Getting the Car Dialed In for Monaco
Alright, so I spent some time trying to get a decent setup for Monaco in F1 24. That track is just nuts, always a challenge. Didn’t use anyone else’s stuff, just wanted to see what I could figure out myself through trial and error.
First thing I did was jump into Time Trial, picked Monaco. Loaded up the default setup just to get a feel for it. As usual, it felt… okay, but kinda sluggish and not really hooked up, especially in the slow corners. You lose so much time if the car doesn’t rotate and doesn’t let you get on the power early.
So, back to the garage, into the setup screen. Aerodynamics was the first stop. Monaco is all about downforce, right? No long straights to worry about. So I basically pushed the front and rear wings way up. Didn’t go absolute maximum right away, but pretty close. Something like high 40s or maybe even 50 for both front and rear wings. Just needed that grip.
Next, I fiddled with the Transmission. The differential settings. Getting traction out of slow corners like the hairpin and Anthony Noghes is crucial. If it’s too locked, the car just wants to spin its wheels or understeer on exit. So I lowered the ‘On-Throttle’ differential lock quite a bit, maybe down to around 50% or 55%. Made it much smoother putting the power down. I also dropped the ‘Off-Throttle’ setting a little, maybe around 50% too. Seemed to help the car turn in a bit better when I came off the brakes.
Then I moved onto Suspension Geometry. Camber and Toe. You need mechanical grip here too. So, for camber, I pushed the front and rear negative camber pretty much all the way to the right. More tyre contact in the corners. For Toe, I tried a tiny bit of ‘Toe-out’ on the front wheels – moving the slider slightly left. That usually helps with turn-in responsiveness. For the rear, I added a little ‘Toe-in’ – slider slightly right – to keep the back end stable when I accelerated.
Suspension itself was next. This is always tricky at Monaco because it’s bumpy and you have to use the kerbs. Too stiff and the car just bounces off them and into the wall. Too soft and it can feel lazy. I generally softened everything up compared to a standard track setup. Made the front and rear suspension softer. Did the same for the anti-roll bars, softened them up to let the car roll a bit more and absorb the bumps and kerbs without unsettling it too much. Ride height… I went low, but not rock bottom. Probably around 3 or 4 for both front and rear. You need it low for the aero to work, but gotta have just enough clearance for those kerbs, especially the swimming pool chicane.
Brakes are simple enough. You need stopping power. I kept the brake pressure at 100%. For the brake bias, I usually move it slightly rearward for Monaco, maybe around 54% or 53%. Seems to help prevent locking the front tyres into the really tight corners like the hairpin.
And finally, Tyre Pressures. Lower pressures can sometimes help with traction and riding bumps on street circuits. So I dropped the pressures in all four tyres a bit from the default. Took maybe a few clicks off the fronts and perhaps a touch more off the rears to help with that traction out of the slow stuff.
Testing and Tweaking
Okay, so that was the baseline setup I put together. Then came the most important part: actually driving it and tweaking it. I went out and did several laps. Paid attention to how the car felt in different sections.
- Was it understeering into the hairpin?
- Was the rear end stepping out too easily exiting Portier?
- How did it feel riding the kerbs at the chicane?
Based on what I felt, I kept diving back into the setup menu. Maybe add one click of front wing if I needed more front grip on turn-in. Or soften the rear anti-roll bar if the rear felt too snappy over kerbs. Or adjust the differential lock if traction was still an issue. The key was only changing one thing at a time between runs. Otherwise, you have no idea what change actually made the difference, good or bad.
It took a fair bit of back-and-forth. Lap, tweak, lap, tweak. Probably spent a good 30-40 minutes just refining it. Eventually, I got it to a point where it felt much more predictable and faster than the default. The car rotated better in the slow corners, and I could get on the power much earlier without instantly spinning. It’s still Monaco, one tiny mistake and you’re done, but the car felt much more cooperative.
This setup felt pretty good for me and my driving style. Might not be perfect for everyone, you might need to adjust the balance slightly to your liking. But it’s definitely a solid place to start if you’re struggling around those tight streets. Give it a shot, see how it feels!
