What Tyre Coach is and what makes it different
Plenty of apps show you the pressures: ProTyres, Sidekick, Assetto Corsa's own tyre app. They all give you the number. None of them tells you what to do with it. That jump — from "FL is running 19.7 psi" to "raise the front-left 2 clicks in the setup" — is exactly what Tyre Coach does.
It's a free Windows program that runs as an overlay outside the game (like SimHub dashboards do). It installs nothing into Assetto Corsa or its folders, it's not a Content Manager app, and it only reads data — it can't break anything. To uninstall, delete the .exe and you're done.
The key is where the target comes from: Tyre Coach reads the ideal pressure of the actual car you're driving — Kunos or mod — instead of using generic tables. That's why it can give you a concrete order rather than an approximate tip. And that's why, if a car ships no usable data, it prefers to say "No tyre data" over making things up.
The problem it solves: hot pressure, not cold
In Assetto Corsa's setup menu you can only edit the cold pressure. But the one that decides your grip is the hot pressure — the one the tyre reaches after two or three laps of running. How much it climbs from one to the other depends on the compound, the track, the ambient temperature and your driving style — so the translation "I want X hot, I set Y cold" has to be worked out by trial and error, car by car.
That cycle — drive, pit, check pressures, guess the adjustment, go back out — is tedious and error-prone. Tyre Coach automates it: while you drive, it measures your real hot pressure (a rolling median of the latest valid samples, ignoring the pit lane and low speeds), compares it against your compound's ideal window, and works out how many setup-menu clicks get you closest to the target.
If you want the theory in depth — why the optimal window exists and how to diagnose it from temperatures — we have a dedicated guide: Tyre pressures in Assetto Corsa. Tyre Coach is the "done for you" version of that process.
How to use it, step by step
- Download and unzip anywhere you like (Documents, for example) and double-click TyreCoach.exe. No installation. The first time, Windows may show the blue SmartScreen warning: click "More info" → "Run anyway" (normal for new free apps).
- Open Assetto Corsa (before or after the app, it doesn't matter). The overlay shows "Waiting for Assetto Corsa..." until it detects the game.
- Go out on track and drive normally. For the first few seconds the cells are grey: the app needs around 8-10 seconds above 40 km/h to gather reliable data.
- Read the order. The cells light up in colour and, if something needs fixing, the line appears: "Setup: FL +2 RR −1 clicks".
- Pit and apply those clicks in the setup's pressure screen. Go back out. Within one or two passes all four tyres will be green.
If you switch car or compound, the app detects it on its own and starts fresh. There are no settings menus because none are needed.
Reading the window: colours, the order and temperature
The window shows your detected car and compound, four cells with each tyre's hot pressure (FL/FR front, RL/RR rear), the order line and — when relevant — a temperature line.
Pressure in the window. Touch nothing.
Near the edge. If there's an order, apply it; if there isn't, leave it — no click would improve it.
Out of the window. Apply the order.
Gathering data, keep driving.
The order ("Setup: FL +1 RL −2 clicks") speaks the same language as the setup's pressure menu: +1 means raise that tyre one click, −2 means lower it two. One important detail: the app only issues an order when the click genuinely improves the pressure. If you're half a click from the window, staying quiet is the correct answer — that's how it avoids the endless up-down ping-pong.
If the order ends with "recheck when tyres warm", your tyres are still cold: pressure will rise on its own as they heat up. Apply the order and recheck it once they're at temperature.
The temperature line (blue or orange), e.g. "Tyres cold: FL 98° (window 110-130°C)", warns you that a tyre is running cold or hot for its working window — using your car's real data. It's information, not an order: pressure can be perfect while the tyre runs cold. What to do about temperature (and alignment, diff, wings...) belongs to the full setup — that's where our Track Engineer PRO comes in.
The one setting you need: borderless mode
If Assetto Corsa runs in exclusive fullscreen, Windows hands the entire monitor to the game and no external overlay can show on top — not Tyre Coach, not any other. It would look like the app "stays behind" the game.
The fix takes one minute and you do it once:
- With Content Manager: Settings → Video → untick "Fullscreen" (or enable "Borderless" mode).
- With the original launcher: Options → Video → untick "Fullscreen".
The game looks exactly the same — it still fills the whole screen — but it lets the overlay draw in front. AC's own sidebar apps (ProTyres, Sidekick...) always show because they run inside the game; Tyre Coach is an external program, like SimHub dashboards, which is why it needs this mode. In VR the overlay is not visible inside the headset.
FAQ
Is it really free?
Yes. The full app is free, with no locked features and no paid version. You download it by answering a 30-second mini-survey that helps us decide what to build next.
Does it work with mods?
With most of them, yes. It reads the data from the car itself, Kunos or mod. If a mod ships no usable pressure data, the app shows "No tyre data" instead of inventing values.
What about Assetto Corsa Competizione or other sims?
No, only Assetto Corsa (the original). ACC uses a different data system.
Does it need internet? Does it send data?
No. The app sends and receives nothing: everything happens on your PC.
All four tyres are green. Now what?
Pressures are the first setup parameter, but not the only one. Alignment, differential, wings, springs... for the rest there's our full engineer, which analyses your real telemetry and guides you through the whole car: Track Engineer PRO.