Disclaimer: my experience with track tires is on my race M3 and not my IS-F, but tire experience should be relevant. I've spent years running both NT01's and R6's back to back, so hopefully this helps others.

Hoosiers were easily worth about 3 seconds over NT01 around Sebring with no other changes, but they fall off quickly after 12-14 heat cycles. So I would get about 3 days out of them on average at a cost of roughly $300/tire or $1200/set. Recently upgraded to R7 and as other have realized, they are SIGNIFICANTLY wider. We had all sorts of clearance problems that we had to work through. But grip has been great so far and I set my personal best time at Sebring (2:21) on just my 3rd lap out on the new R7's.

NT01s give excellent balance between grip and longevity. I get them for about half the cost of Hoosiers and they last forever. I can easily get 10 days out of them and run them till I cord them. So it comes down to what you need...if the extra couple seconds are worth it and you're racing, Hoosiers are outstanding and a great choice. But if you need some good grip that will last forever, go NT01. Very predictable tire that won't snap on you (assuming car balance is all in order)

 

NT01s are an excellent choice for a first r-comp tire. They are very popular, for a good reason it seems. Discount Tire also likes to put them on sale for a pretty good price. I can get a full set for my M3 for not much over $600 with some smart shopping and a little patience.

If you are looking to move to more of a slick tire, I know several people who run Maxxis RC-1. They are pretty inexpensive, and a step up from the NT01s. They will not be as fast as an R6/7, but as hyboost mentioned, that extra cost might not be worth it if you aren't racing. The Maxxis will certainly last longer than an R6/7 too.

 

Im going wit the Nitto NT01. I need more grip but Im not a time attack driver and my F is a daily driver. Just want to get her to stick on hard corner exit. Tired of rolling on the throttle. I want to punch it and have her stick .

Anyone use the NT01 on the street?? I met a guy in a built mustang that rund the NT01 on his dd mustang . Seemed odd but he said they were fine.

 

Would not run them on the street. If you ever get caught out in rain, it will be a handful. Even though there are slight grooves, it's really not a good rain tire at all. I ran them at Roebling in a downpour and spent majority of my session sideways working hard to keep the car pointing forward. I imagine streets to be similar.

 

A bit of advice. Make sure you've gotten every bit out of the F before you upgrade tires. You don't want bad driving habits to translate over to grippier tires. Do you have any data collection from your track days? I.e sector times, lap times, throttle and brake percentages, all overlayed on video? I went from NT01'S to Yokohama advan slicks on my S54 swapped e36 M3 NASA GTS3 car and the difference was night and day. I was able to quantify my tire upgrade and found out a host of New things with the data I collected.

 

I have used Harrys Lap timer ( highest edition) which overlays sector times and corner entry and exit speeds. It actually does collect a bunch of other info but doesnt overlay it on the video. You can look at graphs and read outs separatley. I will be renting transponder units on my track days in the future. Its only an extra $20 and you can get some decent info.

 

I run Toyo RA1s on my E36 M3 track car, which is pretty similar to an NT01. I drive it to and from the track, but I definitely wouldn't daily them. I went to some back roads when I put in new pads to get into the brakes a bit. It was not a good idea. The combo of cold higher temp brakes and cold r-comp tires was not good. I did 2 hard stops then turned around and went home.

I would not trust that combo in a street panic stop situation.

I also agree with Bigcloud. I am a mediocre driver at best, and I know my tires were bailing me out of situations that I shouldn't have been in. Sticky tires can cover up all sorts of bad driving habits. A good instructor will buy you faster lap times in the long run than stickier tires. The group I drive with doesn't allow students to run r-comps in the first 2 out of their 4 run groups.