The Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona is a longstanding and popular track in loads of forms of motorsport, including MotoGP.

On the plus side for the very challenging MotoGP 22 game, it’s also very easy to learn and most players will recognise the layout from other games they’ve played (it’s back to the traditional layout now, with the chicane at the end of the lap removed – it’s back to 2 right handers before you turn back onto the pit straight).

On this blog, I’m focusing on stable and easier to control bike setups for MotoGP 22 rather than blistering pace, because it’s a really difficult game to control the bikes on, so we need to get that nailed first before focusing on speed.

We have a starter setup that will work OK for Catalunya as a starting point, but it’s not outstanding from my testing. I found a much better setup online and tweaked it to my own preference. It’s very stable and easier to lap consistently with, as well as delivering faster lap times than the baseline setup.

Here’s the setup for MotoGP class bikes for Catalunya:

• Suspension (Front Fork):
  • • Front pre-load – 1
    • Oil Quantity – 1
    • Front Spring Hardness – 1
    • Front Swingarm compression – 5
    • Front Swingarm extension – 7
• Rear Single Shock Absorber:
  • • Rear Pre-load – 7
    • Swingarm connector – 4
    • Rear spring hardness – 3
    • Single shock absorber compression – 4
    • Single shock absorber extension – 7
• Vehicle Geometry:
  • • Steering head inclination – 1
    • Trail – 7
    • Steering plate position – 7
    • Rear swingarm length – 3
• Transmission:
  • • Gears (1-6) – 4-3-3-3-3-3
    • Final ratio – 5
    • Slipper clutch – 7
• Brakes:
  • • Front disc – 355 mm
    • Rear disc – 220 mm
• ECU
  • • Traction control – 2
    • Engine braking – 5
    • Anti-wheelie – 4
    • Power mapping – 3

I found this setup has a really nice feel around Catalunya, with the correct level of grip to make the corners efficiently, plus decent traction.

You might want to tweak some of the settings to your own preference (I always use 5 engine braking for maximum stopping power, while most players use 4 or 3). But it’s a great starting point for getting used to Catalunya on the very powerful MotoGP class bikes.

Alternative Catalunya MotoGP Class Bike Setup

I also found another bike setup for Catalunya that has a “softer” setup in terms of lower values on many of the settings and a softer feel to the handling.

It didn’t work so well for me at this track, but try it yourself and see if you prefer it.

Here’s the second setup:

• Suspension (Front Fork):
  • • Front pre-load – 1
    • Oil Quantity – 2
    • Front Spring Hardness – 2
    • Front Swingarm compression – 5
    • Front Swingarm extension – 5
• Rear Single Shock Absorber:
  • • Rear Pre-load – 4
    • Swingarm connector – 2
    • Rear spring hardness – 3
    • Single shock absorber compression – 3
    • Single shock absorber extension – 2
• Vehicle Geometry:
  • • Steering head inclination – 2
    • Trail – 4
    • Steering plate position – 6
    • Rear swingarm length – 1
• Transmission:
  • • Gears (1-6) – 4-4-4-5-6-5
    • Final ratio – 3
    • Slipper clutch – 4
• Brakes:
  • • Front disc – 355 mm
    • Rear disc – 220 mm
• ECU
  • • Traction control – 2
    • Engine braking – 5
    • Anti-wheelie – 4
    • Power mapping – 2

I found this setup had a “grippier” feel in some parts of the lap, but wasn’t as easy to drive consistently and wasn’t as quick as the first setup either. But everyone has a different riding style, so try it out and see if you like it.

Catalunya Setup For Moto2 and Moto3 Class Bikes

For the slower and less powerful Moto2 and Moto3 class bikes, check out our generic setups page for ’22 for a good starter setup for each class that should work well as a nice starting point for Catalunya and most other tracks on MotoGP 22 as well.

If I find more effective setups for these bikes, I’ll add them here as I go along.