F1 24 Patch 1.6: Whats Changed To Handling & Car Setups?

The latest update for F1 24 has been released. Patch 1.6 promises tweaks to the handling and other areas in EA’s long quest to fix this year’s handling model. The big question is what these tweaks do, what’s changed, and how the update affects the handling and car setups.

What changes are in the 1.6 update for F1 24?

While this latest patch included several fixes and adjustments to F1 24, it also included five handling tweaks. These include adjusting the medium traction control assist and new kerb behaviour.

• Rebalanced medium traction control behaviour
  • The first update EA Sports listed in the “key changes” part of their patch notes is adjustments to the medium TC assist. They don’t specify anything other than using the word “rebalanced” so it is unclear exactly how the assist has changed. I don’t tend to use assists in F1 24 so I’ll skip straight past this one.
• Kerbs having a greater impact on stability
  • The second patch note is that kerbs now affect cars much more, making them more unsettled, especially larger sausage kerbs. This is quite possibly the biggest change in this update. Previously, we could hit kerbs such as those around Imola and Hungary with little consequence. In fact, the fastest route was quite often straight over them. This new patch looks to fix that by making kerbs a bit more scary.
• Engine braking changes
  • The third change states that high engine braking is less likely to cause brake lockups. This is a small change, and could result in higher engine braking setups.
• AI are less likely to lock their brakes
  • Another change is listed to affect the AI’s performance while braking. This won’t affect the player’s car at all but should lead to better AI racing, eliminating some of those silly lockups.
• Tyre pressures now affect grip and heat more
  • The last handling change is stated to affect tyre pressures and this initially sounds like a big one. Currently, maximum tyre pressures are the meta. This leads to time trial setups utilising max pressures at most tracks. Although this change affects grip and heat, the main changes here will come when racing in career or Grand Prix where tyre wear is enabled.

How do these changes affect the handling?

Many players will ask, ” Does this 1.6 patch affect the handling in F1 24?” The answer is yes. EA Sports hasn’t overhauled anything, and the changes are much more subtle than the 1.3 patch.

When you change something as crucial as the tyres, it can make your whole car feel different. The tyres are your only contact patch with the track, so the pressures and temperatures affect both grip and wear rates.

Before this patch, maximum tyre pressures were almost always preferable. They helped control tyre temperature, a big issue in this year’s game. They also allowed your car to have much less drag, giving you better speed along the straights.

After the patch, you can start to lower tyre pressures without the huge penalty to your top speed and your grip levels. The cars seem to have a touch more understeer, but this handling update generally feels pretty good, if not a little underwhelming.

How does patch 1.6 affect car setups?

So, how does the latest 1.6 update affect car setups in F1 24? To be honest, not very much. Since the update’s release, I’ve spent time running comparisons to pre-patch races. Using the car setups on this channel feels good, and there aren’t any huge differences. Maybe there are small tweaks here and there, but nothing dramatic.

In our video overview of the 1.6 patch, you’ll see gameplay comparisons pre and post-patches. Running the same tyre pressures as my original car setups, the tyre temperatures are relatively similar mid-stint. There aren’t huge tyre temperature differences when using the medium tyres around a few tracks, including Imola and Hungary.

The tyre temperature buildup in Hungary was more dramatic. This led me to increase the tyre pressure at the front of the car, which calmed down the temperature and wear buildup.

Are the kerb changes dramatic?

The single biggest part of this update seems to be the change in car behaviour over kerbs. EA Sports have made kerbs impact stability much more than they did pre-patch.

One of the primary reasons that the first tracks I tested at were Imola and Hungary is that they have some pretty big kerbs. They are also quite different ends of the spectrum, with Imola being medium to high speed and Hungary being a much slower, downforce-reliant circuit.

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At Imola, the fastest drivers would aggressively clip the inside kerbs to shorten corners. Before the patch, this was often the fastest route around a lap. After the v1.6 update, bouncing over the large inside kerbs unsettles the car much more.

The main effect of this will be that car placement and positioning through a corner will have to be a little higher. It may also lead to slower lap times overall, as some of the exploits over the kerbs have been nerfed.

What car setup changes would I recommend?

Rounding out this overview of the new update, would I recommend changing any parts of your current car setup? To be honest, I’m not going to rush out and make changes right away. The car feels generally the same, and many won’t notice much change at all.

The biggest change is that aggressive driving and hitting kerbs will be punished a little more now, and that will require a slight alteration to your driving line.

Some players may like to soften the suspension a touch to try and add some more stability over kerbs. However, with there feeling like there is slightly more understeer now, I doubt this will be the fastest route.

As I spend more time with this update, I might make some small adjustments to our recommended F1 24 car setups. I will most likely pin any changes to our existing videos in the comments, as the handling certainly hasn’t changed enough to warrant brand-new car setups.

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Article written by Rich

Founder of SimRacingSetups.com

Rich is the founder, F1 car setup creator and content writer for SimRacingSetups. With over a decade of experience as a graphic designer, marketing director, competitive sim racer and avid motorsport fan, Rich founded SimRacingSetup.com to share his passion and knowledge of sim racing and Formula 1 with other sim racers. Regularly writes for sim racing website SimRaceReviews.com

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