The Suzuka circuit in Japan is a fan favourite for obvious reasons, with a fast, flowing and also challenging layout. This year though, it’s moving away from it’s normal late season slot and instead is the fourth race on the calendar.

 

Normally, this track is medium-high downforce circuit, but on F1 24, the trend is for wing levels to be lower than usual to defend properly on the straights. Therefore, you’re looking at medium downforce or just below it on this game.

Here’s a general baseline dry race setup for Suzuka for a controller user:

• Wings – 23/25
• Diff – 10/45/50
• Camber – -3.50/-2.20/0.00/0.13
• Suspension –  39-5-15-9-25-58
• Brakes – 100% Pressure/50 Bias
• Tyre pressures – Fronts 26.0/Rears maximum

(Slightly Scruffy) Hotlap With This Setup – Could Definitely Do Better

 

This setup is a little bit weaker in sector 1 for sure, but very strong on the straights and therefore can be good configuration to manhandle the car round in qualifying to place it ahead of where it should be, and then defend position in the race.

More Setup Info

Wing levels – I initially tried 28/30 wings round here my first time around, but it was good in Quali but way too high for the race, leaving me a sitting duck on the straights. You need your rear wing around 25 but no higher to stay competitive on the straights on this game. You can also invert the wing and set the rear wing lower, but it gets pretty hard to control on a pad with worn tyres, and also puts you more at risk of clipping the kerbs and spinning off.

Tyre Pressures – Rears overheat quite quickly here, so rear pressures need to be maximum, no other way really for races. The fronts aren’t so sensitive – they heat up in the first sector but cool off after that, so you can leave them somewhere in the middle.

Intermediate Conditions – For light rain conditions, I’d always space the rear wing 3 clicks above the front for better stability and easier traction out of corners.  You can also add 1-2 clicks to your wings, but otherwise your dry setup should work OK (reduce your On Throttle Diff down to minimum if it’s not already there for easier traction.

Full Wet Conditions – Full heavy rain conditions, you can add a bunch more wing to help in the first sector especially, and again space the wings 3 clicks apart to help avoid over-rotation and make traction easier. Then you can soften the suspension and roll bars a few clicks each, and also raise the ride height a few clicks.

Here’s a baseline wet race setup for Japan for a pad user:

• Wings – 30/33
• Diff – 10/55/50
• Camber – -3.50/-2.20/0.00/0.13
• Suspension – 36-3-13-7-28-61
• Brakes – 95% Pressure/53 Bias
• Tyre pressures – Fronts 26.0/Rears maximum.

Bonus Setup Resources

My setup definitely isn’t designed for optimal single lap pace, but to be easier to control in a race without clipping the kerbs and spinning off. If you want to try some different setup routes, here’s some extra resources to check out:

• For a more aggressive setup, check out the SimRacingSetups Suzuka setup here. But be aware it’s created on a wheel and probably won’t translate over well to a pad without some tweaking, or it’ll be hard to control over a full race distance. Perhaps try it out as a template and port over the wing and Diff settings from above.
• F1laps.com Japan page – Another car setup forum with pages for every track, and loads of custom setups posted, both TT and race, all cars, all conditions.
• F1gamesetup.com – An even more specialized resource with custom setups, every car and every track, wet and dry weather.
• Sim Racing Centre (Premium) – Need to buy these setups, but much more aggressive and potentially faster but harder to control than the setups on here. Can purchase for single tracks or all tracks as one. Be aware they designed primarily on a wheel and therefore may need tweaking to work well on a pad. Contact their support team to help you with this.

Racing & Strategy Tips

Japan can be a tricky race to get though if you’re using a lower midfield or backmarker car without strong aerodynamics. But here’s some tips for making the best of the weekend in career or GP mode.

Kerbs – The raised kerbs in the sector 1 “esses” especially, but also through most of the lap, are still lethal here and will unsettle the car even clipping them lightly. Have your setup configured with the optimal level of turn in for you, where you’re making the corners but also not over-steering and constantly losing time (or being spun off) because you’re clipping the kerbs.

ERS (Qualifying) – You’ve got a healthy allowance of the fastest Overtake ERS mode to use on flying laps here – more than 10 seconds worth. So you can use it all the way along the pit straight when starting a lap, along the back straight and also coming back to finish the lap as well. Be sure to take advantage of it especially on the pit straight as it pushes up your top speed dramatically when combined with DRS. Keep an eye on the yellow ERS bar and aim to drain it just as you finish a flying lap.

First Lap – Like the previous two tracks on the calendar this year, Suzuka is quite narrow in the first few corners and the cars bunch up very closely on the first lap. Therefore it’s better to hold back on lap 1 and focus on getting through it without damaging your wing. I like to brake a little gentler and a little earlier at the race start to avoid contact with other cars. Having to pit on the first lap here really kills your race, as you lose loads of time changing the wing, and you also fall out of the DRS train. You’re basically shunted all the way to the back and just driving round unable to make up any places. Not fun.

Tyre Strategy – My own testing on this delivered weird results. I actually found the red soft tyre holds up surprisingly well, and even overheated less than the medium tyre, which was really strange. So the soft tyre can be a used in races (which isn’t common on F1 24) and you can do a soft-hard or medium-hard for longer races depending on preference.

Pit Strategy – The undercut can be really powerful here as you can get stuck in DRS trains where you’re holding position but it’s also difficult to overtake on track. Coming in 1-2 laps early to take advantage of fresh tyres can be a good way to jump a few cars.

Defending (Race) – Crucial to use your ERS strategically here to defend on the one long DRS straight (pit straight), since it runs out quite quickly and unlike other tracks, doesn’t replenish very well. Therefore to hold position, you need to use your Overtake mode only when it’s strictly needed on the pit straight and back straight, to prevent a car getting alongside you, but nowhere else. Use a couple of seconds coming out the last corner and coming out of Spoon curve, and focus on getting good exits onto the long straights as well.