It's not really important to get every real F1 feature to LFS. IIRC the tyre marking is directed to spectators. How many spectators fit into full LFS server atm? Maximum 4, usually 3. It's quite useless.
I still don't understand why we have more then one slick tire in LFS. Different compounds are mainly used to match the ambient and track tempetures. The warmer it is the harder tire you use as a softer tire will just over heat and wearout too fast. R2s are the only real tire we need right now based on thermal levels of the track in LFS. Other compounds will be needed when we get varying temps.
R3/R4 tires come into there own when the reduced rolling resistance out weighs the loss of grip in oval racing, plus they're an option if you really can't get R2s to last.
Ok since this is not apparently well known I will offer what info I do know about tires and why different compounds are used.
From what I have read and from what is offered in the work of RC racing which mimics what I have read in reguards to full scale racing tire compound choice is mainly used to match the tire used to the tempeture the tires till likely get to while racing. It has little to do with how long they last but that does come in to play as a byproduct.
Different compounds of tires are designed to reatch their optimal grip levels at specific tempetures. Since on any given race day and track the temp is different numerous compounds are offered. The tempetures that tires reach is a comdination of ambiant/track surface temp and the course design. A tighter course with lots of turns and short straights will heat the tires more then a more open course with few turns and long straights, but the ambient/track temp is the prime factor with course design being the contributing factor.
In LFS currently the ambient/track tempture is fixed and unchanging. As such only the track design contributes to tire temp diffrences along with driving style and setup. With this being the case we really do not need slicks that range from an optimal of 70c to 100c. The R2 tires at 80c are the softest we need and the R3 at 90c is almost too hard to be needed. The R1 and R4 are almost never used as they are too soft or too hard to based on the tempture variation we currently have. Personaly I would love to have a R2.5 with an optimal temp of 85c inplace of the R1 and R4.
As for visualy marking these I think the addition of a colored Rx designation on the sidewall would be nice.
Well R1s can only be used on the MRT5 and FOX anyway. The MRT5 struggles to get R1s up to temperature, so you certainly wouldn't want the softest tyres to be R2s. The FOX can use R1s at a push but they're only just usable at certain tracks with very high tyre pressures.
Also I might point out you have the optimal temperatures wrong:
R1 - 70 degrees
R2 - 85 degrees
R3 - 100 degrees
R4 - 115 degrees
I thought that this needs a bit of a bump as now you can see who is using which tyres. Now, we need the lines.
I suggest a line on the R2, two lines on the R1, R3s should be blank and I don't care about R4 as it is almost never advantagous to use it (I doubt they even use it in MOE, the sort of league where tyres that resemble bricks would be a good idea normally)
Ideally LFS would change the slick compounds, a R1.5 specifically would be best.
Hopefully this won't be the case by the time S2 is final. I would think that changing the track temp would be fairly trivial, all things considered. At least, changing it for the entire length of the race. Making the track temp change throughout a long race would obviously be somewhat more complex.
True, but only because the track is reasonably cool at the moment. If LFS ever offers server set track temps (fingers crossed!), that could change things. Heck, even changing the track temp for different tracks could make a big difference. A cool track at Blackwood in England is one thing, but a cool track in Jamaica? Another option would be to set the track temp according to the track and time. For instance, morning in Blackwood the track would be quite cold, while mid-day at Fern Bay the track would be very hot. This would seemingly be a fairly simple change (relatively speaking), but could make races a LOT more interesting. Just imagine leagues that have qualification and a "forecast" for weather. Do you pick the softer tires, hoping it'll stay cool, or do you choose harder tires, betting that the temp will increase before the race starts?
I hate the stupid lines on F1 tyres - we DO NOT need them. I also hate the 'everyone must use both sets of tyres in a race' thing too. Why not just let us work it out for ourselves; there isn't a gauge on the side of the car saying how much fuel is in the car, yet we can work out roughly what strategies people are on based on laptimes, so why can't the public cope with the same for tyres. They just look silly...
Visible tyre wear is fairly likely to happen - nKP sort of does it already.
As for the Sauber/BF1 having lines on it's tyres as it's a simulation - well, the BF1 is NOT A 2007 F1 CAR, so it would be WRONG to 'simulate' stupid lines on it's tyres.