It’s definitely true that the launch version of the F1 24 game had super tricky handling on the controller. It’s been improved and made easier with the early patches up to the 1.7 update, but it’s still not the easiest to control out the box, much like the ’23 game.

There’s some simple tweak you can make to the controller calibration settings when you first play the game that can make it easier to control on a pad.

Here they are:

Tip #1 – Adjust Controller Calibration Settings

This is a major global setting you can adjust which will immediately “deaden” the handling on a pad to the point where it’s not too sensitive and is easier to control the car especially on cornering and traction out of corners.

Go to your Controller, Vibration and Force Feedback settings on your pause menu, then select the controller scheme you’re using and click Edit.

From there the key setting you need to tweak on this game seems to be the Linearity, for all 3 main inputs:

• Increase Steering Linearity to 30-50
• Increase Throttle Linearity to 30-50
• Increase Braking Linearity to 30-50
• Increase Maximum Steering Rotation to 450

This just softens these inputs and makes them easier to control. Again, this was more helpful on the launch game version as it had insanely nervous handling. The recent patches have calmed this down somewhat, but these tweaks  may still help if you’re finding the pad handling difficult out the box.

With the linearity settings, I’d start by moving them all to 50, and then move down in small increments of 10 to 40 and then 30 to see what works for you.

With the steering rotation setting, you might even get away with leaving it on the default setting with the game as it is up to and including the 1.7 patch, but again increasing to 450 or even 500 seemed to help with earlier game version in terms of calming down the nervous front end of the car.

Tip #2 – Adjust Wing Spacing

Another tip that’s worked on the last few of these F1 games is a simple setup hack to provide greater stability on a controller.

Just set your rear wing 2 clicks higher than the front wing in the dry (and 3 clicks higher in wet conditions). 

It allows for a smoother and more consistent level of turn in, and makes the traction easier over longer runs as the tyres wear.

See my starter setup guide here for a good setup to get going with on a pad. Combine this with the calibration tweaks here, and you should be good to go on F1 24 building up your confidence with the controller handling.

Tip #3 – Lower On Throttle Differential

This makes a noticeable difference on this game on traction heavy circuits as your tyres start to wear. Even using a relatively low On Throttle Diff of 25 was proving tricky on some tracks, so lowering it to the minimum of 10 really helps with traction especially over longer runs.

The On Throttle Diff just controls how the car delivers it’s power. Setting a lower value provides slightly less optimal but much easier to control traction, whereas setting it higher provides potentially better but harder to control traction, and also pushes the car on better through medium to high speed corners.

On F1 24, it’s a no brainer when starting out – just set your Diff lower for easier to control traction, and slowly increase as you gain confidence.

If you constantly find the back end stepping out, especially towards the end of tyre stints, lowering this setting (you can also do it on the fly via your MFD) will help with corner exits.

Tip #4 – Practice & Be Patient

Finally, getting used to any new F1 game just takes time, even if you’ve played the last one. The handling always changes from one game to the next (the developers have to change things up, otherwise why would anyone buy the new game?), so be prepared to put some time in to get used to the handling.

The nervousness of the handling out the box will be annoying at first, but it was for the ’23 game as well, and it didn’t take most players long to get used to it.

Here’s some other tips regarding practice and general mindset:

1. It’s often better to practice in shorter spells of 30 minutes to 1 hour max, and then come off for a break and come back several hours later or the next day. It’s often counterproductive to spend hours and hours pounding away on the game all at once, and you’ll often get annoyed and frustrated.
2. In Time Trial, don’t restart laps where you invalidate – keep going. It helps to build up a rhythm and muscle memory.
3. Watch F1 Sim YouTubers to see their general style, but don’t necessarily copy their setups, since most of these guys are wheel users, which is totally different to a pad. Tone down setups when using a controller (most of the guides on this blog are designed to help you do just that).
4. Have a baseline setup that’s stable and easy to control on a pad with to start off with, as opposed to blisteringly fast but unstable (I’ve got a guide to help you with that). Then adjust and tweak this setup for each track and as you gain more confidence. But make sure your starter setup is user friendly to begin with, and then explore more advanced ways to get quicker once you’ve got used to the handling.