Ever since gaming publishing giant Electronic Arts purchased British-based developers Codemasters – and, with it, the official Formula 1 game licence – five years ago, it’s fair to say the F1 franchise has been on a rather ‘odd’ trajectory.
That is, the entries released in even-numbered years – 2022 and 2024 last year – have not been as well received by critics or fans alike as those released in the odd-numbered seasons of 2021 and 2023.
So, following the underwhelming release of F1 24 last year, recent history suggests F1 25 should be a return to form for the series. And with the future of the franchise still yet to be formally determined beyond this year and recent layoffs at Codemasters with the nixing of its WRC title, this could be the most critical release in the 16-year history of the series.
Last year’s effort left many underwhelmed, but does the 2025 edition offer more for players to enjoy?
Better value?
Right off the bat, it’s with little hesitation that RaceFans can declare that F1 25 is definitely a superior title and value prospect for fans considering picking up the newest F1 game at launch compared to last year’s edition. Indeed, compared to F1 24, there is far more to discuss about this latest release.
For a start, at £50 for PC players on Steam, this latest game is a full ten pounds cheaper at launch than last year’s title with far more features to enjoy at launch. Sadly, console players don’t have that same privilege and must shell out £70 for the standard edition and £90 for the Iconic Edition. With inflation, PC simracers are getting a much better deal than last year.
In a change of standard for 2025, the series has finally bid farewell to the previous generation PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles. Now, only PC players and those with PS5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles will be able to enjoy racing as Lewis Hamilton in the 2025 Ferrari or Andrea Kimi Antonelli in the Mercedes.
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Despite leaving old-gen behind, F1 25 is not a reboot for the series. This is still very much the same core game with the same engine, fundamental graphics and features as F1 24, rather than a bold new direction for the franchise. As ever, that means the ‘new game feeling’ for veteran players will subside far sooner than many would prefer – especially for those shelling out £70 or more for the privilege.
After Codemasters’ ambitious attempts to rework the game’s physics engine in F1 24 which resulted in a controversial and deeply divisive handling model, it’s good to report that this year’s game has seen a move back in the right direction. The overly-generous turn-in and lateral grip levels that made ‘flinging’ the cars into corners last year so effective is no longer the best way to gain lap time. Instead, cars feel more like their counterparts in F1 23, albeit with the improved tyre modelling introduced last year that rewards those who are mindful not to lean on their tyres too much with reduced degradation.
The major activity in the driver market over the winter has obviously been reflected in the game with several new faces on the grid and familiar ones in new colours. But two F1 teams have made life difficult for Codemasters by changing their line-ups since the season began.
Despite starting the season in the Red Bull, Liam Lawson is a Racing Bulls driver in the game with Yuki Tsunoda partnering Max Verstappen at Red Bull, reflecting the real-world switch that occurred before Suzuka. However, Lawson is still a Red Bull driver in the Braking Point story mode’s depiction of the 2025 season, in a change which might seem immersion-breaking, but isn’t.
However, Franco Colapinto’s return at Alpine has not yet been added. As he’s only been confirmed in the seat for five races, Codemasters are sitting tight and Jack Doohan retains his seat in the virtual world for now. Colapinto is still available to race as in career mode or to hire as a MyTeam driver.
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Braking Point the Third
As with F1 23 and F1 21 before it, another odd-numbered year means another instalment in the Braking Point saga; EA Sports’ blockbuster story mode that chronicles the F1 escapades of fictional drivers Devon Butler, Aiden Jackson, Callie Mayer and the humble Konnersport team.
Taking equal inspiration from Drive to Survive as it does from fellow EA Sports story modes from Madden NFL and EA FC games past, the third act of this narrative mode is the clear headline feature of the latest F1 game title.
If you’ve never played Braking Point before (and good luck getting to if you haven’t as F1 21 and F1 23 have been removed from online stores) expect around a seven-hour experience. It features lavish motion captured cutscenes, bitesize racing challenges where you’re thrown head-first into scenarios mid-race with primary and optional objectives to complete and role playing elements off-track in the form of driver press interviews and decisions to make from the team principal’s office as you look to guide the Konnersport team to success.
When it comes to the narrative, the core of the experience Braking Point is trying to immerse you in, the third act of the story takes a big swing at delivering an emotional, heartfelt exploration of humanity that is as much, if not more so, about the deeper themes of familial bonds and the complexities of interpersonal relationships as it is about racing drivers going fast around a circuit. While this latest Braking Point story is certainly taking a risk in telling the story it wants to tell, it perhaps falls short in hitting both the emotional heights it reaches for and in engaging players with it too.
The story of the first Braking Point mode in F1 21 was one that, like Drive to Survive succeeded so well with, pulled in the audience by focusing on an intriguing competitive conflict between a jaded veteran driver and his upstart rookie team mate as their egos and insecurities off-track naturally led to conflict on it. It was not an especially original narrative, but it did not have to be. Then the second instalment in 2023 introduced the Konnersport team as an underdog outfit of modest means who were easy to root for, while making friends out of previous enemies and allowing its flawed main characters to each grow by prioritising their shared interests over their own selfish ambitions.
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For part three, the dynamic has shifted. While still a story about F1 and the highs and lows that come from competing at the highest level, the motorsport element feels like simply a backdrop as the focus of all the high-budget, high-quality cutscenes is almost entirely on the relationships, rather than the racing. This is not a racing story as much a story about how complex our relationships with our loved ones can be. About those burdened with having to live up to expectations they neither wanted nor asked for. In many ways, it’s also a story about learning to let go of the past.
That’s not to say there is no value in telling such a story – far from it. There will likely be a large portion of players who will find many of the themes of this latest story and the trials and tribulations of its characters deeply relatable. But when the racing drivers in this racing driver story are now deep in the thick of the action, directly taking on the biggest names in the sport, it feels like a missed opportunity to focus on the interpersonal rather than on how this group of characters deal with the challenges of having to step into the brightest spotlight and take on the best on the grid for the first time. It’s a shame that often the most interesting nuggets of information about these characters, or insights into their personalities, are to be found in the emails they send and receive that you can read at your leisure in the motorhome between gameplay chapters.
In terms of the gameplay, this is very much more of what the two previous Braking Point editions offered. You get thrust into the cockpit midway through a race and are given so many laps to chase down and pass a target opponent or other goal with additional objectives to complete to help increase the characters’ reputation which unlocks ‘better’ answers to media interviews after each race.
Both Konnersport’s drivers, Jackson and Mayer, are playable this time around. But in a welcome change, you’re regularly given the opportunity to select which of the two you wish to control for that particular chapter. While offering players more freedom of choice in a narrative focused mode is definitely welcome, Braking Point continues to suffer from a degree of ludonarrative dissonance, i.e., your actions on the track when attempting to complete each challenge has no bearing on what happens in the story as long as you reach the goal point to continue the predetermined story. For example, if you barge into your team mate Jackson while playing as Mayer, that won’t ever be acknowledged as long as you complete the objective.
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As previous versions of Braking Point have been easy for veteran players, Codemasters have introduced a new harder difficulty setting targeted at those who run with AI levels around 100 and above. While it is definitely welcome, the fact the game often throws you straight into new circuits and weather conditions without any preparation, it’s not necessarily the smartest move to jump straight into Braking Point on the hardest difficulty as the first thing you do in the game.
Overall, it’s hard not to feel any different after playing Braking Point than after the previous two editions. It’s an entertaining, novel endeavour that can be easily completed over a weekend – or in a single day if you have the time – but once the credits roll, it’s unlikely you’ll feel compelled to go back to it during the rest of your time with the game.
MyTeam 2.0
Introduced back in F1 2020, MyTeam is arguably among the best features Codemasters have ever added to their F1 series. However, a lack of innovation and growing limitations over the years have left it in need of a revamp.
That has arrived in F1 25, with MyTeam following the main driver career mode from last year’s game in having an overhaul for this new entry. But while there is a lot to enjoy about this refreshed take on MyTeam, it has come at the cost of players no longer being able to race as their own customised character for their own team.
In a deliberate move, the new version of MyTeam sees players instead assume the role of a team principal, rather than an owner/driver. But unlike the last edition of the now-defunct F1 Manager series, players will continue to participate in races directly by choosing which of their two drivers they want to compete as ahead of each race weekend.
After deciding on your team’s starting level of resources, funds and car performance, you must manage its engineering, personnel and corporate departments with far more detailed and granular control than previously. Research and development are now separate, meaning that once you have designed a part to upgrade, you have to invest separately in manufacturing that part. If you’re a smaller team without the facilities to do so, you’ll be limited to only one upgraded part at a time that you must assign to one driver before the other.
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You now have direct control over staffing numbers for each of your departments, which drivers from rival teams will consider when deciding whether to sign for you. You are limited by the cost cap as well as aerodynamic testing restrictions, meaning that as you improve and move up the grid, you becoming increasingly limited in your wind tunnel time.
Sponsorship is also more involved in this revamped mode, and it forms a major part of the revised livery customisation system. Keeping sponsors happy with performance and loyalty will earn you more cosmetic rewards, with the ability to unlock specially pre-designed car liveries themed around your title sponsor to add more authenticity to your team.
There’s no doubt that this is a superior and far more involved experience than previous years. But it’s hard to know how players will respond to having to race as an officially licensed driver for each race weekend rather than their own customisable avatar. After all, why spend many millions on an elite level driver when, ultimately, their success on track might be directly determined by your own talents at the wheel? But there’s a clear effort to avoid becoming too F1 Manager-like in the systems involved as, after all, that series already exists for players who want to live out their team principal fantasies.
The new MyTeam feels like a very welcome overhaul to a mode that has been in need of more attention in recent years combines the best of last year’s driver career enhancements with the fantasy fulfilment of being the 11th team on the grid. And in an extra touch, you even have the opportunity to play with the Konnersport team or as the APX GP team from the upcoming F1 movie in the mode if you wish.
LiDAR and liveries
Away from the major modes, there are a couple of significant new additions that long time players will welcome. The first is in a handful of circuits having been rebuilt entirely using LiDAR laser scanning data. Albert Park, Suzuka, Sakhir, Miami and Imola have been given this ultra-accurate overhaul to make their virtual depictions as true-to-life as iRacing, but Codemasters have confirmed to RaceFans that they have acquired data from all the circuits on last year’s calendar. It would be very welcome to see more tracks upgraded in the future.
On the other end of the spectrum, however, F1 25 features three circuits – Silverstone, Red Bull Ring and Zandvoort – that players can now race in reverse. While this may seem ridiculous to some, the only real problem with reverse tracks is that there are only three of them to choose from. Not only is getting to experience fan-favourite circuits from a completely new perspective something that could only be done in the virtual world, it helps to add some variety to the track list, with the reverse layouts even usable in driver career or MyTeam modes from the second season onwards.
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You can call it unrealistic, but it’s undoubtedly fun to sprint alongside a rival down Hangar Straight before throwing the car into Chapel, Becketts and Maggotts. Hopefully Codemasters gives more circuits the same treatment so in future we can plunge downhill into Eau Rouge, anyone?
After F1 24 offered a stingy selection of car and driver customisation items to new players, F1 25 makes up for that by enhancing its livery editor to allow players to make far more authentic-looking liveries than previous years. Although you’re still limited by the base design that you choose in terms of what sections can be coloured, you now have far more freedom in how you can apply decals to your car.
While they’re still the suite of fictional logos that have been in the game since F1 2020, each has been updated with proper colour schemes as well as alternative versions. You can even unlock special liveries designed around many of the fictional sponsors in MyTeam which are often better and more believable than many of the base designs. While it’s nothing close to the freedom offered by Gran Turismo or Forza Motorsport, it’s certainly an improvement over previous titles.
It would be wrong to overlook the many other new elements that haven’t already been touched on, such as players now having the chance to add special event-specific liveries raced in real life to that team’s car for events or the increased library of real-life team radio clips that are played when drivers cross the line at the end of a race. The new compulsory two-stop rule for the Monaco Grand Prix is present, as you’ll be forbidden by the game from selecting a one-stop strategy before the race.
The F1 movie is also included with several gameplay scenarios available reflecting key moments from the film, although only a short preview event is available at first before the film’s premiere next month. The option to race as APX GP in MyTeam or as the film’s two protagonists in driver career is only available to those who buy the Iconic Edition of the game.
Into the future
This is the last officially-confirmed F1 game title from Codemasters set to be released. No extension into 2026 and beyond has yet been announced by FOM or EA, with indications that recent releases have not been as successful commercially as those in the earlier days of the PS4 era.
While there’s likely to be some news about the future of the F1 license in the coming months, the more pressing question is whether F1 25 does enough to justify a purchase over last year’s title or even F1 23 for those who skipped the most recent release. The answer, as usual, is ‘it depends’.
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On one hand, it’s hard to ignore that there are several improvements to this year’s release over the fairly disappointing F1 24. But at the end of the review of last year’s game, RaceFans lamented the feeling of ‘deja vu’ that became hard to ignore when so much of the core user experience remains the same. The same menu structure, same limitations about calendar selection, no ability to drive in the pit lane manually – it becomes hard to ignore no matter how welcome the enhancements there are to several areas of the game this year. This year, it’s hard not to have a similar feeling.
It feels almost unfair to be only lukewarm about a game that is arguably the best overall package the series has offered to players, but F1 25 reflects the wider sports and racing game industry as a whole. If you’ve never played a game in this series before, you will find a heck of a lot to enjoy and sink your teeth into with this new title. But those who have invested the most gameplay hours in the franchise over time will likely, again, be the ones who will get the least out of F1 25 – even if it is undoubtedly a better product than its predecessor. And that is something that feels increasingly true for all sports and motorsports game series on the market.
With the sport itself set to undergo a major transition in 2026, this feels like a pivotal point not just for Formula 1 but for the future of its official game series too. Ultimately, F1 25 is a good game with solid features – some that will entertain far longer than others. But if you’re hoping to have your perspective on the series transformed by some radical, bold new approach to the F1 game formula, expect to be disappointed.
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F1 25
Platform(s): PS5, Xbox Series S|X, Steam, EGS
Developer: Codemasters
Publisher: EA Sports
Released: May 30th (standard edition), May 27th (Iconic Edition)
Price: £49.99 (Standard – Steam), £69.99 (Standard – console), £89.99 (Iconic Edition – console)
