A high performance pneumatic radial tire comprises a toroidal carcass, a tread radially outside a crown portion of the carcass, a belt layer interposed between the carcass and the tread and having a same width of the tread, and an auxiliary layer arranged between the belt layer and the tread and covering the entire belt layer. organic cords are buried substantially parallel to an equatorial plane of the tire in the auxiliary layer, and land portions are defined between at least two circumferential main grooves formed in an outer surface portion of the tread and between the circumferential main grooves and axially opposite edges of the tread. In the tire, a rigidity of the tire corresponding to locations overlapping the circumferential main grooves is made smaller than that of portions corresponding to the land portions by, for example, constituting the auxiliary layer from at least two auxiliary plies comprising one auxiliary ply located on a radially innermost side and covering the belt layer over an entire width thereof, and cutting at least a radially outermost auxiliary ply at locations overlapping the circumferential main grooves among the auxiliary plies having portions overlapping the circumferential main groove.