@stonecoldtez69 It's not degradation. The Ai controlled cars tyre temps are locked at optimal temperatures. We don't know for certain why. But most probable reason is that the Ai isnt able to cope with the changes to tyre temperatures and the effects to the cars handling. I'm sure the Ai could be trained to do so. But 20 Ai cars. All 4 tyres on each car temperatures can massively fluctuate and effect cars handling every lap over aFull race distance. I imagine would require to much processing power for current gen consoles and average PCs. They havnt fully integrated SophyAi into Gran Turismo 7 because PS5 lacks the processing required.
As your racing the Ai the best work around is to change type temps in settings for your car from carcass and surface to surface only. No it's not ideal but it mitigates a lot off the advantage the Ai have. They will still have little less wear because they Brake, accelerate and corner far smoother than humans can.
There is no point handicapping yourself against Ai.