The Paul Ricard Circuit in France has actually been dropped from the 2023 real life F1 season, but it still remains on the F1 23 game as an extra track, and can be added to custom seasons in the game. I’m all in favour of this because I actually quite like the track; it’s got a nice flow and provides good racing and overtaking opportunities with the long straights.

Just looking at the circuit layout, it might look like you need a lot of downforce with all the corners, but as with the last few F1 games, straight line speed is king of F1 23, and most players actually run a low-medium level of downforce here, comparable to Austria.

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

• Wings – 18/20
• Diff – 50/55
• Camber – -2.50/-1.00/0.02/0.10
• Suspension –  21-12-1-8-35-38
• Brakes – 100 Pressure/55 Bias
• Tyre pressures – Minimum pressures front and rear.

This setup is partially adapted from the excellent SimRacingSetups channel France setup, but modded and tweaked for a controller user, since his wheel setups doesn’t translate perfectly over to a pad user.

Detailed Setup Considerations

Here’s some additional analysis and commentary on creating an ideal race setup for France.

Wing Levels

The lower than you might expect wing levels is all about remaining competitive on the those two straights in sector 2, the first of which is a DRS zone. You need low wings to overtake and defend properly with how powerful the DRS/ERS/slipstream combo is.

You can move up to 20 or 22 wings if you like, but you’ll be vulnerable on the straights. Some players are using wings as low as 15 here.

In general, the lower the wings you can run here and still have competitive lap times, the better. Lower downforce setups in general are over-powered on F1 23, as demonstrated in the video below.

Lower Wings OP on F1 23 – demonstrated

Wing Spacing

My default approach for most pad setups on this game is to space the wings 2 clicks apart, with the rear higher than the front.

This is the opposite to more aggressive setups and for wheel users, but the controller steering is very responsive on F1 23, so you need to space the wings in such a way that the car doesn’t over-rotate into corners (which makes it harder to get back on the traction).

If you can bring the rear wing closer to the front and still control it on a pad, you’ll get better single lap pace for qualifying. But I prefer the rear 2 clicks higher for a stable race setup.

Tyre Temperatures

France is perhaps the worst track on the game for over-heating tyres, especially the red soft tyre. You’ve got a whole bunch of prolonged, high speed corners that don’t give the tyres a chance to cool down. Set all pressures to minimum to avoid this, and you might need to avoid the soft tyre altogether since some players find it overheats for them no matter what setup they use.

Intermediate Conditions

Your dry setup will work fine in light rain conditions, but you can also add 1-2 clicks of wing if you want, and also drop your On Throttle Diff down to 50 if it isn’t already there for best traction.

Full Wet Conditions

You need a bit more grip in the twisty sections, but you still need to keep some straight line speed.

Add 3-5 clicks of wing front and rear, but when using a pad, I’d also space them 3 clicks apart instead of 2 for better stability and traction in full wet conditions.

Also soften the suspension and raise the ride height a few clicks as per normal with converting dry setups to full wet setups.

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

• Wings 22/25
• Diff – 50/55
• Camber – -2.50/-1.00/0.00/0.10
• Suspension –  20-7-1-1-38-41
• Brakes – 95 Pressure/55 Bias
• Tyre pressures – Fronts 22.2/Rears minimum

Other Setup Resources

France doesn’t seem to be so massively raced on in F1 23 – more of an occasional bonus track. But there’s still some differing routes people are going down with car setup here. Wings can be anything from 15 to 22 from what I’ve seen, so here are some other setup resources to check out:

• F1laps.com France 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.

Bonus Tips For Racing Here

France is a pretty straightforward track to drive, but here’s a few extra tips and recommendations for racing there.

ERS – The ERS battery boost runs out fast on all circuits on F1 23, but in relative terms, France is one of the less severe tracks for ERS since there are some heavy braking zones to recoup. It’s still advised to be cautious with it though, only using it when needing for defending/overtaking, on in-laps/out-laps, and to stay in a DRS train (it’s crucial not to get dropped from this as it’s hard to keep up just using ERS).

Tyre Strategy – The red soft tyre is really only a qualifying or 25% race tyre, and doesn’t last long enough for 50% races. You’re looking at a Medium-Hard or Hard-Medium strategy around here, and even that is pushing it since tyre wear is quite high round here with the prolonged corners. Overall, M-H is probably best in most cases, since the two tyres level off in terms of lap time quite quickly, and you’ll ideally need better tyres at the end of the race rather than trying to defend on worn mediums.