Tire Performance Rankings

This report presents tire performance rankings built from real-world track laps in the LapMeta database. Rankings use a margin-based, model-aggregate approach : on every car model, each tire's best laps are compared to the fastest tire on that same model, and those pace gaps are combined across the whole fleet.

Why Model-Aggregate? Unlike simple overall rankings, this approach compares tires only on equal machinery. Each tire is measured by how close it gets to the fastest tire on every car model where both have data — by actual pace margin, not just finishing order — then the margins are aggregated with more weight for well-tested car/tire combinations and statistical shrinkage so thin data cannot buy a podium.

1. Data Quality Filters

Only clean, reliable lap data is used:

• Dry conditions only (wet laps excluded)
• Experienced drivers only (novice laps excluded)
• Clean laps only (flagged laps excluded)
• Reasonable lap times (outliers removed)
• Recent data (last 6 years only)
• Verified setups only

2. Minimum Requirements

To qualify for rankings, each tire must have:

• 4+ car models — Ensures cross-platform validity
• 50+ total laps — Provides statistical significance
• 3+ laps per model — Minimum for reliable average

3. Weighting System

Combined Weight = Model Quality × Tire Data Volume

Weight indicators:

• High (≥1.0x) Well-tested platform with substantial data
• Medium (0.5-0.99x) Moderate testing and data volume
• Low (<0.5x) Limited testing or minimal data

• Overall Rank: Lower is better (1st is best)
• Car Models Tested: This tire has been tested on X different car models. Rankings reflect weighted average performance across all platforms.
• Data Quality: Higher lap counts = more reliable data