The Japanese Grand Prix takes place at Suzuka, a legendary circuit which requires the best F1 23 setups to succeed. Here is our guide to perfecting the car in Japan.
In Formula One circles, Suzuka is a mythical beast of a circuit. This high speed, figure-eight layout combines elevation change, sweeping corner combinations, long straights and technical sections. It was originally designed as the Honda test track but has since become home to the Japanese Grand Prix.
As a result of its tricky layout, getting the perfect lap is near impossible here. It requires pin-point perfection behind the wheel and a tremendous amount of commitment. Whilst driver skill is certainly more important here than most other F1 23 circuits, setups at Suzuka do also play their part in deciding an order. Here is our guide to the best car settings for the Japanese GP in F1 23.
Table of Contents
F1 23 Suzuka Aerodynamics
Having originally been designed as a test track for Honda, Suzuka by its nature offers a bit of everything. There are long straight sections, there are also fast, flowing corners as well as tight and technical turns. On paper, this can lead to a difficult decision being made when it comes to one’s aero package.
However, even the flat-out sections feature turns that could destabilise the car. Therefore, pretty much every F1 23 racer will choose a high downforce setup at Suzuka. For our Front and Rear Wing Aero, we felt that a 33-32 balance was the right way to go.
Suzuka Setup: Transmission
Despite physics overhauls taking place during the development of F1 23, there are some quirks to the game that push racers towards certain setup choices. One of which concerns the Transmission page where one tweaks the differential parameters. Indeed, there is very little benefit to running a locked differential.
Those that follow these setup guides will notice a running trend as a result. In fact, we typically run an open differential setup in F1 23 and Suzuka is no different. Our Off-Throttle settings of 50% are the most dramatic. But even the On-throttle Differential Adjustment gives us no reason to run higher than 53% here.
Suspension Geometry
The first sector of Suzuka features a continuous stream of long, medium speed corners that make up the Esses. To retain grip here, you want your tyres to maximise the contact patch by adding Camber. For our F1 23 Setup, we chose to run -3.30° at the Front for optimal lateral grip. However, as the majority of the circuit’s traction zones are relatively straight, less Rear Camber is needed, allowing us to run a more race-friendly -1.50°.
Given the circuit’s flowing nature, it is important for one’s car to turn-in at will. Having a compliant car will boost one’s confidence in chucking it into each corner. To aid with this, we raised our Front Toe-Out to 0.08°. For the perfect qualifying and time trial Suzuka Setup in F1 23, we run an aggressive 0.20° of Rear Toe-In to help keep the rear rotating. However, for races, you will want to reduce this to avoid shredding your tyres.
F1 23 Suzuka Setup: Suspension
Another quirk of the F1 23 physics engine causes the suspension to have a reduced effect on aerodynamic stability than it would in the real world. When cars run a softer suspension setup in search of mechanical grip, one should lose downforce due to the front and rear wings not sitting at the optimal angle. However, the drop off is less in the game.
Therefore, one can run a softer setup, perfect for retaining mechanical grip in slower turns, without the worry of losing downforce through the faster sections. As a result, we traditionally opt for a rather soft setup at the rear in particular. Though having a stiffer front does help with rotation. As a result, we set our Front Suspension to 33 and the Rear Suspension to 10.
The same issue affects the Anti-Roll Bars which we set to 7-4. Indeed, the stiff front isn’t quite as effective for the ARB. Finally on the Suspension page is the Ride Height. Due to Suzuka’s lack of large kerbs, we didn’t feel the need to run a high car. For the Front Ride Height, we went for a 34 and 46 at the Rear. This does lead to some scraping at top speed, but makes for a nimble car throughout Sector 1.
Brakes Settings
By their nature, Formula One cars are some of the few models in motorsport that will reach full braking power at almost every braking zone. The high levels of downforce means it is very difficult to lock up at full speed. The same is true in F1 23 which means running anything less than 100% Brake Pressure is a bad idea.
If you find yourself locking up towards the end of your braking zones however, we advise to change the Brake Bias setting. We put this to 58% at Suzuka as it offers great rotation in turns like Spoon, the hairpin and through the Esses. However, if you are struggling with the front or rears locking, change this accordingly.
F1 23 Tyres Setup
Tyre pressures in F1 23 are highly dependent on the circumstances. As a result, it is difficult to provide the perfect value. Indeed, whether you are running on a cold or hot track, the perfect setting will change. They will also be affected by one’s stint length and compound.
If you plan on running a longer stint, you will want to run lower pressures than a shorter, qualifying run. That being said, our Tyre Pressure balance of 22.5psi at the Front and 20.3psi at the Rear does feel stable. Try to preserve this 2.2psi difference when altering these to fit your session conditions.
What do you make of our F1 23 Suzuka Setup? Tell us on Twitter at @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below!
