I used to complain a lot about tire wear issues, but I've realized I was completely wrong. AI's tire wear isn't actually a problem—on the contrary, their tire management is absolutely excellent. (If you don't believe me, turn off fuel consumption and go head‑to‑head with the AI in a pure tire endurance duel—let's see who cracks first.)
At Le Mans, they make one set of tires last four stints, and on regular tracks they often go three stints or more, all while keeping consistent lap times.
This perfectly mirrors the tire change patterns in WEC races. From 100% down to 1%, they maintain remarkably stable lap times, protecting their tires just like professional drivers. Only the first few laps are slightly quicker; over the long haul, the pace evens out. Even if the wear rate looks faster than a player's, that's never the real issue—they are true tire management masters. Because the measure of good tire management is never that damn percentage, but actual lap times and steady cruising.
The real killer that ruins races is the AI's silly tire‑change threshold. They always pit at 70%—which is utterly stupid. Completely unnecessary for them, and an incredible waste. The right approach is to simply adopt the mandatory pit window threshold, or even set it below 10%—that works perfectly. I'm sure 397 has the means; just change that 70% to 10% with a flick of the finger, and everything would be perfect.
Before we begin this brutal tire endurance battle, there's one more secret I have to share about the fuel multiplier. It doesn't just determine the AI's fuel consumption—it also dictates whether they've got a wooden block under the throttle. During my tests to find the fuel level that best matches my own consumption, I tried values like 0.97, 0.92, and 0.94, but something always felt off during races. No matter what car I drove, my car was always a bit faster on the straights—even without a slipstream, I could gradually catch up to them. And they were always timid in corners, braking early and afraid to go wheel‑to‑wheel. I could always charge from the back of the pack to the front... until I set the value to 2. Oh my god, the AI I used to bully became impossible to chase down. They were slippery as eels when overtaking, pouncing on any gap, and absolutely determined in wheel‑to‑wheel battles—whereas before they'd always lift off the throttle. They'd also brake late without hesitation—really tough opponents. Is this the fully unleashed version of the AI? I've already tested it with fuel consumption turned off, and the effect of this multiplier still persists. I think they must have been deliberately saving fuel just to hit the stint lap count you expected—after all, the player's physics aren't the same as the AI's; your fuel sweet spot isn't theirs. Well... lifting off the throttle just to make up the numbers, giving up positions and competition time after time—that's too boring. That's not the racing we want! Now that the throttle restrictions are gone, the pressure naturally shifts to the tires. Let me see just how much raw, unfettered strength the AI really has. So here it is: turn off fuel consumption, set the AI fuel multiplier to 2, turn on tire wear, and let's see how long you can last.
At Le Mans, they make one set of tires last four stints, and on regular tracks they often go three stints or more, all while keeping consistent lap times.
This perfectly mirrors the tire change patterns in WEC races. From 100% down to 1%, they maintain remarkably stable lap times, protecting their tires just like professional drivers. Only the first few laps are slightly quicker; over the long haul, the pace evens out. Even if the wear rate looks faster than a player's, that's never the real issue—they are true tire management masters. Because the measure of good tire management is never that damn percentage, but actual lap times and steady cruising.
The real killer that ruins races is the AI's silly tire‑change threshold. They always pit at 70%—which is utterly stupid. Completely unnecessary for them, and an incredible waste. The right approach is to simply adopt the mandatory pit window threshold, or even set it below 10%—that works perfectly. I'm sure 397 has the means; just change that 70% to 10% with a flick of the finger, and everything would be perfect.
Before we begin this brutal tire endurance battle, there's one more secret I have to share about the fuel multiplier. It doesn't just determine the AI's fuel consumption—it also dictates whether they've got a wooden block under the throttle. During my tests to find the fuel level that best matches my own consumption, I tried values like 0.97, 0.92, and 0.94, but something always felt off during races. No matter what car I drove, my car was always a bit faster on the straights—even without a slipstream, I could gradually catch up to them. And they were always timid in corners, braking early and afraid to go wheel‑to‑wheel. I could always charge from the back of the pack to the front... until I set the value to 2. Oh my god, the AI I used to bully became impossible to chase down. They were slippery as eels when overtaking, pouncing on any gap, and absolutely determined in wheel‑to‑wheel battles—whereas before they'd always lift off the throttle. They'd also brake late without hesitation—really tough opponents. Is this the fully unleashed version of the AI? I've already tested it with fuel consumption turned off, and the effect of this multiplier still persists. I think they must have been deliberately saving fuel just to hit the stint lap count you expected—after all, the player's physics aren't the same as the AI's; your fuel sweet spot isn't theirs. Well... lifting off the throttle just to make up the numbers, giving up positions and competition time after time—that's too boring. That's not the racing we want! Now that the throttle restrictions are gone, the pressure naturally shifts to the tires. Let me see just how much raw, unfettered strength the AI really has. So here it is: turn off fuel consumption, set the AI fuel multiplier to 2, turn on tire wear, and let's see how long you can last.
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