The Suzuka circuit in Japan has been a fan favourite for years, both in real life and on the games, with fast, flowing, high speed corners and long straights for 200 mph+ overtaking opportunities.

The famous technical “Esses” section in Sector 1 has been tricky on the last few games with the kerbing, and any race setup needs to make this section easy to navigate with consistency.

The circuit is a mixture of straights and mostly high speed corners, so whilst engine power is important and you are on full throttle for a large amount of the lap, you still need to maintain speed through corners and a medium-downforce setup is optimal for this circuit.

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

• Wings – 28/30
• Diff – 50/55
• Camber – -2.50/-1.00/0.00/0.10
• Suspension –  28-10-6-3-34-37
• Brakes – 100 Pressure/55 Bias
• Tyres – Fronts 23.3/Rears 20.5

This setup is really a modded version of the SimRacingSetups YouTube channel, just adapted for a pad since he uses a wheel (huge thanks to this guy for the great work he does on providing race setups).

At lot of Suzuka setups for F1 23 put the rear wing quite a few clicks below the front wing. I don’t like this on a pad; I actually need the rear wing higher than the front wing for better stability and traction and just the right amount of turn in.

Expanded Setup Considerations

Here are some extra tweaks and considerations for setting your car up at Suzuka.

Wings

A lot of setups are for wheel users, but a controller has far less nuance on the steering input for me at least, so the wings need to be spaced apart, with the rear wing 2 clicks higher than the front for the right level of turn to: a) not turn in too much and clip kerbs and spin; and b) to get back on the throttle easier out of corners without losing traction because the car is over-rotated.

For sure, there’s a lot of wriggle-room with Suzuka setups and you can have usable setups with wings anywhere from 25-35, but the lower end of this range is usually better for reasons we’ll move onto…..

Low Downforce Benefits

It’s true that on Time Trial and even in race qualifying, a lot of players can actually get better single lap pace using higher wing levels in the mid 30s. But using lower downforce in the mid-high 20s’ wing values is seriously over-powered on F1 23 in general, and especially on tracks like Suzuka.

You may lose a bit in qualifying using lower wings, but will have a massive advantage in race pace, both in straight line speed and saving ERS better. See the video below where this is demonstrated specifically at Suzuka – lower wings than the pure lap time might suggest will benefit you over the long run in races for sure.

Lower downforce setups over-powered on F1 23 – Demonstrated at Japan

Qualifying

You can try bringing the front and rear wings closer together for better turn in. It can help through the Sector 1 “esses”, but I don’t find it’s good for stability in the race using a controller.

Intermediate Conditions

Your dry setup will work OK in intermediate, but you can also try adding 2-3 clicks of front and rear wing to get your round the sweeping corner sections better.

I’d recommend keeping the rear 2 clicks above the front wing though when using a pad, and possibly even 3 clicks if it gives you better stability and traction (update – I just did an intermediate qualifying in Suzuka and it definitely helped me to put the rear wing 3 clicks above the front for the right level of turn in where I could get back on the traction out of corners. I used 30/33 wings and was competitive).

Full Wet Conditions

Wet weather is common in Japan, and in full wet blue tyre conditions, you will need a lot more wing to drag yourself round the sweeping and low speed corners better. Straight line speed becomes far less important when DRS is disabled here.

Add anything between 5-8 clicks of front and rear wing to your normal dry setup. I’d put the rear wing 3 clicks above the front wing for more stability and traction.

Here would be the full wet setup I’d use on a controller at Suzuka:

• Wings – 35/38
• Diff – 50/55
• Camber – -2.50/-1.00/0.00/0.10
• Suspension –  28-8-8-1-40-43
• Brakes – 95 Pressure/55 Bias
• Tyres – Minimum pressures front & rear

You’re basically just adding a bunch more wing for more downforce especially in those “esses” in Sector 1. See our guide on converting dry setups to wet setups for more detailed information on this.

Other Setup Resources

What I’ve given is just a generic baseline template setup for a controller user to get you start round Suzuka. Driving styles and cars are different though, so if you’re looking for more precise, finely tuned setups for different cars/conditions, here are some more resources to check out:

• F1laps.com Japan 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.

Tips For Racing Here

Here are a few extra tips on racing around Japan:

Straight Line Speed – In dry races, having straight line speed is king to both overtake and defend. Set your wings too high are you’re a sitting duck on the pit straight and back straight, with the slipstream/ERS/DRS combo being VERY powerful round here. Again, on F1 23 you sometimes have to be a bit counter-intuitive and use a wing setting that seems too low for the track, for better results over a race distance. Japan is definitely one of those tracks.

Kerbs – Beware the raised kerbs in the “Esses” in sector 1. They’re not aa deadly as on ’22 and F1 2021, but they’re still quite bad as you move up the hill and you’ll spin off if you ride them too much. Use a setup that allows you to take these esses consistently even if not at the best possible speed in the race, with just enough turn in to make the corner, but not too much that you end up clipping the kerbs and spinning off.