A method for testing a tire comprising: identifying a vehicle test course, the vehicle test course (100; 530) including a surface and a predetermined vehicle travel path; driving a vehicle along the predetermined vehicle travel path; measuring vehicle accelerations, speed and distance travelled during the driving of the vehicle; providing the measured vehicle accelerations, speed and distance travelled to a computer; characterizing a specific test course by generating a virtual test course from position-based course data derived from the measured vehicle accelerations, speed and distance travelled, wherein the generating of the virtual test course includes performing at least one of a vector integration to derive position-based course data in the horizontal plane from the measured vehicle accelerations and speed, and a scalar integration to derive position-based course data in the vertical direction from the measured vehicle accelerations and speed as well as from distance travelled to characterize elevation, road banking and road crown; collecting tire performance information from a tire or database, wherein the tire performance information includes at least a force and moment characteristic; providing the collected tire performance information to the computer; characterizing a specific tire by generating a virtual tire model from the collected tire performance information; providing vehicle attribute information to the computer, wherein the vehicle attribute information comprises a simulated vehicle; characterizing of a specific vehicle by constructing a vehicle model using the provided vehicle attribute information; generating a tire load history based on a characterization of the specific vehicle, the characterization of a specific tire, and the characterization of a specific test course; conducting a tire wear test, the tire wear test comprising: placing a test tire on a tire wear test machine, starting the tire wear test machine, rotating a tire relative to a wear surface and manipulating the test tire to track the tire load history, stopping the rotation of the wear surface or removing the test tire from the wear surface after a predetermined time interval, and measuring wear on the test tire. identifying a vehicle test course, the vehicle test course (100; 530) including a surface and a predetermined vehicle travel path; driving a vehicle along the predetermined vehicle travel path; measuring vehicle accelerations, speed and distance travelled during the driving of the vehicle; providing the measured vehicle accelerations, speed and distance travelled to a computer; characterizing a specific test course by generating a virtual test course from position-based course data derived from the measured vehicle accelerations, speed and distance travelled, wherein the generating of the virtual test course includes performing at least one of a vector integration to derive position-based course data in the horizontal plane from the measured vehicle accelerations and speed, and a scalar integration to derive position-based course data in the vertical direction from the measured vehicle accelerations and speed as well as from distance travelled to characterize elevation, road banking and road crown; collecting tire performance information from a tire or database, wherein the tire performance information includes at least a force and moment characteristic; providing the collected tire performance information to the computer; characterizing a specific tire by generating a virtual tire model from the collected tire performance information; providing vehicle attribute information to the computer, wherein the vehicle attribute information comprises a simulated vehicle; characterizing of a specific vehicle by constructing a vehicle model using the provided vehicle attribute information; generating a tire load history based on a characterization of the specific vehicle, the characterization of a specific tire, and the characterization of a specific test course; conducting a tire wear test, the tire wear test comprising: placing a test tire on a tire wear test machine, starting the tire wear test machine, rotating a tire relative to a wear surface and manipulating the test tire to track the tire load history, stopping the rotation of the wear surface or removing the test tire from the wear surface after a predetermined time interval, and measuring wear on the test tire. placing a test tire on a tire wear test machine, starting the tire wear test machine, rotating a tire relative to a wear surface and manipulating the test tire to track the tire load history, stopping the rotation of the wear surface or removing the test tire from the wear surface after a predetermined time interval, and measuring wear on the test tire.