Hello Scawen,

How will new tire physics affect LFS simulation?

Thank you,
Marino

Such a simple question, yet answer is extremely complex and quite unknown to us. I don't think even Scawen himself would know how to answer it at this point

Hopefully for the better.

I hope to see a few things, mainly a super sport tire that reacts better to heavier loading and more slip angle with less sidewall flex. Should be good and closer to modern sports tires!

I think race slicks and even sport tires overheat a little too quickly I can’t seem to get a nascar to last more than 20 laps no matter how loose I set up the car and drive with the rear. And Less than 2 drift laps on the kart track have my super tires popped, in real life even at full tilt with 1000hp I’d think 4 laps or so would be more realistic.

Do tires pop due to over temp or tread being at 0?

After finally testing out gravel tires in real life I think that they have too low of grip on pavement, i was very surprised to find gravel rally tires had far better grip on pavement than your average road tire.

I think the sidewall stretch could be changed to a smaller visual ratio, right now it looks like
It’s simulating the rubber at the microscopic level and of course we love LFS because of how good it drives, the tires look comical at lower pressures though.

I hope we can get spring preload instead of artificially increasing travel with lower spring rates.

I hope we get a few other changes too, such as bump steer and other small incremental improvements. I don’t think the whole entire base physics need an overhaul, I love the game as is and find it to be the best one already!

Quote from RE Amemiya :

I hope to see a few things, mainly a super sport tire that reacts better to heavier loading and more slip angle with less sidewall flex. Should be good and closer to modern sports tires!

I think race slicks and even sport tires overheat a little too quickly I can’t seem to get a nascar to last more than 20 laps no matter how loose I set up the car and drive with the rear. And Less than 2 drift laps on the kart track have my super tires popped, in real life even at full tilt with 1000hp I’d think 4 laps or so would be more realistic.

That's maybe true, but to me it's more important to get a grip right here than the rate of temperature rise..
In real racing before operating range (OR) and after OR there is a decline in the grip. And the grip gradually drops to not very good and not very bad until the wear runs out tire to the cord and here already the grip falls dramatically until tire pop. In LFS, the temperature before OR is similar to the real one, and after OR disappears quite strongly and with smoke is smoothly lost grip until the moment the tire is pop. And on sport tires the grip before pop falls so hard that you feel like you're on snow or ice..(pic) This also applies to other tires in LFS, but maybe on other tires this effect is less intense. But it seems that in LFS the cord grip is sort of simulated by a low grip after the operating range of the tire and this simplification greatly affects the handling of the car after the operating range. If in LFS tire adds a cord grip like the one in the upper graph, this would correct the situation.

For racers it is not so important because driving above the OR is not accepted in races because it is not efficient. But in drifting it is very noticeable.

I often watch drift competitions (which is a good stress test for tires) There are various semi-slicks used there all the time. (In LFS it is similar to sport tires) So in real drifting there is no such a decline in the grip after the tire gerva, moreover, putting a new pair of tires on the wheels pilots constantly warm up the tire before the run, (but not only to achieve the OR, but also to remove an external slick layer of rubber). And for them there is almost no sensation of grip loss after the OR and all the way down to the cord.

Also I know real drifters who have said that at high temps the grip doesn't work right in LFS.

Quote from RE Amemiya :

Do tires pop due to over temp or tread being at 0?

And indeed, in real life, temperature and wear are interconnected, the higher the temperature, the faster the wear, but pop can calmly be achieved without raising the temperature, just by wear and tire, but it will take much longer. In real life, after 200-250 degree (depending on the compound), the rubber of the tire melts. But I'm not sure if it's possible to achieve that in a normal race without drifting, probably not.. Btw, I saw that tires literally caught fire in drift competitions, just from drifting.

Most experts consider 195 degrees Fahrenheit as the “line in the sand” when it comes to tire temperature: Beyond that point, the temperature will start impacting tire life. At 250 degrees, a tire will start to lose structural strength, could begin experiencing tread reversion and the tire will begin to lose strength.

For someone who's currently showing as having Zero miles, not sure you'd notice or appreciate any difference.

Quote :

Finally, the third class of tire models offered are full finite element representations of the tire. While these models have the potential to be the most accurate due to their detailed physical model of the tire, they are also the most computationally expensive of the tire model currently available in Chrono::Vehicle.

I hope the devs go in the direction of finite element tire model for most accurate representation of real tire behavior.

https://api.projectchrono.org/wheeled_tire.html