OFFROAD TYRES- The optimal offroad tyre in BeamNG ?

[matt131313]

Has anyone figured out what makes the best (grippiest) offroad tyres for Automation>BeamNG ?

I know deflating the tyres in BeamNG helps a lot. I've read adding quality increases grip in BeamNG (so I'm guessing +15 is always best?)

I know this is a heated real life debate as well, but how does tyre width affect grip in game? I know some skinny/tall tyres do excellent offroad.

I've read in some old tutorials that Chunky Offroad compounds might not be the best and you should use Medium or HardLongLife for ultimate grip. Is that still the case?
Does rim material affect handling, etc. ?

I'm really getting into offroading now. So any and all good info on this is truly appreciated!

[CBR JGWRR]

Based on my testing, which I'll admit has never been specifically for this as I have only done one Automation off-roader into BeamNG, I think all the Automation tyres default to basic road tyres. Certainly semi-slicks do, based on comparison data between the Trial Mountain remake someone modded (which may or may not be exact, but it was good enough to not need to adjust any of my track knowledge from over a decade since I first drove the track in GT4 on the PS2) whatever tyres BeamNG translates Automation semi-slicks to are equivalent to lower grip GT6 road tyres - between a GT6 McLaren MP4-12C on Comfort Hards and my own supercar design braking points, acceleration points, corner speeds and sudden changes in yaw all matched closely enough that I was moderately surprised. On Sports Soft tyres however, the equivalent of semi-slicks, the GT6 McLaren was massively quicker. At that point I stopped testing as it was sufficient to confirm initial suspicion. I'll have to do the test properly now...

[CBR JGWRR]

Ok, some data:

Car - first test - the 2010 2.3m wheelbase, as a small sports car, 1.0 NA I4, 150 bhp, AWD, 850 kg in initial state. Chosen primarily to make it easy for me to match the laptimes given I have to use the keyboard...

All variables controlled except for tyres, which are each tested for 5 laps (to semi-control for the autopilot; their variance is roughly +/- 0.1 seconds) at Quality 15, Quality 0, and Quality -15.

Automation Test Track Laptimes:

Semi-Slick Q15 - 2:20.36, 2:20.32, 2:20.21, 2:20.26, 2:20.22
Semi-Slick Q0 - 2:22.35, 2:22.33, 2:22.32, 2:22.34, 2:22.33
Semi Slick Q-15 - 2:24.18, 2:24.09, 2:24.09, 2:24.07, 2:24.18

Sports Compound Q15 - 2:21.56, 2:21.59, 2:21.48, 2:21.58, 2:21.47
Sports Compound Q0 - 2:23.46, 2:23.49, 2:23.43, 2:23.53, 2:23.42
Sports Compound Q-15 - 2:26.05, 2:26.18, 2:26.15, 2:26.24, 2:26.08

Medium Compound Q15 - 2:23.91, 2:23.79, 2:23.81, 2:23.88, 2:23.89
Medium Compound Q0 - 2:26.66, 2:26.61, 2:26.70, 2:26.63, 2:26.61
Medium Compound Q-15 - 2:28.80, 2:28.68, 2:28.76, 2:28.70, 2:28.71

Hard Long Life Q15 - 2:26.15, 2:26.05, 2:26.10, 2:26.17, 2:26.07
Hard Long Life Q0 - 2:28.55, 2:28.59, 2:28.58, 2:28.57, 2:28.65
Hard Long Life Q-15 - 2:32.28, 2:32.28, 2:32.27, 2:32.20, 2:32.34

Chunky Offroad Q15 - 2:29.32, 2:29.35, 2:29.20, 2:29.38, 2:29.34
Chunky Offroad Q0 - 2:33.00, 2:32.89, 2:32.99, 2:32.89, 2:32.85
Chunky Offroad Q-15 - 2:36.07, 2:36.12, 2:36.07, 2:36.14, 2:36.10

Ok, two and a bit hours later, and I've gotten them exported to BeamNG, the rest of the testing can wait until tomorrow. The important data from the next stage is the gaps between the tyres rather than the laptimes themselves - with a proper setup I'd be able to chase those times down and see if they were truly representative, but on a keyboard I can't.

Premise 1: Tyres are different once in BeamNG at both compound and quality level.

This will mean that we expect a vaguely similar set of laptimes, probably 5 seconds slower if the experience of much more interesting (and therefore difficult to drive on keyboard) vehicles is anything to go by, but probably will be less than that unless I've screwed up the handling...

Premise 2: Tyres in BeamNG differ at compound but are indifferent to quality.

Logically, I'd expect this to be the case, but as yet I am unsure.

Premise 3: Tyres are not different - Q15 Semi-slicks are just the same as Q-15 Chunky Offroads. This will be extremely easy to test, and on the basis of the aforementioned BeamNG/GT6 test, is what I suspect. is the case.

-----

Quick playing, and there is definitely a difference between tyres.

[RiftHunter4]

Handling is a balance between multiple factors regardless of the surface you're on. In my experience, chunky off-road gives the best performance at low speeds and for things like climbing. Slicks are pretty slippery, but the other 3 are virtually indistinguishable off-road.

But tire choice is still only part of the grip equation. You also need the right suspension setup, the right power curve... Basically everything comes into play with off-road racing.

[matt131313]

This is very interesting! So there is a clear difference between the compounds/quality.
I'm mainly looking at 4X4 offroading, rockcrawling, climbing muddy/grass hills, etc. Right now what I do is I mainly just copy the production tyre sizes the vehicles I am trying to copy come with. Fitting taller tyres helps as well, if nothing else by adding ground clearance. The tyre width effect I am still not sure about.

"Everything affects everything!", you change one suspension component it affects everything else on the car, you add more power, you need new tyres,.... Hehe that is one of the best (challenging) things about designing a car, but also one of the most frustrating. :D

[CBR JGWRR]

Ok, because the car is a lot more unstable than I thought it would be - very difficult to control above 110 mph, lots of laps ended in the barriers at Bavarian Bend, or flipped at Caswal's Carousel - the laptimes weren't representative of what the car can do, whole seconds could be shaved off of some corners because of how much more careful I'm having to be, and therefore I'm not posting times.

However, can confirm that for the car used to test, tyre quality DOES impact laptimes, AND, even more importantly, does so in a comparable state to Automation. (correcting for driver error; estimated between 4-6 seconds per lap lost, split 3-4 seconds due to keyboard, 1-2 seconds to being dyspraxic...)

Which is to say, you want chunky off-road tyres if you are going off-roading.