Tyres wear fastest when they slide. Front tyres scrub when the car understeers, and rear tyres get worn by wheelspin and a rear that steps out. So the first question is not "which setting reduces wear" but which axle is wearing and why it is sliding. This guide covers how to tell, the setup changes for each axle with what they cost, the driving causes, and what to do when the setup cannot save the stint.
Check the tyre wear on each corner of the car during the stint, not only at the end. You are looking for one axle wearing faster than the other, lap after lap.
Start at the top of this table. The settings are in rough order of how solid the evidence is.
| Setting | Direction | Why | What it costs |
|---|---|---|---|
| On-Throttle Diff | Lower | The game's own setup screen says it: a more open differential means less tyre wear. A lower on-throttle value is a more open diff, so the rear wheels spin up less on exit. | Less traction out of corners. Too low and you lose drive on exit. |
| Rear tyre pressures | Higher | In F1 25 higher pressure runs the tyre cooler. In Driver Dojo's own data, raising rear pressure went with less rear wear. Treat this as a strong lead rather than a law: the game itself only documents the temperature effect. | The usual warning that higher pressure costs grip does not hold here: in this game higher pressure gives more grip. How big the wear saving is has not been pinned down. Rears only (see the front section). |
| Rear Wing | More (medium and fast corners) | More rear downforce stops the rear sliding through faster corners, and a rear that slides less wears less. We found no published controlled test showing wing angle changes wear directly; the gain comes from less sliding. | Top speed. |
| Rear Anti-Roll Bar | Softer (slow corners) | Takes load off the rear tyres where they are working hardest, out of slow corners. | Slightly less stable. |
| Rear Toe | Less | Less toe-in means less scrub. Every setup guide says this, but the game's own description of toe never mentions wear, so treat it as unproven. Most setups already run the minimum. | Less stability. |
Front wear is usually understeer you have learned to live with. The front tyres slide to find grip, and the sliding is what wears them.
| Setting | Direction | Why | What it costs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Front Anti-Roll Bar | Softer | Spreads the load across both front tyres, so the outside front scrubs less. | Slower response to steering. |
| Front Wing | More (medium and fast corners) | Gives the fronts real grip, so they stop scrubbing across the surface to find it. | Top speed. |
A higher front pressure has two uses: it cools a front tyre that is running hot, and it adds front grip for understeer. Check your front wear after either change.
Setup can only take you so far. These cost tyre life whatever the setup.
Some tracks are hard on tyres whatever you do. Then the job is to plan around the wear rather than remove it. Driver Dojo's race strategy fits a tyre degradation model to your own recent laps, compares one, two and three-stop plans, and gives the earliest, optimal and latest pit lap for each stop with a tyre-cliff forecast. Its tyre life goal mode puts wear-saving setup changes first when that is what you want from the stint.
The same applies to F1 26, the 2026 Season Pack for F1 25.
It depends on which tyres are wearing. For the rears, start with a lower On-Throttle Diff and higher rear tyre pressures. For the fronts, treat it as understeer: soften the Front Anti-Roll Bar and add Front Wing in faster corners.
Higher pressure runs the tyres cooler, which helps a tyre that is overheating. Treat a pressure change made for tyre life as an experiment and check the wear afterwards.
Usually wheelspin or a sliding rear on corner exit. Check your throttle timing first, then lower the On-Throttle Diff, which the game itself says reduces tyre wear.
Usually understeer. The fronts slide to find grip, and the sliding wears them. Fix the understeer and the front wear usually follows.
We found no published controlled test of it. Wing changes the balance, which changes how much each axle slides, and that is what changes wear. More rear wing can save the rears if the rear is sliding.
Not always. Wheelspin, lock-ups and too much steering cost tyre life whatever the setup, and some tracks are simply hard on tyres. Then a pit strategy built from your own wear rate matters more than another setup change.