I was not around for the beta, so I wished to ask those that were the thinking behind the current system for tyres. To my mind their performance seems too good when they reach terrible and a lot of teams simply race on terrible tyres to avoid pit stops. What am I missing here in terms of the aims trying to be achieved here?
I realise this probably a re-hash of old issues, just I would really like to know.
I think the current system is good. I have always done 2/3 stops as that has been quicker than 1 stopping or no stopping when it was possible on occasions.
The main factor for pitting is the weight of fuel for me at the moment. I don't know what could be done to improve the strategy aspect behind tyres. Tyre strategy does become a big factor in wet races, where changes between tyre compounds is required.
Perhaps having to use both tyre compounds could be a good addition.
Stops is pretty much always quicker than not stopping due to fuel loads. Thats if the cars were very similar of course and the pitstops have mechanics.
@Tom: I disagree as it depends on the length of the pit lane if stopping is faster then not stopping for new tires.
@Michael: This is an old topic being brought back up by you and we never did get a response.
The problem with pitwall 1.0 was the fact that some tire would blow-up very quickly making it impossible to race so we decided not to have tires blow-up any more. The problem comes from the lack of reduced speed once they hit the almight terrible condition.
If you didn't know each level of tire is equal to about .100 of a second so from Superb to Terrible is only about a second difference. In a short run this doesn't add up much but over a long run can effect your race but the problem discussed was if a pit stop takes 20 seconds then if your not losing more then a second per lap then not stopping is faster.
We had asked for the tires once they hit terrible to "hit a wall" so they would slow down to more like 2 seconds or so; meaning it makes sense to stop for new tires rather then running on terrible tires.
As for running both compounds has been discussed and it's something that I would like to see as it would make strategy more interesting. Could also mix up the races a bit!!
Yes.. I would have imagined a wall or cliff (i.e. performance measured in time collapses) would have been simple to do.
Mixed compounds would also force more changes.
I remember in PW1 that race strategy really mattered in a way it does not seem to in PW2. I understand why that is and it supports a longer-term planning style of player, just at times you miss that ability to upend the apple cart once in a while.
I guess the pitlane length does make a difference yes, i just don't think there is enough speed in worn down hard tyres to make a 1 stop an effective strategy compared to a 2/3 stop even when the length is long.
Early in the season most of my division where running only 1 or 2 stops due to the lack of drop off. That being said I don't think it is the fastest way to run a race but average speed is very similar.
I have never really tested this in full yet by doing a mock race during testing!!
Now that the weight of the car is more of an issue, I've seen less and less 1 and 2 stop races in my division. For us, the tyre drop off at Terrible is less obvious, as most of us are changing more often. At least I think they are.
Well, I am running a two stopper & a one stopper this week due to the long pit lane so we will see how many take my strategy!!
Fuel weight is about half between the one stopper & the two stopper so in theory the two stopper should be much quicker overall; but is it more then the 25 second expected pit stop time??
