Race/Quali Trim v Tyre Knowledge

[Stallionista]

Hi! I understand that both race/quali trim, and tyre knowledge accumulated in Practice sessions give 5, 10 and 15% performance bonus for the respective sessions. However, if I went for an engineer perk, would it matter too much if I selected race trim bonus over the tyre bonus? in other words, does the 15% performance from either perk come out under a similar performance boost for pace or does one's 15% boost give a stronger relative increase compared to the other, please?
Cheers in advance!

[silencer4]

I'm not 100% sure, but I think it's best to use both 15% boosts, unless you suddenly have to qualify in rain.

[Chthonic Guardian]

Well if you are using an engineer bonus and have to choose between tyre or trim, and I have done that myself, I would choose trim every time.
The reason is trim is always applied while the tyre bonus is only applied while you use that specific tyre.
So if mid race you need to run a different tyre you don't get the bonus anymore, but with trim you get it the entire race.

[Stallionista]

Originally posted by silencer4:

I'm not 100% sure, but I think it's best to use both 15% boosts, unless you suddenly have to qualify in rain.

Cheers for replying! Yeah using both is a great shout, but I have lightfooted which works amazingly with my drivers in the IGTC, using hybrid fuel alongside to make 1 stops work whereas the rest of the field has to two stop!

Originally posted by Chthonic Guardian:

Well if you are using an engineer bonus and have to choose between tyre or trim, and I have done that myself, I would choose trim every time.
The reason is trim is always applied while the tyre bonus is only applied while you use that specific tyre.
So if mid race you need to run a different tyre you don't get the bonus anymore, but with trim you get it the entire race.

I agree, for the reason you mentioned that's why I'm currently using race trim alongside lightfooted. Would be interesting though to learn whether performance increase from trim/tyre knowledge is flat out performance increase, or increase to overall race pace vs performance gained from that tyre compound. Thank you for replying by the way!

[Eagle_of_Fire]

Originally posted by Stallionista:

Hi! I understand that both race/quali trim, and tyre knowledge accumulated in Practice sessions give 5, 10 and 15% performance bonus for the respective sessions. However, if I went for an engineer perk, would it matter too much if I selected race trim bonus over the tyre bonus? in other words, does the 15% performance from either perk come out under a similar performance boost for pace or does one's 15% boost give a stronger relative increase compared to the other, please?
Cheers in advance!

The way it work is that you are continuously fighting to avoid losing lap time. If your tires are worn, you lose lap time. If your parts are wonky, you lose lap time. The best bonus in the game is the race/qualif trim, as it is a flat 15% for everything.

It is really more complicated for tires tho, as every single different set has different "cliffs" and "tiers" of performance. For example, the softest tires have zero loss of time when they are fresh but if you hit the "cliff" (which is around 30%, I don't know them by hearth. The pilot will complain about their tires being worn) then you hit rock bottom and you lose a lot of time. The hardest compounds have very low "cliff" (some allow you to drive to 0% with much less impact, including wets and inters) but start off fresh with some loss of time right away only to give you way less of an impact once they get worn.

So, as you can guess, there is no actual magic rule which apply to every single situation. You have to analyse every race, decide of when you are going to pit and if you race with softer tires generally want to avoid the last tier of performance like the plague. Which mean, always look at the lowest estimated lap coverage for those tires, never the higher estimation.

So, to directly answer the question here... I'd always choose the trim first as it affect everything on your car. Then my second pick would change depending on the situation and your strategy. With what I just explained, having any perk which reduce tire wear suddenly become very enticing because it mean you can go faster for a longer time while possibly simultaneously pushing your pit entry a few laps. It is a win win in this situation.

I remember that in my first league (F3) I had a mechanic on my winning driver which slowed substantially the degradation of my car parts, which in turn allowed me to go red engine full race if I wanted to. There is a lot of different strategies you can choose from and the most important part is to make sure to stick to your strategy once you commit to it.

Edit: spelling, as usual.

[Stallionista]

Originally posted by Eagle_of_Fire:

Originally posted by Stallionista:

Hi! I understand that both race/quali trim, and tyre knowledge accumulated in Practice sessions give 5, 10 and 15% performance bonus for the respective sessions. However, if I went for an engineer perk, would it matter too much if I selected race trim bonus over the tyre bonus? in other words, does the 15% performance from either perk come out under a similar performance boost for pace or does one's 15% boost give a stronger relative increase compared to the other, please?
Cheers in advance!

The way it work is that you are continuously fighting to avoid losing lap time. If your tires are worn, you lose lap time. If your parts are wonky, you lose lap time. The best bonus in the game is the race/qualif trim, as it is a flat 15% for everything.

It is really more complicated for tires tho, as every single different set has different "cliffs" and "tiers" of performance. For example, the softest tires have zero loss of time when they are fresh but if you hit the "cliff" (which is around 30%, I don't know them by hearth. The pilot will complain about their tires being worn) then you hit rock bottom and you lose a lot of time. The hardest compounds have very low "cliff" (some allow you to drive to 0% with much less impact, including wets and inters) but start off fresh with some loss of time right away only to give you way less of an impact once they get worn.

So, as you can guess, there is no actual magic rule which apply to every single situation. You have to analyse every race, decide of when you are going to pit and if you race with softer tires generally want to avoid the last tier of performance like the plague. Which mean, always look at the lowest estimated lap coverage for those tires, never the higher estimation.

So, to directly answer the question here... I'd always choose the trim first as it affect everything on your car. Then my second pick would change depending on the situation and your strategy. With what I just explained, having any perk which reduce tire wear suddenly become very enticing because it mean you can go faster for a longer time while possibly simultaneously pushing your pit entry a few laps. It is a win win in this situation.

I remember that in my first league (F3) I had a mechanic on my winning driver which slowed substantially the degradation of my car parts, which in turn allowed me to go red engine full race if I wanted to. There is a lot of different strategies you can choose from and the most important part is to make sure to stick to your strategy once you commit to it.

Edit: spelling, as usual.

Ah yes, thank you so much! So race/quali trim it is. Some of the engineer bonuses are so good, adding to what you said about lightfooted I have been able to 1 stop in IGTC on the softer compound with my driver who has high smoothness.. it's so good! And the part degradation bonus you mention sounds amazing for series with weight stripping enabled, that's a pretty huge advantage!

[Trixi]

I just tell what i do:

in practice i do softest tyres + race bonus first, then 2nd most softest tyres + qualy bonus.


so i have at least some bonus for qualiyfing and 2 bonus for race (my chassis has a mostly good tyrewear, as this will win your races apart from better parts.

So when you chose the bonus for race and want to use the bonus from mechanic (the lightfooted x tyres is best), then you should use the race bonus, as it counts the whole race, while the specific tyre bonus only apply if you have the tyre on the car.

However if lightfooted tyre or bonus is better, depends on the ratio between stint for 1 tyre and the race length. This means, lightfooted tyre is only worth, if you can cut off a pit stop with it.

however +15% tyre bonus is slower than lightfooted tyre of a more softer tyre.

however, there are many possibilities, There and a lot of factors to consider

when you want to pit
how is your tyre wear
when to refuel
starting position
reliabiltiy
smoothness of your drivers

(yeah, this means that you might end with 2 complete different strategies for your drivers)

[Stallionista]

Originally posted by Trixi:

I just tell what i do:

in practice i do softest tyres + race bonus first, then 2nd most softest tyres + qualy bonus.


so i have at least some bonus for qualiyfing and 2 bonus for race (my chassis has a mostly good tyrewear, as this will win your races apart from better parts.

So when you chose the bonus for race and want to use the bonus from mechanic (the lightfooted x tyres is best), then you should use the race bonus, as it counts the whole race, while the specific tyre bonus only apply if you have the tyre on the car.

However if lightfooted tyre or bonus is better, depends on the ratio between stint for 1 tyre and the race length. This means, lightfooted tyre is only worth, if you can cut off a pit stop with it.

however +15% tyre bonus is slower than lightfooted tyre of a more softer tyre.

however, there are many possibilities, There and a lot of factors to consider

when you want to pit
how is your tyre wear
when to refuel
starting position
reliabiltiy
smoothness of your drivers

(yeah, this means that you might end with 2 complete different strategies for your drivers)

Thank you for this, good to know!

[Eagle_of_Fire]

One thing to keep in mind for the 15% tire is that it is way less useful on the softer tires because they have no penalties when they are fresh. It is way more useful for mediums for example, because those tires start fresh with a small penalty to your lap time which you immediately reduce with that 15%. The AI don't generally seem to bother with this kind of information and decision and will almost always hit the cliff during a long race, maybe even several times (potentially once per pit stop). Having the hardest tires with that 15% reduction can net you a positive gain over competitors who still use soft tires. The trick then is to try to reduce wear as much as possible and then go full speed once you know they are slowing down. Yes, this mean they'll likely pass you but you are likely to pass them back at the end of your stint.

[Stallionista]

Originally posted by Eagle_of_Fire:

One thing to keep in mind for the 15% tire is that it is way less useful on the softer tires because they have no penalties when they are fresh. It is way more useful for mediums for example, because those tires start fresh with a small penalty to your lap time which you immediately reduce with that 15%. The AI don't generally seem to bother with this kind of information and decision and will almost always hit the cliff during a long race, maybe even several times (potentially once per pit stop). Having the hardest tires with that 15% reduction can net you a positive gain over competitors who still use soft tires. The trick then is to try to reduce wear as much as possible and then go full speed once you know they are slowing down. Yes, this mean they'll likely pass you but you are likely to pass them back at the end of your stint.

Ah that's so helpful to know, I'd never have thought that looking at the bonus description on the knowledge bonus screen! Cheers!