The classic Suzuka circuit in Japan has been shuffled from it’s usual autumn slot to an early place in the calendar the last few years. With it’s fast, flowing sections and long straights, it’s a thorough test of both a car’s engine and aerodynamics. But it’s the aero qualities (or lack of) in a car that usually shows up most round here.

As has usually been the case in the last several F1 games, you need to use wings on the lower side to effectively compete against the AI round here. Therefore despite the twisty sector 1 that might benefit from higher wings, you need a medium downforce setup round here for best overall competitiveness in offline game modes (you can go to a medium-high downforce setup for online lobbies if you prefer).

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

• Wings – 25/27 or 35/37
• Diff – 10/55
• Camber – -3.00/-2.00/0.03/0.13
• Suspension –  41-3-14-10-22-49
• Brakes – 100% Pressure/55 Bias
• Tyre pressures – Maximum all tyres

Hotlap With This Setup

 

More Setup Info and Considerations

Wing levels – You’ve got two main routes with the wing levels here:

• Medium downforce – something like 25/27. Will be much weaker in sector 1 but strong on the straights in sector 1 and 3.
• Higher downforce – something like 35/37. Much stronger in sector 1 but a but slower on the straights, BUT also much easier to control on worn tyres and better able to follow other cars without dirty air.

Right now, I’m much preferring the higher downforce setup as it’s much easier to nail the tricky traction zones as the tyres wear, plus it feels really good in sector 1.

Tyre Pressures – Max pressures all round is going to be quite common on this game, and it’s the same here. If you want to get more granular about it, you can lower the front pressures about 1 PSI from max if you want to something like 28.5, since the fronts wear and overheat slightly less than the rears. But it’s probably not going to make a massive difference – all to max is the simple option here.

Intermediate Conditions – Wet conditions still a work in progress on this game, but the approach that’s usually worked the last few games for light rain is to use your dry setup with a few small tweaks. Increase the wing levels 1-2 clicks if you want, but then space the front wing 3 clicks lower than the rear for better stability. Also bump your off throttle diff up 5-10 clicks to reduce rotation.

Full Wet Conditions – Full wet is more trickier and you need to make traction as easy as possible out of slow corners. Add a bunch more wing (I’d recommend something like 31/35 or 32/35 wings), increase off Throttle Diff about 10 clicks, and raise ride height 3-5 clicks front and rear. Also set on Throttle Diff to minimum if not already there for easiest traction.

Racing & Strategy Tips

Japan can be a tricky race to get though if you’re using a lower midfield or back-marker car without strong aerodynamics. But it’s easier than the ’24 game for sure and 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 not nearly as lethal as last year’s game but still need to be taken with care. You can lightly brush them and maybe put half a wheel over some of them, but no more than that without unsettling the car. Also the negative impact of getting dirt and grass on your tyres from running off the optimal line is more pronounced on this year’s game. 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 riding too much over the kerbs.

ERS (Qualifying) – It seems to be a pattern on the tracks so far on F1 25 that you’ve got LOADS of the fastest Overtake ERS mode to use on flying laps here. So you can use it all the way along the pit straight when starting a lap, along the back straight, coming back to finish the lap as well, and any other straights you choose to. Be sure to take advantage of it especially on the pit straight as it pushes up your top speed dramatically when combined with DRS. But you’ll find you actually run out of deployment before your yellow ERS meter reaches 0% here.

First Lap – 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 Wear and Strategy – Here the results from my testing so far in career mode on wear rates at Suzuka:

• Soft tyre – 6-7%+ per lap
• Medium – 4.5-5% per lap
• Hard – 3.5-4% per lap (can be a slow tyre though)
• Tyres wear pretty evenly, with the fronts slightly more than the rears.

25% races you can pretty much choose what you want – soft-medium is a good shout if you can get the softs to hold up for 4-5 laps. 50% races are a close call between a 1 or 2 stop since the tyres do hold up quite well round here.

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, and I’ve noticed on the ’25 game that the AI waste a lot more time battling as well, making an undercut even more powerful.

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 doesn’t replenish very well on this game. Even driving down the long straights here without deploying your battery, still depletes it. 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 to let it recharge. Use a couple of seconds coming out the last corner and along the back straight if a car is right on your gearbox.