How FH6 tire compounds actually work
FH6 keeps the same compound model as FH5 with minor physics tweaks. There are 9 compounds available in upgrades. Each has a grip ceiling on each surface, a PI cost, and a sidewall stiffness that interacts with pressure differently. Critical truth: the compound is your maximum grip ceiling. Suspension can ruin it, but nothing makes a tire grip beyond its compound's ceiling on that surface.
The hidden mechanic everyone misses: compound choice also changes PI cost. Off-road tires are ~17 PI cheaper than race slicks for similar dirt grip — so people stack engine upgrades with the saved PI. That's why off-road dominates: not because it's the best tire, but because of the PI arbitrage. When you compare tires "at the same class," off-road has more horsepower than slicks have grip on tarmac. This is the entire meta in one sentence.
Performance data (FH5 baseline, FH6 effectively identical)
Lap times in seconds from a community test using two cars averaged. Lower = faster. The same relative ordering holds in FH6 with minor changes to drag and slicks for hypercars.
Dry asphalt (avg lap, two cars)
| Compound | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Slicks | 1:01.0 | The actual best on tarmac. No surprise. |
| Semi-Slicks | 1:01.6 | Half a second behind slicks; cheaper PI. |
| Drift | 1:02.5 | Surprisingly OK on tarmac, predictable slip. |
| Rally | 1:02.6 | Faster than sport on tarmac. This is the secret. |
| Offroad | 1:03.7 | Loses 1.5–2 sec/lap on tarmac vs slicks. |
| Sport | 1:04.0 | Worse than rally on tarmac. Mostly obsolete. |
| Street | 1:04.0 | Default. Fine for low-class builds only. |
| Drag | 1:06.9 | Terrible in corners. Built for straight launch. |
Wet asphalt
| Compound | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Semi-Slicks | 1:02.8 | Best in the wet on tarmac. Slicks lose their edge. |
| Slicks | 1:03.3 | Still good, but no longer the fastest. |
| Rally | 1:04.0 | Reliable wet performer. |
| Offroad | 1:05.4 | Worse than rally on wet pavement. |
| Sport | 1:05.0 | Mediocre. |
| Street | 1:06.4 | Bad in the wet. |
Dirt (dry)
| Compound | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Offroad | 50.0 | Best on dirt. Period. |
| Rally | 51.6 | 1.6 sec back. Solid second. |
| Semi-Slicks | 52.6 | Surprisingly viable on dry dirt — not great in turns. |
| Snow | 53.1 | On dirt, snow tires perform like sport tires. |
| Slicks | 53.3 | Worse than semi-slicks on dirt (less compliant patch). |
| Sport | 53.6 | Bad on dirt. |
| Street | 53.9 | Bad on dirt. |
Dirt (wet) & snow surface
| Compound | Wet Dirt | Snow surface |
|---|---|---|
| Offroad | 50.1 | 50.5 |
| Rally | 51.6 | 51.7 |
| Semi-Slicks | 53.1 | 53.9 |
| Snow | 54.5 | 53.5 |
| Street | 54.2 | 54.3 |
Snow tires are mid even on snow. Offroad beats them on snow by ~3 seconds. The "snow" compound is one of the worst in the game outside very specific cosmetic/themed builds.
Speed bowl (top speed + lateral grip)
| Compound | Top speed (mph) | Avg G |
|---|---|---|
| Slicks | 137 | 1.28 |
| Semi-Slicks | 135 | 1.25 |
| Rally | 132 | 1.20 |
| Drift | 133 | 1.18 |
| Street | 130 | 1.10 |
| Sport | 131 | 1.13 |
| Snow | 130 | 1.08 |
| Offroad | 126 | 0.97 |
| Drag | 122 | 1.03 |
Compound picker by use case
| Surface mix | Class | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100% tarmac (Road, Sprint, Circuit) | S2 / X | Slicks | Maximum grip ceiling, every tenth matters. |
| 100% tarmac | A / S1 | Semi-Slicks or Slicks | Semi-slicks save PI for power; often the meta in A class. |
| 100% tarmac | B / C / D | Rally or stock/street | Slicks too expensive PI-wise. Rally beats sport here. Drag tires also a sleeper pick C/B class. |
| Mixed (mostly tarmac, some dirt sections) | any | Rally | The "do-everything" tire. Faster on tarmac than sport, faster on dirt than anything except offroad. |
| Mixed (half & half) | any | Rally | This is where rally shines. Offroad punishes you on the road sections. |
| Mixed (mostly dirt, some tarmac) | A and up | Offroad | The tarmac sections aren't long enough to matter. Lower PI = more power. |
| 100% dirt (Dirt Circuit, Cross Country) | any | Offroad | Best dirt tire. Rally is the only competition and loses by 1.5 sec/lap. |
| Snow surface (themed events) | any | Offroad | Yes, offroad beats snow tires on snow. Snow tires are vestigial. |
| Drift / freeroam fun | any | Drift (or stock/snow) | Drift tires give predictable slip. Some builders prefer the least grippy stock or snow tires for smoother slides on older RWDs. |
| Drag race | any | Drag | Best launch. Murder in corners. Choose only for the dragstrip. |
| FD-style competition drift | S1/S2 | Drift tires | Soft enough to break grip controllably, sticky enough to put power down between transitions. |
Why off-road tires are overused (and when you should ignore that)
Walk into any FH6 mixed-surface lobby and 80% of cars are on off-road tires. Reasons:
- ~17 PI cheaper than race slicks in most class brackets. Save 17 PI on tires → spend it on engine. Net: more horsepower at the same class.
- Best in the game on dirt by ~1.5 sec/lap over rally. If even a meaningful chunk of the course is dirt, off-road probably wins.
- Low pressure = "glued" feel. Run them at 22–26 psi and the patch deforms beautifully on bumpy surfaces — they feel like cheating on cross country.
- Even works OK on tarmac in cross-country mixed events at higher class because the dirt advantage outweighs the road penalty.
When off-road is the wrong call
The road-heavy mixed scenario. If the course has long tarmac sections — Goliath-style or anything with significant highway/road segments — off-road costs you ~1.5–2 sec/lap on each tarmac portion. Rally tires win the math: small penalty on dirt, big gain on road.
Top speed runs. Off-road tops out around 126 mph in the bowl test vs. 137 on slicks. If the course has a 1.5+ km straight, you're losing serious time.
Wet pavement. Off-road is worse than rally on wet pavement. If the season is wet and the race has any tarmac, rally beats off-road outright.
Decision rule of thumb:
- Surface 80%+ dirt → offroad
- Surface 50–80% dirt → offroad if dry, rally if wet
- Surface 20–50% dirt → rally always
- Surface <20% dirt → slicks/semi-slicks, eat the off-road sections
Pressures & tire widths in FH6
Starting pressures (hot target)
| Compound | Front (psi) | Rear (psi) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stock / Street / Rally | 26–28 | 26–28 | Default. Adjust ±0.5 to balance temps via telemetry. |
| Sport | ~28 | ~28 | Mid-class baseline. |
| Semi-Slicks / Slicks | ~32 | ~32 | Stiffer sidewall needs more pressure to keep patch shape under high load. Add ~+0.5 for race/GP/prototype. |
| Drift | ~32 | low–high (test) | Two schools: low rear for grip-then-slip, high rear for predictable slide. Test both. |
| Drag | max | min | Front high = less rolling resistance. Rear low = max contact patch on launch. |
| Offroad | 22–27 | 22–27 | Low pressures give that "glued" feel on rough terrain. |
| Snow | 26–30 | 26–30 | Mostly cosmetic compound anyway. |
Use telemetry, not the menu. Tire menu → temps page during a hot lap. Target the outside/middle/inside spread:
- Inside hotter than outside = too much negative camber, or pressure too low
- Outside hotter than inside = too little camber, or pressure too high
- Middle hotter than edges = overinflated
- Middle cooler than edges = underinflated
Tire width upgrades
FH6 made front tire width upgrades meaningfully valuable — bigger change than in FH5. Always leave at least one front-width step in your PI budget. Rear widths matter most for RWD putting power down; front widths matter most for turn-in and trail braking.
Differential note (tire-adjacent)
FH6 added a quirk: the rally differential often feels better on tarmac than the race differential on RWD builds at higher classes. Worth testing for any mixed or even road-only car if your race diff feels snappy.