Okay, so I wanted to get better at F1 24, specifically on the Circuit of the Americas, or COTA as everyone calls it. I’m not the best driver, but I’m trying to improve my lap times. I figured the best way to start was by tweaking my car setup. I mean, that’s what the pros do, right?
First, I jumped into a Time Trial session. I just wanted a clean environment to test things out without worrying about other cars or race strategies. I picked COTA because it’s got a bit of everything – long straights, tight corners, and some tricky elevation changes.
I started with the default balanced setup. Took the car out for a few laps just to get a feel for it and see where I was losing time. The car felt alright, but I was definitely struggling in a few sectors. I was pretty slow through the esses, and my exit out of the last corner was terrible. So, I headed back to the garage to start tinkering.
Aerodynamics
- I figured I needed more downforce for those fast, sweeping corners. So I bumped up the front wing angle a bit. Not too much, though, because I didn’t want to lose too much speed on the straights.
- I also increased the rear wing angle, mainly to help with stability through the esses and under braking.
Transmission
- I mostly left this alone to begin with. I made some minor adjustments.
- I just set the on-throttle differential to 50% and the off-throttle differential to 55%. I think this was the right amount for me.
Suspension Geometry
- This part is always a bit confusing for me, I just changed it a bit.
- So I set the front camber to -2.50 degrees and the rear camber to -1.00 degrees.
- Then I adjusted the front toe-out to 0.05 degrees and the rear toe-in to 0.20 degrees.
Suspension
- I wanted the car to be more responsive in the corners, so I stiffened up the front suspension a little.
- I also played around with the anti-roll bars, making the front a bit stiffer and the rear a bit softer to try and get the car to rotate better.
- The ride height I lowered a tad – not too much, just enough to get a bit more aerodynamic efficiency without bottoming out.
Brakes
- I like a strong initial bite, so I set the brake pressure pretty high, around 100%.
- I moved the brake bias slightly forward, to about 55-56%, to help with turn-in.
Tyres
- For the tyres, I just lowered the pressures a bit. I was noticing some overheating, especially in the later laps. I don’t really know why I did this, but it helped.
After each change, I went back out on track and did a few laps. I kept going back and forth, making small adjustments and seeing how they affected the car’s handling and my lap times. It was a lot of trial and error, to be honest. Some changes made the car feel worse, so I undid them. Others felt pretty good, so I kept them and maybe tweaked them a bit more.
Eventually, I found a setup that felt pretty good. The car was more stable through the fast corners, and I could carry more speed through the esses. My exit out of the last corner was also much better, which helped me get a good run onto the long back straight. My lap times were definitely improving, which was the main goal.
I’m still not setting any world records or anything, but I definitely feel more confident on track. And it’s cool to see how much of a difference these little setup changes can make. I’m going to keep practicing and keep tweaking the setup. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll actually be good at this game!
