co-driver
Upgrade reference /tires

Tires (Compound & Width)

Where most PI-per-grip lives in FH6. Front width is its own lever now — use it before bumping compound.

Your dataCar #3650· last 3 laps
FL temp avg39.2 °C
FR temp avg39.1 °C
RL temp avg38.3 °C
RR temp avg38.3 °C
All four in 85.0 °C–100.0 °C0.2%
Rear L slip ratio (throttle > 0.5)25.9%
Rear R slip ratio (throttle > 0.5)25.7%

What it does

Tires touch the road; everything else only changes how. Two levers: compound (the rubber) and width (the contact patch). FH6 separated these out more aggressively than FH5 — front and rear width move independently, and adding 1–2 width notches to the front often beats a full compound jump on PI cost.

Compound is matched to surface, not to ambition. Race slicks on dirt lose to rally tires by a wide margin in FH6, which deliberately added a heavier PI penalty for slicks on dirt than FH5 had. Same logic for cross-country — off-road tires are not a downgrade, they're the right tool.

Width skew tracks drivetrain. RWD wants more rear than front for corner-exit traction (e.g. 285F / 325R at S1). FWD wants equal or slightly wider front, since the front handles steering, power, and braking simultaneously. AWD runs roughly symmetric, occasionally with a small rear bias.

Options

Stock
PI 0
Best for
D-class power builds where every PI point matters
Tradeoff
Low peak grip; gives up cornering at any pace
Street
PI 5–10
Best for
D/C-class road; cheap grip floor
Tradeoff
Still well below peak; falls off in S-class corners
Sport
PI 10–20
Best for
B/A road; the workhorse compound
Tradeoff
On a light car the PI cost can hurt PWR more than the grip helps
Semi-slick
PI 15–25
Best for
A-class with PI headroom; gateway to S1
Tradeoff
PI step is real — verify the lap-time gain
Race (Slicks)
PI 20–30
Best for
S1/S2/R road racing — mandatory at this level
Tradeoff
Heavy PI penalty on dirt and cross-country in FH6
Rally
PI 15–25
Best for
Dirt racing — the only correct compound on loose surface
Tradeoff
Loses to slicks on tarmac
Off-road
PI 15–25
Best for
Cross-country and rough terrain — grip and impact tolerance
Tradeoff
Sluggish on smooth surfaces
Drag
PI 15–25
Best for
Drag launches; straight-line traction only
Tradeoff
No lateral grip — useless on circuits
Front tire width (+1/+2)
PI 2–6 per step
Best for
Almost every road build below max compound — cheapest cornering gain
Tradeoff
On RWD power builds, adds PI for a small launch penalty
Rear tire width (+1/+2)
PI 2–6 per step
Best for
RWD/AWD power builds; corner-exit and launch traction
Tradeoff
Adds rotational inertia and front-end push on FWD

PI-efficiency by discipline

Option RoadDirtCross-countryDriftDrag
Stock○✗✗✗●
Street●✗✗○○
Sport●✗✗●○
Semi-slick●✗✗●○
Race (Slicks)●✗✗●●
Rally✗●○✗✗
Off-road✗○●✗✗
Drag✗✗✗✗●
Front tire width (+1/+2)●○○●○
Rear tire width (+1/+2)●○○●●
● recommend   ○ situational   ✗ avoid

Decision rules

  • 1.Match compound to surface first, not to class. Slicks on dirt is a deliberate PI trap in FH6.
  • 2.Before stepping compound up a tier, try +1 front width. Usually cheaper PI for the same lap-time gain.
  • 3.On RWD, the rear should be wider than the front. On FWD, the front should be equal or wider.
  • 4.Stop widening when contact patch already saturates — wider tires you can't load are just PI cost.

Traps

Race slicks "to be safe" on dirt or cross-country
Why  FH6 applies a much heavier PI penalty for slicks on loose surface than FH5 did — the math no longer leans your way
Instead  Use rally or off-road compound for the actual surface
Maxing front width on a RWD power build
Why  Adds PI you could spend on rear width, where it actually helps put power down
Instead  Step front width once at most; spend the rest on rear

Build smells that point here

  • Race slicks on a dirt or cross-country build
    Switch to rally or off-road compound — FH6 made this a hard PI penalty.

After the install — tune it

/tune/tire-pressure

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