The Las Vegas street circuit is new to F1 for 2023, and has been eagerly anticipated. On the F1 23 game, the track itself has received a mixed reception, with some people finding it boring and lacklustre with a massive long straight that runs along the strip, but a very uninspiring rest of the lap.
That was my initial take as well looking at hot-laps, but when I first tried it in my career mode, I actually enjoyed it much more than I was expecting (the fact I won the race there might have helped). And I still liked it second time round as well (I won again!).
I actually think it’s a decent track and although you’re on full throttle for much of it, the technical cornering sections are still a fun challenge, and basically where you have to make the lap time up on your competitors.
With the massive long straights at Las Vegas, almost all car setups run low downforce here, with some players using wing levels comparable to Monza (though I don’t go that far myself).
Here’s a general baseline dry race setup for Las Vegas for a controller user:
- Wings – 13/16
- Diff – 50/55
- Camber – -2.50/-1.00/0.00/0.10
- Suspension – 29-9-14-11-32-36
- Brakes – 100 Pressure/55 Bias
- Tyre pressures – Fronts 24.0/Rears 21.2
This setup is partially taken from the excellent SimRacingSetups YouTube channel (huge credit for his great content), but significantly modded and adapted for a pad, as he’s a wheel user and the setups don’t translate over and need some tweaking.
Also, my own setup is slightly idiosyncratic and there’s quite a lot of variety in setups round this new track, so let’s look at it in more detail.
More Detailed Setup Considerations
Here’s some extra analysis for developing a car setup around this tricky new circuit.
Wing levels
You need low levels of downforce here or you’ll get eaten up on the massive straights. There’s quite a long straight to end sector 1, and the main back straight that runs along the strip is insanely long. It feels like you’re on it forever and with DRS and ERS there, you can sometimes overtake multiple cars at once.
And the wings I use in my setup are quite high at 13/16, because I just wanted more stability in the corners. Doing race runs, I could get some lap times better using 10/13 wings, but some laps were way off and it was much harder to be consistent.
Some players are going down as low as 8 with the wings, which will give you an advantage if you can still control it in the corners. For me 13/16 gave me better lap times, but try anything from 8 to 13 and see what works for you.
Wing spacing
I also find Las Vegas to be a low grip track, and it’s easy to lose the back end when I used my normal 2 clicks apart spacing from the front and rear wing. Therefore I’ve gone higher here and put the rear wing 3 clicks above the front when using a pad for better stability. I kept losing traction out of the technical corner sections putting them any closer.
Intermediate Conditions
You’re basically never going to get rain in Las Vegas in career mode, but someone might stick it in an online lobby for fun. I’d recommend just using your dry setup or adding 1-2 clicks of wing if desired for a bit more grip in the corners.
Full Wet Conditions
I’d say you still need straight line speed even in the wet round here, but you can try bumping up the aero 4-6 clicks to make the car easier to control in the already tricky cornering sections.
But the higher you go with wings, the more vulnerable you’ll be on that massive back straight. Soften your suspension and raise the ride height a few clicks, and you’re good to go.
Here would be the full wet controller setup I’d use at Las Vegas:
- Wings – 17/20
- Diff – 50/55
- Camber – -2.50/-1.00/0.00/0.10
- Suspension – 22-7-7-1-35-39
- Brakes – 95 Pressure/55 Bias
- Tyre pressures – Fronts 22.5/Rears minimum
Other Setup Resources
There’s actually going to be a large variance with car car setups at Las Vegas, as there always is with new tracks as players find where the pace is. Also, it really is a trade-off here as to whether you want straight line speed on that massive straight, or better cornering speed the rest of the lap.
If you’re wanting to check out other setups for this circuit, here are some other resources:
- F1laps.com Las Vegas 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.
Detailed Track & Racing Tips
Some people are hating this track, but I’m also seeing a few more people like me who are actually warming to it a bit the more they try it. You reduce lap times here by skilfully navigating the twisty, technical sections. Here are some additional tips for racing around Vegas.
Practice Programs
There’s a problem with the AI calibration with it being a new track, and the practice programmes around here on career mode are sometimes too hard, bordering on impossible at higher difficulty levels. I passed some of my programs on 90 AI with some effort, but other players have struggled. It’s not as hard as Qatar, but it’s still unbalanced, and it’s yet to be properly patched.
You can pass race strategy programmes but the others are hard to beat. See our article where we cover this and some tips to solve it (update – seems to be better as of late November 2023).
Traction
Vegas is a low grip circuit, so you have to be very patient on the throttle out of the slower speed technical sections, and also have a setup that doesn’t over-rotate the car, which makes it harder to get back on the traction. Space your wings apart accordingly when using a pad.
Turns 1/2/3/4
This is a tricky little section to open the lap, with a left hairpin followed by the prolonged right hander. I found I got the best lap times by taking an early entry into turn 1, and a wider line through turn 2 for a slingshot onto the straight.
Be patient on the throttle in the long right hander if on Med/No TC, upshift through the gears for better traction, and wait until the car is almost pointing straight until going full throttle.
Reference Points
There’s a couple of very tricky unsighted left hand corner apexes in sector 2, which are even trickier if you’ve got the racing line turned off:
- First one – Right after that short left-curving straight just after the first DRS zone, it’s a blind left hander into a chicane section.
- Second one – Another unsighted left hander leading onto the massive “strip” straight and second DRS zone.
For both of these corners, it’s advised to err on the side of early braking rather than pushing the limits for late braking, in races. Brake too late and you’re in the wall with the second one especially. Use a very small amount of lift and coast to the braking zone if needed just for consistency – you’ll see how many people over-do it and crash into the wall on these corners in online races.
For the second left hander, you can also turn in early and cut the inside kerb a lot to get a better exit onto the massive straight, which is crucial for overtaking and defending.
Turns 14/15/16
This is the left-right-left chicane section right after the massive long straight, where you can gain/lose a lot of time. Try to go for a “slow in, fast out” approach in this section, and you can drive over the kerb on the right hander to “straight line” the chicane for best lap time and a good exit.
ERS
Despite using super low wing levels, ERS still runs out very fast at Las Vegas, because you’re on the throttle so long and there aren’t many braking zones to recoup. Try to use it sparingly, especially on the massive long straight, where you actually don’t need to use much if the car in front doesn’t also have DRS.
With the sheer length of the straight, just a short blast of ERS, plus DRS and slipstream, will easily allow you to overtake a car in front without DRS. See here for a video of an intelligently run race at Las Vegas, showing how to be patient and properly conserve ERS for when it really matters.
