Well different cars have different tyres available depending on what is most suitable. For example road cars only have the "road" tyres, and racing cars only have the race tyres:
UF1/XFG/XRG: Road Normal, Hybrid, Knobbly
XRT/FXO/RB4/FZ5/LX4/LX6: Road Normal, Road Super, Hybrid, Knobbly
MRT/FBM/FOX: R1/R2/R3
All others: R2/R3/R4
Road Super is just a slightly softer (thus faster but lasts a shorter time) version of the Road Normal. Hybrids are a mix of road and rally, and knobbly is for rally.
R1s can be used for races in the MRT and FBM but probably only qualifying in the FOX, you'll want R2s for FOX races. Increasing the number increases the hardness (R5 doesn't exist, R4 is the hardest) and depending on the car and the length. You can run R2/R2 sometimes in an XRR GT3 for example, but on some tracks you'll need an R4/R3 on an FXR. The limiting factor tends to be the achievable tyre temperature and the amount of grip rather than tyre duration. In F1 for example you could feasibly use Super Soft tyres and Hard tyres at the same track, whereas in LFS the difference between the compounds is much larger. Putting R2/R2 on an FXR will mean they overheat incredibly quickly losing you all their grip, whereas putting R3/R3 on an FBM means they will never heat up and you won't have any grip either!