Re: Can't Use 2nd set of Medium Tyres in a Non-Sprint Race
Just to add onto this, as there is a requirement IRL to return six sets of tires by the end of FP3. The game by default reserves 5 sets of Soft tires for qualifying:
2 sets for Q1;
2 sets for Q2; and
1 set for Q3.
In real life, ONLY the Q3 set of Softs tires is reserved and provided for those who reach Q3. All the other Soft tires are available to the team to use however they want. Because the game reserves those 4 sets of Softs for qualifying 1 & 2, it forces the 6 returned sets to include your two additional Mediums and one additional set of Hard tires. There's no such requirement that you give back that exact mix of tires IRL only that you give back 2 sets after each FP session. The teams in theory could give back all Soft tires if they wanted to.
In the game I'd recommend ONLY the Q3 tire be unavailable and labelled at "Reserved for Q3". The other 4 sets of Soft tires should be made available to the player and be labelled instead as "Recommended for Q1" and "Recommended for Q2" instead of "Reserved for Q1/Q2" (primarily for casual players who don't fully understand FIA tire rules).
Then after each FP session concludes we get a menu screen that appears giving the player the option to choose which 2 sets of tires to return.
1. This would better reflect real life (still not exactly, but functionally close enough).
2. Marking 4 sets of Soft tires as "Recommended for Q1/2" still provides clarification for casual players.
3. More experienced players (and the AI) can run more realistic and interesting tire strategies, especially for 50% and 100% length races.
Alternatively, if the main concern from a Dev standpoint is "does this make things too complicated for casual players?" ... perhaps expand on different game modes which is something that is already being implemented.
Standard Mode: fewest options, no requirement for returning tires, more assists allowed, more default settings that cannot be changed, etc.
Experienced Mode: for those who want to control and customize everything about their gaming experience.
Pro (Esports?) Mode: everything locked to hardest settings, no assists, 110 AI, Simulation Damage, etc. etc.
My $0.02
