There it is!
Tyre physics :
The way the tyres perform is the most important thing about the behaviour of any vehicle. If the tyres are wrong, you might as well forget about your nice suspension, rigid chassis and all the rest of it!
For racing simulations too, tyres are the key to handling. They are also the toughest thing to get right. A rubber body reinforced with various materials, inflated with air, subjected to loads in various directions, heating, cooling, wearing out... it's a challenge!
We have been on the case recently to meet this challenge and make sure each tyre behaves as realistically as possible, and as well as possible, under all those varying conditions. The key points to how the car feels, are longitudinal behaviour (the way the tyres provide forces under acceleration or braking, which make them rotate at slightly - or greatly - different speeds compared with the car's motion) and lateral behaviour (the way the tyres provide forces under cornering, when their rolling direction is slightly - or greatly - different from their actual direction of motion). And finally, just how these forces are combined together when both of those are happening at the same time - accelerating out of a corner, braking into a corner, etc.
Live for Speed tyres have come on a long way recently. You can get the power down in a more controlled and realistic way. It's more fun to drive and after a small mistake, you are more likely to run wide and get yourself back on the line - losing a few seconds instead of losing the car completely.