F1 2011 Tyre life

[Michael Bellamy]

I've noticed that the tyre life is scaling with race distance... which is all very well for the race, but if I'm running a long weekend then it shouldn't be scaling for practice or qualifying as these are still run at the full length. A set of options might last me 16 laps in practice for a 100% race, but then only last me for 8 laps if I'm doing a 50% race. What's the point in keeping the practice session at the full 90 minutes but making your tyres last half as long? Is there any way to change this? I'm sure this wasn't the case in F1 2010.

 

[taz1004]

A bit unclear to me. So you're doing 100% practice but only 50% race? Or are you complaining that the duration of practice for 50% is too long?

Tire life for 50% practice should scale down as the purpose of practice session is to prepare for race and qualifying session.

 

[Francesco Bonifacio]

LoL....is normal..... the tire wear is proportional to the duration of the race and if u have the fuel simulation this increase the tire wear of the first set. regarding the practice the tyre wear depends of the stats of the track.... i mean..... if u go out in first minutes, the tyre wear is very fast...... if u want use only one set in first practice use mix 1 and sure, use hard tires.

 

[Wojciech Grabowski]

You are running shorter distance, so you don't need so long practice... 8 laps of options is enough...

 

[Michael Bellamy]

Eh? Because the race is going to be shorter, I need less practice? Why? I still need to learn the track just as much regardless of the length of the race.

And even if I skip all the practice sessions, Q1, Q2 and Q3 are all still the same for all race lengths, and I'll still need to do an outlap, 1 or 2 hot laps, and an in lap (minimum) in each of those sessions. But instead of it using up 4 laps of tyre life it effective uses up 8 because the total tyre life is halved.

Practice and Qualifying don't scale the way the race does if you choose a shorter distance, and so the tyre life shouldn't scale the same in those sessions either.

 

[Ash Kendall]

Most people use practices to get familiar the circuit and get an idea of tyre degradation, so the tyre wear simulation has to be the same in practice as it is in the race otherwise it wouldn't work.

 

[Michael Bellamy]

That's a fair point, but surely not for qualifying. If I do a 4 lap run on options that have 8 laps life for a 50% race, or 16 laps life for a 100% race, then that means the difference between starting the race on tyres with 50% wear for a shorter race or only 25% wear for a longer race.

And also, as far as I'm aware, the fuel load doesn't scale like this. If you put 20 laps of fuel in in practice then you can run for 20 laps regardless of what length you have the race set at. Whereas in the race you always start with the full fuel load and it just burns off proportionately faster in shorter races.

 

[taz1004]

That's a fair point, but surely not for qualifying. If I do a 4 lap run on options that have 8 laps life for a 50% race, or 16 laps life for a 100% race, then that means the difference between starting the race on tyres with 50% wear for a shorter race or only 25% wear for a longer race.

And also, as far as I'm aware, the fuel load doesn't scale like this. If you put 20 laps of fuel in in practice then you can run for 20 laps regardless of what length you have the race set at. Whereas in the race you always start with the full fuel load and it just burns off proportionately faster in shorter races.

All the reasons why you should run 100% races. Running 50% or less race length itself is unrealistic and as such, you can't expect realism. Another thing with the shorter races is that the option tires have optimal grip for about 2 laps in 100% races so you can do your hot lap in qualifying. This will be wasted on the outlap for 50% or shorter races. There is simple workaround however. Run qualifying at 100% and scale down the race.

Also, you should learn new tracks on proving grounds. Laps you spend in practice will wear your engines too. This isn't cheating because real F1 drivers practice on simulators too.

 

[BBFred]

I've had a maybe similar experience I'd like some feedback on :

I do long weekends with 50% races in career mode. Last race in China I ended Q2 on P10 and when I went back to the garage after 4 laps done, including in and out laps, my tires were at 88%. I skip Q3 and I end up on race day with my Q2 tires at 71%.

I felt cheated at first but if I follow this thread, maybe there's a logic to it?

 

[ENDR]

You can always choose 100% race length just before the practice sessions start, practice with "real" tyre degradation and switch back to 50% just before the race. You need to go back to the paddock just after the qualifying session though.

 

[BBFred]

You can always choose 100% race length just before the practice sessions start, practice with "real" tyre degradation and switch back to 50% just before the race. You need to go back to the paddock just after the qualifying session though.

Good thinking... I'll give it a try next race and post the results.

 

[BBFred]

So I tested Long weekend 100% race at Istanbul. Sitting out Q3 still meant my tyres magically lost around 15% on race day. Damn gremlins...

After testing it some more I think I can now say the tyre-eating bug only manifests itself if you sit out a Q session, whatever weekend & race length.

Bottom line: don't sit out in Quali, like, ever! Just do a crappy lap for game's sake !

Wonder if that bug got nailed by CM, but at least it's easy to work around.