Alright, so I decided to spend some time getting a decent setup sorted for Miami in F1 24. It’s a tricky track, you know? Those long straights demand low drag, but then you hit those really tight, slow sections around the stadium where you need the car to turn in sharply.
First few laps with the default setup? Felt okay, but definitely losing time everywhere. Understeer in the slow bits, felt like I was dragging an anchor down the straights. So, I pulled into the virtual garage and started tinkering.
Aerodynamics First
This was the obvious starting point. For Miami, you gotta trim that rear wing. I started dropping it quite a bit, maybe clicked it down five or six notches initially. The speed trap numbers looked better straight away. But, then the rear felt a bit loose in the faster corners leading onto the back straight. So, I bumped the front wing up a click or two to try and balance it out, give me a bit more front-end bite without sacrificing too much straight-line speed. Took a few runs, back and forth, adding a bit here, taking a bit there, until it felt less snappy.
Transmission Tweaks
Next up, the differential. With those slow corners, especially Turn 17 before the final straight, getting the power down without wheelspin is key. I started locking the on-throttle diff quite aggressively. Pushed it up quite high, maybe around 75% or even higher at first. It helped with traction out of the slow stuff, definitely felt the car launching better. But, it also made the car want to understeer a bit more on corner entry when off the throttle. So, I played with the off-throttle setting, lowering it a touch to help the car rotate better when I lifted off going into the tighter turns. It’s a balancing act, really.
Suspension – The Fiddly Bit
This always takes the most time for me.
- Geometry: Miami isn’t too harsh on tyres usually, but you still need grip. I added a bit more negative camber on the front and rear compared to default, just to maximize the contact patch during cornering. Didn’t go crazy, just a few clicks. Toe settings, I kept the front toe-out minimal to help with turn-in responsiveness, and rear toe-in fairly standard for stability under acceleration.
- Suspension Stiffness: This track has some kerbs you need to use, especially in the first sector chicane and the slower sections. I softened the front and rear suspension quite a bit from the default. If it’s too stiff, the car just bounces wildly over the kerbs and unsettles everything. Softened the anti-roll bars too, especially the rear, to help with traction and make the car less snappy over bumps and kerbs.
- Ride Height: Because of those kerbs and just the general nature of a street-ish circuit, I raised the ride height slightly, maybe a click or two front and rear. Didn’t want to go too high to ruin the aero, but just enough to give some clearance and confidence over the bumps.
Brakes and Tyres
Brakes are pretty personal, but I generally run slightly higher pressure, maybe around 98-100%, but I moved the bias slightly rearward, perhaps 54% or 53%. Helps prevent front locking into the heavy braking zones like Turn 11 and Turn 17, and aids rotation slightly. For tyres, Miami can get hot. I started with fairly standard pressures but ended up dropping them all around, maybe by 0.5 to 1.0 psi lower than default. Seems to help with grip and managing temperatures over a longer run, preventing them from getting too peaky.
Putting It All Together
After all that fiddling, going back out on track felt much better. The car felt more planted through the faster sweeps, rotated better in the slow stadium section, and crucially, had decent speed down the straights without feeling too nervous. It wasn’t perfect first time, mind you. I did more laps, tweaking a click here or there on the wings or suspension based on how the car felt lap after lap. Maybe softened the rear a tiny bit more, adjusted the front wing one last click.
So, the final result? A setup that feels predictable. It lets me attack the kerbs a bit more in the slow sections and doesn’t feel like a total boat. It’s stable enough on the straights and under braking. It’s what works for my driving style after spending a good session just running laps and adjusting. Might need a few tweaks depending on your style or if you’re using a wheel versus a pad, but it felt like a solid baseline for me after that process.
