I usually use Sports Softs on street cars. Even on those with four digit power figures.

So true. Even though its easyer to ceap RS on track its NEVER easy to get full potential out any tire.

The reason I like to use lower grip tires has simply to do with feel.. It just feel more real and challenging

 

[TenEightyOne]

They''re a bit 'numb' when you're offline because they have SOOO much grip. Does that mean there's anything wrong with using them? Of course not.

You paid for the game - play it how you like.

Anyone who thinks that the R:S tyres are unslippable ON-line needs to sign up for WLR's second season of the Clubman Cup, we're running Lexus RMs with R:S tyres on. You can certainly push very hard into corners but the grip definitely isn't infinite...

 

[LanciaAWD]

I use sports tires at most for any car that isn't a race car. To me the racing softs on an everyday car just kills the feel of the vehicles weight, etc. And how could it be fun driving a car with 150hp with racing softs? lol I see it online....to each their own

 

[smrtb0mb]

Well I'm definitely no elitist but I can tell that using racing softs is like turning on "easy mode". Match your opponent tires in A-Spec races to see how your car & driving skills really measure up.

What's funny is seeing rooms where driving line and traction control are banned but racing softs are allowed, lol.

I figure it makes the most sense to race on the tires your car comes with, unless you fully upgrade/race-mod it, in which case you might upgrade to R/H tires.

 

[Shmorgusborg]

I use it when I'm grinding Seasonal Eifel Track 104A because I don't want to spend forever grinding for money so I want to get through as quickly as possible.

Use what you want, you're your own person who can choose what you want. Don't let the haters who downgrade anyone's decision to use whatever they like on their car change your mind or how you feel.

 

[BleedFordBlue]

It depends on the car. X2010? Yeah, I'll take some RS tires. RM Corvette? Yeah. Honda Civic? Are you kidding me? Are you that bad of a driver?

Seriously, every car I intend on keeping stock I'll even buy a set of CS tires for. Like a Z06 Corvette. Can you handle it? <3 my G25

Point being, racing tires just kill all the fun. Of course, some cars just need them, no questions asked.

 

[JLawrence]

People remember negative comments a lot more intensely than the positive ones, so it might seem that lots of people are intensely "biased" against slicks altogether, when really it might just be a loud minority who posts negative comments lots, without even qualifying or specifying when/how/why. (IE, example: "they suck", "they're dumb", "they're for n00bs"... doesn't tell you much of anything about their viewpoint, position, or why they feel what they do... but you're sure to remember off-putting comments like that.)

Circular reasoning works because circular reasoning works because circular reasoning works....lol

 

[Willfred_1]

As people have said, nothing wrong with using, just to there own taste and driving style, i personally use Racing Medium,for some bizarre reason i am quicker using them than Racing Softs.

Second that and its a lot cheaper than RS tires

 

[Bobby-Vegas]

Nothing shameful. They have the same grip as sport tires in Forza 3.

 

[McClarenDesign]

Ever since I started reading this forum, I've noticed a distinct bias against the RS tires, and people who run them. I simply don't understand this, because if I have a mind to go for a fast lap, why wouldn't I go for every advantage? It's just logic to me. Or is this sort of like the grenade launcher thing in Black Ops where people get pissed when they see someone using it? Just curious

I try to master each of the compounds for whatever regulations I come across when racing. There's nothing to gain by berating someone's preference.

 

[Stotty]

If you use any slick tyre on anything other than a full on race car you may as well just turn skid recovery force on, they amount to the same thing.

Both slicks and SRF strip away 90% of the skill required to play the game. And as long as you continue to use them you'll never get better at the game as you'll never fully understand how the physics engine really works.

Road cars do not come with slick tyres in real life... never mind slicks that are the equivalent of qualifying tyres in F1.

Sports hard max for road cars. Sports medium/softs for tuner cars (or very highly tuned road cars if you have to), hard slicks for most race cars, medium slicks for LM cars, soft slicks for the X1 (as that's all they are any good for... useless tyres for a useless car).

 

[boredgunner]

I use racing soft tires on almost everything (racing medium on some 4WD cars and racing hard on F1 cars). Gran Turismo 5 is a racing game so I use racing tires for the race tracks.

 

[Greycap]

Sports hard max for road cars. Sports medium/softs for tuner cars (or very highly tuned road cars if you have to), hard slicks for most race cars, medium slicks for LM cars, soft slicks for the X1 (as that's all they are any good for... useless tyres for a useless car).

Some real life race cars apparently come with tyres that are even better than those portrayed by Racing Softs. The GT500 lap record for Suzuka is 1'49.842, set by Daisuke Ito in the ARTA NSX in 2007. I'd like to see someone beating that time comfortably with any Super GT in the game, no matter which tyre compound, before we can talk about tyres having unrealistically much grip. They seem to be perfectly good for full blown racing cars judging by the times they can achieve.

 

[watermelon punch]

This argument doesn't seem very logical to me:

Road cars do not come with slick tyres in real life...

Probably mainly because slicks are not street legal, and most people buying road cars are buying them to drive them to work, the grocery store, & fitting them with baby seats... not putting them on race tracks.

In real life, when you crash, you can suffer a concussion, broken bones, or death...
So by this logic, when playing the game, if you crash, you should deliberately break your own leg or something. LOL

Also there are MANY race events in REAL LIFE, where they put better tires on road cars than the ones they come with from the dealership. Indeed, there are many racing events in real life where road cars are completely not street legal anymore.

 

[Highlandor]

A fast driver will be fast on any tire but it takes less skill to be fast on racing tires. Typically, an average DS3 user can keep pace with a G27 user on racing tires. The same is not so with comfort or sport tires. Greater throttle control and management of your slip angle entering turns is required when there is less grip to be had.

So in short, less grip = more challenge.

Agreed 100% - it's alot harder using sports tyres or racing hards, also more challenging, therefore more satisfying when you get it 'right'.

It's not elitist or being arrogant, it's about skill, enjoyment and understanding.

In my experience, the people who stick racing softs on every car are not as good because the amount of grip the tyres give, gives them a false impression.

When you start racing with sports tyres on you need to be alot more careful, think alot more and not just slam the car around every corner at crazy speeds. Basically, you become more considerate.

Also, you have to have a better understanding of setups and driving techniques too, all of this adds up to make you a better driver and racer.

I run a race series - 384bhp (1100kgs minimum) with sports soft tyres and 522bhp (1200kgs) with racing hards, there's more than enough grip for this amount of power, even on RWD / MR cars.

Racing softs are overkill, you simply don't need them plus it encourages people not to work on or understand setups and driving techniques. A well setup (and driven) 384bhp RWD car on sports softs can have as much rear grip as a poorly setup identical car on racing tyres.

If you use any slick tyre on anything other than a full on race car you may as well just turn skid recovery force on, they amount to the same thing.

Both slicks and SRF strip away 90% of the skill required to play the game. And as long as you continue to use them you'll never get better at the game as you'll never fully understand how the physics engine really works.

Road cars do not come with slick tyres in real life... never mind slicks that are the equivalent of qualifying tyres in F1.

Sports hard max for road cars. Sports medium/softs for tuner cars (or very highly tuned road cars if you have to), hard slicks for most race cars, medium slicks for LM cars, soft slicks for the X1 (as that's all they are any good for... useless tyres for a useless car).

Exactly.

Not all 'race series' use slicks, look at the UK Time Attack series - no slicks. The American Time Attack series only recently moved to slicks too, that started out on sports tyres too.

If cars like that can run on 'sports' tyres, why does EVERY car in GT5 need racing softs??

They don't.

 

[Akmuq]

Racing Softs are good, I use them for Time Trials and online races. And usually racecars I drive get fitted with them. But for offline, road cars and for fun, I use sport tires.

Do the Lambourghini race with an untuned Gallardo and some sport hards.
I love just powersliding those supercars, Ferrari 458 on Trial Mountain, if you can control it, is just driving pleasure.

 

[freedomweasel]

Not all 'race series' use slicks, look at the UK Time Attack series - no slicks. The American Time Attack series only recently moved to slicks too, that started out on sports tyres too.

If cars like that can run on 'sports' tyres, why does EVERY car in GT5 need racing softs??

They don't.

On the other hand, if the sanctioning bodies decided they could use any tire they wanted, what kind of tire do you think they'd use?

I also don't see the "realism" problem with putting slicks on road cars. When people go to the track, hell, when people go to an autox event, they'll swap wheels and tires, sometimes to full-on race slicks.

 

[JLawrence]

On the other hand, if the sanctioning bodies decided they could use any tire they wanted, what kind of tire do you think they'd use?

I also don't see the "realism" problem with putting slicks on road cars. When people go to the track, hell, when people go to an autox event, they'll swap wheels and tires, sometimes to full-on race slicks.

At the VDCA events I run (63 Spit) there is ALWAYS at least one guy (usually one of those dang MG drivers =p) that is told in tech that they have to head to SASCO and ditch the slicks for the Vintage TDs or Speedsters we run. People always seem to want an advantage, even if (like in our case) there is no prize to be one, other than the stuffed bunny or hi-top Keds from the gimmick race.

I personally love running the RS tires and just seeing how fast I can go, but I've noticed that they do kill any good racing against the AI, and aren't as fun to go head-to-head with online.

 

[phil bell]

I don't get all the comments about "unrealistic grip". If you've never driven that car in real life on slick tires, then how would you know what's realistic? A well-modified sports car on high-performance street tires can have insane amounts of grip, I'm sure a race car on slick racing tires would be somewhere beyond insane in terms of traction. Have you guys ever watched touring car races? They go through those turns pretty dang fast!

Just look at the footwork on the pedals for those race car's with soft or "sprint" tires,that tells the whole story on why the grip levels of GT5's racing softs are too grippy.

 

[SlyckTires]

Like someone said earlier, I doubt this would be an issue if tyre choice was a well integrated part of the PP system, although for many tracks, I'd go for grip over grunt every time.

For the Lambo seasonals, I detuned my Gallardo to 380bhp and managed a lot of 'final corner' victories on Racing meds/softs and had a lot of fun while doing it. I'd get swamped on the straights, then pull it all back plus more in the corners.

To really answer the question, just think about the tyre choice for the GT Academy. Steering, braking and overall car balance are at a much higher premium on less sticky rubber and therefore the sense of achievement is much higher.

I've been running around on racing tyres for what might be a little too long and am consequently finding the remaining license tests to be a real uphill struggle. Maybe if I'd raced on comfort tyres more, my skill levels would be up to the task by now.

As for online races (remember those?), unless you're really good, you're going to need a set of RS for all your favourite cars - it's a shame you can't access your 'items' folder when you're at a track for those last minute swaps/upgrades.

 

[ADEuk]

There's no shame in using Racing Softs, but equally there's little satisfaction.

 

[Highlandor]

On the other hand, if the sanctioning bodies decided they could use any tire they wanted, what kind of tire do you think they'd use?

I also don't see the "realism" problem with putting slicks on road cars. When people go to the track, hell, when people go to an autox event, they'll swap wheels and tires, sometimes to full-on race slicks.

It's not a necessity though is it - it's an option - likewise, how many people don't use slicks on track days etc, alot of people will use the radials or sports tyres they run on the car on a daily basis.

It's not 'realism' I have an issue with, this is a game, Time Attack etc is real life - no contest really.

People who run racing softs on every car, then come to my race series with sports soft and racing hards always struggle. I've been running this since the start of February, and a distinct pattern has emerged, those people who stick racing softs on every car struggle alot more with tyre wear and the change in physics between GT5 and Prologue.

Many of these guys were fast on Prologue, faster than me, but because I've adapted to the new physics, learnt how to change my driving style and setup a car reasonably well, I'm faster than them over race distance . Their tyres are shot by half distance, I still got 70-90% of my tyres left at the end of the race.

This was only because I never put racing softs on my road cars, even the Maclaren F1 '94 has sports soft, Speed 12 etc etc, it's really helped me understand how to adapt to GT5 from Prologue and understand how to drive and setup a car to balance between grip and tyre wear, alot better than the guys who are sticking racing softs on every car.

 

[luisgo98]

Mclaren F1 on sports hard lol I'm too cheap

 

[Toronto122]

I don't believe that Racing Soft tires give unrealistic grip. Have you ever driven a real car with warm slicks on a track? It's FRIGHTENING how much of a difference there is.

I used to have a 2000 Honda Prelude. I went to Mosport for a track day and a friend was there with his Prelude, all done up for racing. He lent me a set of his slicks for a couple of laps. It was plain old SCARY how much difference there is once they've warmed up a bit. And yes, it took the whole first lap, on a hot summer day, to warm them up, because I suck.

Also, based on what these tires are worth in real life, I agree with the price in the game. Keep in mind, you never have to buy them again once you've got them.

 

[zodicus]

Ive got a 10.5 inc slick on my mustang and I have enuf grip to yank the front tires on a launch, something almost impossable in gt5. My friend had a CRX with darn near race tires on it (not quite they had tread, kinda) and he could go in to a corner hard enuf to pick the inside tires off the ground if you wernt carefull. That CRX turned so hard that the few times I did drive it, I wasnt brave enuf even to get the tires to squeal. The owner could and watching him at the autox it looked almost like watching a R/C go around the track

Do the racing softs make it a bit more forgiving and in A-spec mode a lot easyer, heck yah. However unrealisticly grippy, I dont know about that.

 

[zqxwjv]

its the same kind of like that shame you would have after getting beat up by a girl