Hi guys,

I've noticed a lot of WR set ups on the UF1000 have Rally X tyres on the rear for road tracks. Why is this? Is it to compenstate for understeer in front wheel drive cars? Seems a bit odd although no doubt it must work for good drivers.

I can't bring myself to put Rally x tyres on a road track is it me that's strange.

I'm sweating like a bleedin rapist playing this game...who says sitting in front of a PC can't keep you fit eh!

The Hybrid tyres have more grip at lower temperatures than Road Normal, so UF1 setups often have either one end or both fitted with Hybrids.

I don't believe it's something only a 'skillful' driver will benefit from, so stick some up, relearn corner speeds, and beat your PB's by 2 seconds.

With the Rallyx tyres on the rear it helps stop understeer and will increase your laptimes

Not convinced on that front Tristan, from my testing I can't see a difference between the grip of hybrids and road normals. However, hybrids heat up much more easily. On the rear of the UF1 and XFG, road normal tyres lose a little grip due to being cold. The hybrids warm up nicely without overheating, so offer more grip because of this. Hence the speed benefit. It also helps stop the car from oversteering.

Thanks guys, that explains things.

Some single lap hotlap and qualifying setups for the XF GTi and a lot of the WR UF1000 setups actually have hybrids on both ends, just because they heat up so much faster.

By the way, fun racing on the STCC 1a server on Rally x today

someone gave me a south city 1 setup that was on all hybrid tires. they were running in the top 5. I drove a race on it and ended up 15th out of 20. i switched to road tires and got 9th out of 20. I hated the hybrid tires becuase it caused the UF1 to oversteer on braking. not good on first turn! it could of been my driving style or how well i knew the track.

Quote from Bob Smith :

However, hybrids heat up much more easily. On the rear of the UF1 and XFG, road normal tyres lose a little grip due to being cold. The hybrids warm up nicely without overheating, so offer more grip because of this. Hence the speed benefit. It also helps stop the car from oversteering.

I would definitely agree with this. The first time I saw the hybrids on a road track my first thought was that it must be because they heat up faster. Just try putting hybrids on the rear of a RWD car (such as XRT) and see how much easier it is to rip a burnout over having road tyres on.

I would say the benefit of the hybrids would detoriate over a longer race as they could easily overheat, and it would depend on the track and driving style too. I have tried them, and use it for short 4 or 5 lap races, longer races, I go back to normal road tyres.

Quote from Damo74 :

Just try putting hybrids on the rear of a RWD car (such as XRT) and see how much easier it is to rip a burnout over having road tyres on.

That's because the XRT has "road supers", but the hybrids are only equal to "road normal" tyres.

Or maybe I just don't understand what you mean with "rip a burnout"

Iif some people tested the difference in hybrids and road tyre on a uf1 you would know the difference hybrids make.

Hybrids give you better turn-in speed (With hybrids on the front) on some tracks e.g. like south city which as low grip and i disagree with most you on this one that hybrids are no good in a long distance race, if you can make a setup last on hybrids your fine.

Tracks that are hybrids are good on South city, Kyoto, Aston, Fern bay and they are really crap on Blackwood for some reason god knows why.

I have tried the hybrids and knobbilies on different cars and tracks, and there sure is a difference. But the question is: is it worth it?

I agree with Damo because I have used them on short and long races and they do fine on the 5 lap races. After that, they begin to heat up and lose the tread. I have driven them until they became slicks and eventually fell apart.

Initially you have good road grip, but after they begin to wear in, the cars become sort of unstable. We don't notice that because we make adjustments to our driving style automatically without considering the tires.

But if you take the same turn at the same speed and at the same G force (in the groove) without making any adjustment to your driving, you'll see that the tires begin to lose grip. They get mushy and you hear them skidding more.

The basic concept is that hybrids are off-road tires. They are softer and wear faster. But they help only in the turns. Soft tires add drag because of the friction with the road, so they are poor on long and straight stretches of track.

If anyone of you ever drove a real life car with snow tires or off-road tyres at high speeds, you can understand what I mean.

However, look at the WRs and you will see that the fastest setups have hard tires with high tire pressures, mostly in the 30-35 psi (207 - 241 Kpa).