F1 2011 Tips on saving tyres

[MSTR20]

I seem to chew through my tyres, any tips on making them last longer?

Xbox 360 with gamepad + no assists btw

 

[Chris Hazeldine]

Be reasonable with your spring, camber and toe settings - anything too high can add tyre wear

Mix 3 wears the tyres more quickly

Locking up in braking will cause tyre wear

Spinning the wheels under acceleration will cause tyre wear

 

[dda]

I also have this problem, even with camber and spring settings that are much softer on tyres than I see on the set up forums, i always have 2 terrible laps before i pit because the tyres have gone or have to pit more than the AI

what im finding annoying though is i can do the same race twice with the same setup, first race ill just drive 100% qualifying style, lock up my brakes all the time, hammer acceleration right down all the time etc.

2nd time ill not lock up the breaks and break much earlier and softer, accellerate softer, just generally drive in a tyre saving type manner and it hardly seems to make any difference, maybe the last lap before pits isnt quite so bad but still it really doesnt make as much difference

any ideas?

play with traction control on if i turned it off would that help?

 

[Wojciech Grabowski]

With Pad you will always burn tires quickly. My tip is: turn on ABS and TCS. Don't worry about that it's not real-like. Unless you get a wheel, play with assists.

And another tip: get the wheel maybe something cheap from ebay? It will take your experience from game to higher level.

 

[Peter Hooper]

To be honest I never really find any difference in the tyre wear no matter what I do or how I drive. I just get the feeling it's fairly scripted at what point the tyres will go and other factors are of negligible impact. I hope I am wrong but that's how it has seemed to me. I have tried running conservatively to save the tyres and aggressively to exacerbate the rate at which the tyres wear and they tend to be the same regardless and the figures in the garage are always pretty much identical.

 

[Jason Warburton]

I have to agree, on most tracks tyre wear seems scripted to some extent depending on your setup not on how you drive. I've done laps right on the brink, sliding, spinning the wheels, locking up etc and the results were almost the same as the laps i did while driving smoothly. Maybe its a result of the patch on the ps3, no idea. :S

 

[Peter Hooper]

Well, mine is on the Xbox so it's not just the PS3. Not sure whether it has just been since the patch though.. you may be right as I did tend to think earlier on that the tyre wear was a little more realistic than 2010.

I have seen the same too, I have had laps where I was clean and smooth and yet the wear was exactly the same as after I had a real bad session with spins, slides and locking wheels.

 

[Paul Lock]

Yeah im not convinced that style has much to do with wear. Even a walking pace inlap gives about the same wear as a balls-out hotlap.

 

[MSTR20]

Thanks for all the replies, i'll probably invest in a wheel when i have the money.
I've also found that driving aggressively doesn't seem to make much difference; putting on assists definitely makes them last longer but the game is just more fun and rewarding with them off.

 

[Michael Brown]

Really? Well from what I've heard your style affects tire wear. This was mentioned on a YouTube video reviewing F1 2011, where a guy did a conservative and aggressive hot lap on two different options, and the condition of the tires was 99% and 98% respectively. It could be coincidental, as tires seem to wear the same rate regardless.

 

[Peter Hooper]

I don't think a change of 1% between the two is that much of a difference though. I have run a dozen laps using different styles and setups and have seen the same 1% difference between them on occasions. The majority of the time there is no difference at all.

 

[Paul Lock]

You would expect a much bigger margin than 1% between a hot and medium lap. IIRC, the Youtube 'pro' reviews didnt mention the 11/11 bug, the corrupt save game bug, the safety car bug......(yawn)...so im hardly surprised that they missed tyre wear, or took 1% difference to mean that the game was super intelligent.

Has anyone noticed if they can get more laps out of tyres on lower fuel loads? That should make a difference too. For example,if you can do 10 laps on options at the start of a 100% race with a full tank, can you do more on them at the end when the car is lighter? Not tested this myself, but im pretty sure I only see people mentioning the number of laps a tyre can do throughout the race, rather than at different points in the race.

 

[Peter Hooper]

I don't think the fuel load makes any great difference. Like you said it seems that what life you get from them is pretty much the same regardless of the amount of fuel on board. When I do my practice sessions on lower fuel loads the tyre life pretty much reflects what I see from the start of a race. But I will remember to check that when I next have a session just ot be sure.

 

[David O'Reilly]

You would expect a much bigger margin than 1% between a hot and medium lap. IIRC, the Youtube 'pro' reviews didnt mention the 11/11 bug, the corrupt save game bug, the safety car bug......(yawn)...so im hardly surprised that they missed tyre wear, or took 1% difference to mean that the game was super intelligent.

Has anyone noticed if they can get more laps out of tyres on lower fuel loads? That should make a difference too. For example,if you can do 10 laps on options at the start of a 100% race with a full tank, can you do more on them at the end when the car is lighter? Not tested this myself, but im pretty sure I only see people mentioning the number of laps a tyre can do throughout the race, rather than at different points in the race.

Paul I have definitely noticed this.
Say an option tyre that will do 12 laps on stint 1 will do say 14 or 15 in stint 3.
Fuel or rubbered-in track. Though come to think of it did I count quali??

 

[Jason Warburton]

Fuel load and track conditions do effect tyre wear a lot more than driving style, when i did some tests i turned track and fuel simulation off. With them on doing the same laps on different fuel loads and at different stages of practice theres a difference (1-2 laps after 15), especially on options.

 

[dda]

So really you make a lot more difference to tyre wear with the setup than you do with driving style? (using a pad)

 

[Paul Lock]

Paul I have definitely noticed this.
Say an option tyre that will do 12 laps on stint 1 will do say 14 or 15 in stint 3.
Fuel or rubbered-in track. Though come to think of it did I count quali??

Haha yeah dont forget to account for a minimum of 3 laps in quali!

 

[Peter Hooper]

Paul I have definitely noticed this.
Say an option tyre that will do 12 laps on stint 1 will do say 14 or 15 in stint 3.
Fuel or rubbered-in track. Though come to think of it did I count quali??

That's where I was originally making the same mistake and thinking the fuel load at the end of the race was giving me longer life on the tyres. At the moment I do not think there is much that can be done to improve tyre wear rate..it only really seems governed by how many laps they have done and just seems that the wear will be pretty much the same regardless of how you have driven those laps.

I hope I am wrong and have not done any extensive testing to show this but just my feelings based on the practice I have done in an effort to find the best setup to give the best wear rate for various races.

 

[Maxim Lewis]

I honestly don't think whether you spend an entire 100% race doing donuts or following the safety car that it'll make any difference regarding tyre wear. It's kinda like Codemasters have given F1 2011 a placebo effect.

 

[Stuart Broadway]

Only thing I can say about this is the first time I played F1 2011 I did a practice session around Singapore. I badly locked a wheel going into one of the heavy braking corners and from then on I constantly locked that wheel going into other heavy braking areas like I had a flat spot. The car was almost undriveable, I pitted for new tyres and the problem went away. Thought that was pretty cool at the time (this was back when the game was first released b4 the patches). Can't really comment on tyre wear as haven't done long enough races to really notice a difference.