Spain is one of the hubs of MotoGP and there are four Spanish circuits in MotoGP 20. To build-up to MotoGP 21, we're bringing you setup guides for every circuit in MotoGP 20!
The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya has hosted the Catalan GP since the event's inception in 1996.
Setups are key to being fast in motorsport games, especially when you're finding your feet in two-wheeled racing. Here's our setup guide for Catalonia!
Tyres
The Circuit de Catalunya is one of the hardest tracks on the calendar to conserve your tyres around. With plenty of long high-speed corners like Turn 4, the front tyres take a pounding here.
Your tyre choice needs to compensate for this, with the toughest compounds available to you on both the front and rear axles.
We recommend using the hard compound on both the front and rear wheels. You could opt for a medium on the front, but this will cause you to understeer a lot in the closing stages.
Suspension
The Circuit de Catalunya has a very long start/finish straight, but your suspension needs to be geared towards cornering for a quick lap time.
The preload value for the front has to be low, around 4. However, the rear needs to be turned up to the max (10), as this will permit a great leaning angle, which is key around the longer corners of T3 and 4.
Your fork values need to be the same as your preloads, 4 on the front and 10 on the rear.
Shock absorbers have to be low on rebound (2) and high on compression (9). You need to avoid the kerbs here, and these settings will really help with that.
The springs need to be soft for stability, which is more important than responsiveness.
The bike has to round the corners consistently for a good lap time. Even a single oversteer moment mid-corner will cost you time and probably send you to the gravel trap.
Steering Adjustment
The steering head inclination and trail need to be all the way down at 0. This may seem extreme, but the suspension is set to be stable, so the bike is easy enough to ride.
You could have the suspension as more responsive, but this would prevent the bike leaning as you need it to.
The downside of these settings though is that the bike could become unstable. Turn these values up if that's the case, even if it does make the third sector more difficult.
Gear Ratio
The gears have to be high for Catalunya, because of the high-speed corners like Turn 3.
Sixth gear is the exception to this, as it has to be low despite the long start/ finish straight. Lower gears need to be set to higher speeds though, you have to keep the revs high around the longer corners.
Brake System
This circuit only has one large braking zone (Turn 1). Therefore, your braking system shouldn't deviate from the defaults of 340mm and 220mm.
If you go for bigger brakes, you add weight to the bike. Smaller brakes will lengthen your braking zones and make the brakes overheat.
ECU
Catalunya a few big traction zones, but many of those are while you're still rounding the corners. Therefore, the traction control needs to be fully turned up to 4 to allow you to accelerate while steering.
Engine braking needs to be turned up to the max as well, you'll need to lose speed around long corners like Turn 3 to avoid the run-off.
Anti-wheelie aid can go down to 3 or perhaps even 2, but only if your traction control is turned up fully like ours.
Power needs to be turned up to 2 for the straights and whenever you've got excess fuel in the tank. All of the ECU settings are available to be adjusted on-track and during the race so feel free to alter these as your race weekend advances.