Review by Traxion's Martin Bigg
The official Formula 1 driving video games have been somewhat mercurial of late, with hit-and-miss form making it difficult to commit to a purchase.
2021’s instalment was a polished, rounded affair, followed by the confused F1 22, which messed up the vehicle handling and tried to cram unlockable sofas down players’ throats.
Its follow-up was a return to form, only for last season’s F1 24 to deliver another divisive handling model that pleased neither wheel nor gamepad users.
Now, EA SPORTS and Codemasters look set to regain some disenchanted virtual drivers, as F1 25 makes notable improvements over its forebears.
Thankfully, at long last, purists have been catered to as several circuits have been painstakingly laser-scanned – technology usually reserved for hardcore racing simulators like iRacing.
Now, Imola’s kerbing is more accurate with further gravel traps, while the surrounding area is filled with greater foliage and Tifosi. The tricky Turn 14-16 complex at Miami is more life-like.
Sadly, these updates only feature on five venues presently, with Bahrain, Suzuka and Melbourne joining the aforementioned examples. It means the likes of the Hungaroring look comparatively worse than ever.
In motion, the roadholding has improved this time around. Large kerbs destabilise your car naturally, and there’s predictable oversteer should you deploy your 1000bhp too early. This trait is more forgiving than the torque-surging F1 24, with its progeny generally feeling benign and approachable.
Create your own storylines
Away from the driving experience enhancements, the My Team game mode, first introduced in F1 2020, has received a makeover. Historically, this is a popular alternative to the standard career mode, where you create a custom driver and race for a fictional 11th team on the grid.
In a change to the format, you now take on the role of a team principal, managing two drivers simultaneously, negotiating sponsorship deals and continuously upgrading your car to stay competitive in the championship.
With a stronger focus on team management than before, My Team will be familiar to anyone who has played the F1 Manager games. Sadly, Frontier’s management series was cancelled last year, with this now being a more accessible alternative.
Unlike before, research and development are handled independently for car upgrades. After spending resource points to research new aero, chassis or powertrain components, you must then spend money developing them. This also means you can only develop components for one car at a time until you upgrade your facilities.
The choices you make have a noticeable impact. You might want to give every researched upgrade to your favourite driver so they have a better chance of winning the title, or pour more resources into training staff for the long-term benefit of the entire team.
Presentation is also improved: facilities that now visually change as you expand, and department heads are animated this time, but the less said about the stiff facial animations, the better.
Overall, the changes made to My Team give it a much-needed refresh if you skipped it in previous years. The sense of progression as you upgrade your facility in phases, poach drivers from rival teams and gradually build a championship-contending car is compelling enough to make us want to continue beyond the first season.
With Codemasters prioritising My Team this year, Driver Career, a more faithful reproduction of the real sport where you can compete in a championship as the official teams and drivers (yes, the Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull driver swap made it in time for launch), is practically identical to last year.
Reaching Braking Point
What is new this year, however, is the welcome return of Braking Point, the fantasy story mode last seen two years ago, starring Aiden Jackson, Devon Butler and Callie Mayer at the fictional Konnersport team.
In the third installment, Konnersport is now fighting for the championship. We won’t spoil the plot, but an unexpected event causes tensions within the Butler family, which is engrossing to watch.
It’s as overdramatic as a typical Drive to Survive episode, but that’s part of its appeal. The performances won’t win any Oscars, but the narrative is nevertheless an enjoyable diversion from the Driver Career and My Team modes.
Between the well-animated cinematic cut scenes, you must complete scenarios relating to the plot, from chasing a specific driver to beating a lap time. Some chapters also give you the option to choose which driver you want to race as, and while there is an alternative ending and different objectives depending on your choice, the story is mostly linear.
Whether this is Braking Point’s final chapter remains to be seen, but it feels like a natural closer for the current arc, which can trace a lineage back to Butler’s F1 2019 debut.
Superfluous oddities
Less emphatic of a success is the addition of reverse track layouts for Silverstone, Zandvoort and Red Bull Ring. Tackling Zandvoort’s banked corners backwards is fun for a few laps, but with only three layouts, the novelty quickly wears off.
This effectively adds extra tracks to the roster, which is handy for those who partake in multiplayer leagues or content creation. But for everyone else, they feel inauthentic and act as a reminder that a roster of venues from F1’s history would be welcome instead.
Equally ephemeral is a tie-in for the upcoming F1: The Movie starring Brad Pitt. Here you can drive the APXGP car in a test run at Silverstone. However, this will be expanded, with the rest of the playable experience arriving on June 30 as an Iconic Edition pre-order bonus or standalone DLC.
Meanwhile, the F1 World mode also remains an embroglio of confusing menus within menus within unlockables within another menu. This mode should be an area for a quick race and some sense of progression, yet alongside the Podium Pass cosmetic unlock system, it seems like a missed opportunity.
Mercifully, the My Team, Driver Career and Braking Point modes are so compelling that you can ignore these fripperies almost entirely, provided, of course, you’re OK with delving into narratives analogous to Netflix docufiction.
Whether F1 25 justifies its £69.99 price tag (£89.99 if you buy the Iconic Edition) if you already own F1 24 is debatable, but the refreshed My Team, improved handling and the return of Braking Point make it a solid, but evolutionary, step forward.
With Formula 1 set for a significant regulation shake-up in 2026, however, it would be the ideal time for the next game to be new from scratch.
For more on the F1 25 game and the rest of the motorsport gaming and sim racing scene, visit Traxion.
