The Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal has been on the F1 calendar pretty much uninterrupted for several decades now, and it’s a fan favourite track for F1 gamers as well.

This circuit has a bit of everything, with a couple of medium/long straights, plus slow and medium speed braking and traction zones. You’re on full throttle for a high percentage of the lap, but because of the fast cornering sections, most race setups round here actually run medium downforce.

Here is an F1 23 race setup for Canada for a controller user:

• Wings – 25/27
• Diff – 50/55
• Camber – -2.50/-1.00/0.02/0.16
• Suspension –  17-11-7-2-33-36
• Brakes – 100 Pressure/54 Bias
• Tyre pressures –Fronts 22.6/Rears 20.1

This setup is partially taken from the excellent SimRacingSetups channel, but with substantial mods for a controller user as he’s a wheel user and the setups don’t translate directly over from wheel to pad and need some tweaking, especially for races.

More Details On Creating A Setup

Here’s some additional commentary and analysis on creating a good race setup for Canada.

Wing levels

This is a tricky one. Some players get strong lap times using wings in the high 20s or even low 30s, but you’re leaving yourself vulnerable on the straights with wings that high. If you’re confident in your pace to pull away from chasing cars, higher downforce can work.

But mostly, wings in the mid 20s seems optimal. 25/27 is my current wing setting. Lower wing settings in general are over-powered on this game, as demonstrated in the video below.

Wing spacing

Loads of more aggressive setups round here are setting the rear wing a long way below the front wing, but I find this doesn’t work on a pad, especially for races. The steering on a pad is too sensitive for this, and the car over-rotates, making it harder to get back on the traction.

My normal setting on F1 23 is to set the rear wing two clicks above the front for optimal stability and traction, and it’s the same at Canada. This becomes especially important during longer stints as the rear tyres start to wear (traction gets very tricky with worn tyres on this game).

Intermediate Conditions

Wet weather is not uncommon at Canada, so it’s important to prepare for it.

For light rain/intermediate conditions, your dry setup with work fine, but you can also add 1-2 clicks of wing if wanted for a bit more downforce. However, for any wet conditions at Canada, I’d also space the rear wing 3 clicks above the front for more stability and easier traction out of corners.

For dry-wet races, you can adjust your drop your wing down 1 click on your MFD before you pit for inters. Over-rotation is your enemy on this game in general using a pad, but especially so in wet conditions on a track like Canada with a lot of traction zones.

Also, drop your On Throttle Diff down to 50 if it isn’t already there.

Full Wet Conditions

For heavy rain conditions when you’re using the blue full wet tyre, you need a few more tweaks. Add 3-5 clicks of wing to your dry setup, but it is also advised to set the rear wing 3 clicks above the front wing when using a controller for better stability and traction out of corners.

Traction is tricky on this circuit at the best of times, and even more so in full wet conditions. Drop your on throttle diff down to 50, soften your suspension and raise the ride height a few clicks.

Here would be the full wet controller setup I’d use at Canada

• Wings 29/32
• Diff – 50/55
• Camber – -2.50/-1.00/0.00/0.10
• Suspension –  15-10-7-1-36/39
• Brakes – 95 Pressure/55 Bias
• Tyre pressures – Fronts 22.2/Rears minimum

Other Race Setup Resources

There’s quite a lot of variation in wing levels and spacing between different Canada setups on this game, so there’s other ways to achieve lap time for sure.

I tend to go setups that are stable and easier to drive in longer races, but if you’re wanting something more fine tuned for single lap pace, or specifically for a certain car, here are some more setup resources to check out:

• F1laps.com Canada 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.

Extra Racing Tips

Here are some more tips and suggestions for racing at Montreal.

Rear tyres – Canada is actually a rear limited circuit, meaning it’s actually the rear tyres that are usually the most prone to wear and overheating. Be careful on the throttle out of corners and it’s advised to go for a setup that’s driveable as the rear tyres wear and traction gets more tricky. An aggressive setup might be great to drive on fresh tyres, but a nightmare over longer races as the rear tyres fade. Also keep rear tyre pressures low to avoid overheating.

Fuel – This track uses more fuel than average, so put 3-5 extra clicks of fuel in before the start to be safe.

Track limits – It’s really easy to cut the track and get warnings round Canada. For online races, focus on driving consistent and clean and you’ll pretty much always jump a bunch of cars in front that rack up 3-12 seconds of time penalties as they can’t stop cutting the corners. Having a setup that doesn’t turn in too aggressively can also help with this – spacing the rear wing above the front wing like I do with my setups should make this easier.