Gameplay, at least in the early stages of FIFA 21, has definitely seen some improvements from a largely disappointing edition last year.
Despite this, the level of realism has been in a trade-off with arcade elements that have slowly trickled into the gameplay over the years.
Luckily, players have several customisation tools at their disposal, with the FIFA 21 sliders being the best way to create an authentic experience.
What are FIFA 21 sliders?
Sliders are the control elements on a scale (usually from one to 100) that allow you to tune attributes or the likelihood of events in games. By default, these settings are set to 50 out of 100.
In our early experience of FIFA 21, the most notable changes come have through adjustments to defensive marking and positioning, as well as pass accuracy and speed. Particularly in midfield, several FIFA players have rightly complained about central midfielders struggling to defend oncoming attacks.
It must be noted that these settings are likely to change subtly over the coming weeks, with multiple patches set to be rolled out over that time.
To assist in working out the best FIFA 21 slider settings, I conferred my findings with those of OS Community Sliders, tweaking in places to find my optimal sliders.
How to change the sliders in FIFA 21
Head to the game settings (cog icon) in the main menu and select settings. Here, you will find the multiple tabs of customisation that we’ll be adjusting.
For these realistic FIFA 21 slider settings, we recommend playing on Legendary difficulty, but to ease into the action, World Class is a good place to start.
Realistic FIFA 21 game set-up and sliders
For a game on FIFA 21 with realistic stats, we recommend the following slider settings.
Keep in mind that while eight or ten-minute halves seem long, a game, even with the cut scenes, should never take longer than around 25 minutes.
To achieve a true and authentic football experience, you’ll want to control the fate of every possible phase of play for your team. Still, if you’re playing an exhibition game with a friend or online, these settings are almost certain to be different.
| Match | Setting |
| Half Length | 8-10 Minutes |
| Difficulty | Legendary |
| Attributes | Default |
| Game Speed | Normal |
For player sliders affecting injuries, we’re going to bring up the frequency to 80, but bring the severity down to 40 to simulate the knocks received by players. This one is more down to personal choice, however, these slider settings are more reflective of professional play.
| Player Sliders | Setting |
| Injury Frequency | 80 |
| Injury Severity | 40 |
These next figures affect the relative ability of human and CPU-controlled players to execute desired actions in-game.
Figures uneven across human to CPU are to counter flaws in the AI in comparison to human play. Central midfielders, at present, have trouble following threats through the middle, and AI defences also have issues latching on to attackers.
You should note the amendments to sprint settings. At first, they look drastic, but these slider settings changes are far more subtle. Rather than speed being basically the sole factor in two players going toe-to-toe, the tweak brings players’ weight and strength a little more into play.
Shots have a bit more variation, but a brief adjustment to goalkeeping ability accounts for this as well.
| Skill | Player Setting | CPU Setting |
| Sprint | 30 | 30 |
| Acceleration | 48 | 48 |
| Shot Error | 60 | 60 |
| Pass Error | 55 | 55 |
| Pass Speed | 45 | 45 |
| Shot Speed | 49 | 49 |
| GK Ability | 48 | 48 |
| Marking | 65 | 68 |
| Run Frequency | 50 | 50 |
| Line Height | 40 | 45 |
| Line Length (Def. Line) | 40 | 45 |
| Line Width | 50 | 50 |
| FB Positioning | 50 | 50 |
| Power Bar | 50 | 50 |
| First Touch Control Error | 90 | 90 |
Recommended FIFA 21 Career Mode settings
Here are our FIFA 21 recommendations, both in terms of sliders and settings, for you to enjoy a realistic Career Mode experience. Given that you’ll be starting the season after the first transfer window, we recommend picking the team that your club of choice had at the end of the window.
- Match Difficulty: Legendary
- Half Length: 8 minutes or more
- Currency: Personal Preference
- European Competitions: Enabled
- Transfer Window: Disabled (first window)
- International Job Offers: Optional
- Negotiation Strictness: Strict
- Financial Takeover: Disabled
If you’d like a FIFA gameplay experience more akin to that of real football, try out the sliders and settings shown on this page. For a bonus element, change the camera to the ‘Broadcast’ setting to create a life-like viewing experience.
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