Codemasters and EA Sports return to the track, promising a refined racing experience that captures the intensity, precision, and drama of Formula 1. F1 25 builds on the foundations laid by previous years’ titles and introduces updated physics, enhanced AI, and an overhauled career mode designed to immerse you in the game further. The question is, is this game good enough to get that podium finish? 

The developers continue to push the boundaries of what the current generation of gaming can do, and it shows as they are pushing for greater realism by using the power of the EGO engine and advanced LIDAR scanning technology, which improves the accuracy of the tracks with every bump, camber, and elevation change, creating a realistic feel. Five tracks have been completely rebuilt with this new system: Bahrain, Miami, Melbourne, Suzuka, and Imola.

More is coming as this data has been taken from actual F1 race weekends in the 2025 season. The tracks being updated are not the only updates to the tracks, with some tracks being reversed, and the developers are going through and making sure these reversed tracks seem real to race backwards. They’re talking about adding more, but at the moment, you can race on Silverstone, Zandvoort and the Red Bull Ring in reverse, which was a challenging little feature as I’m so used to them in the normal direction. 

The tracks are not the only thing that has received some beefing up; the AI has all been enhanced to make offline racing feel as intense and dynamic as it would be online or in real life. The AI has been tuned now to deliver smarter and more competitive racing, and you can see that in the end product; you don’t have them stupidly pulling into the front of you because they don’t know where they’re going.

Sometimes, you even need to have memorable battles with them to take a position. The AI will also make a better decision on using features like DRS and ERS, which is good, so you don’t always get those rogue DRS Trains we all have grown accustomed to. 

Codemasters has delivered the most significant updates to the fan favourite mode, My Team, which made its debut in F1 2020 and is now called My Team 2.0. This revamped experience has shifted the focus away from just being a driver-owner hybrid and places you firmly in the seat of being the team principal, which results in more things going wrong in my case. It adds a level of immersive management experience that expands both the strategy behind the team and the stakes of building the team from the ground up.

You can forget about the days of simply balancing your driving performance with the occasional upgrade in My Team 2.0; you need to ensure you manage the team’s future by handling all aspects of its growth. You need to oversee the R&D pipeline, negotiate with drivers about contracts, and make sure you manage the financial aspect of the team while building the brand’s identity. This is not as daunting as it sounds, as it’s all broken down into three systems: Engineering, Personnel, and Corporate. My Team is not about being fast anymore. It’s about being smart, efficient, and forward-thinking. 

Engineering allows you to research, develop and manufacture car parts to improve their handling, speed, and performance. If you are richer than me, you can always keep both drivers happy. If you spend all your money on stupid things like me, you can put a part into one vehicle and hope the other does not get annoyed. Personnel comes down to the team’s morale and, more importantly, around the drivers and their contracts, which play into the last section because if you upset them enough, they will lose interest in the team and start looking elsewhere. The best one, and the one I was worst at, was Corporate, which is managing the team’s finances and building the brand’s identity down to things like updating the team’s liveries with sponsorships to ensure you can pull in the big bucks. 

I liked the implementation of icons into My Team 2.0 so I could hire the likes of Mark Webber and Michael Schumacher, which is probably why I didn’t have money for other things. It was cool to race alongside some absolute legends in the sport while still having modern-day drivers on the track setting those lap records. I might have used Mark a little more than Michael just because he is Australian, and you gotta back the Aussies. 

Another highlight in My Team 2.0 overhaul is the revised progression system, where accolades and fan ratings now play a central role in the game mode. You must ensure you meet performance goals to outclass the rival teams. Which, down the track, will give you the ability to unlock premium sponsorships and access to elite drivers down the track.

I liked that the entire system was based around the Team’s HQ, which is an evolving hub, and the more you upgrade your facilities and workforce, the more improvements you see from it all. It’s rewarding seeing it expand. My Team 2.0 is a massive leap forward from previous years and the most rewarding game mode. It might not appeal to those looking for a simpler arcade experience, but it adds another level to sports management and tests you out.

Braking Point is back for the third time now, and like the previous two years, it lets players experience the drama that Formula 1 has to bring through multiple characters’ perspectives. The story originally began in F1 2021 with rookie Aiden Jackson and his rival Devon Butler racing against all odds, and whilst it was removed from F1 2022, it was back in F1 23 with new characters like Callie Mayer, who was F2’s first female champion, and Devon Butler’s character evolved.

In F1 25, the Konnersport team is now under new ownership and no longer the underdog. It has one goal for the 2025 season: taking the championship home. I’ve been a big fan of the Braking Point series so far. The cinematic cutscenes, drama, and unexpected plot twists keep you interested in the storyline and wanting more.

I like how you kept getting the option to race as Aidan or race as Callie, and when you needed to make those bigger team decisions, you were given options, adding the factor that you could make the wrong decision, which could have broken the team. I was a big fan of how the developers implemented this into My Team afterwards, if you wanted to keep using the Konnersport team. 

Launching with F1 25 is the option to add APXGP, the fictional team from the upcoming F1® The Movie, as the 11th team on the grid in Driver Career, or you can take full control of the team in My Team mode. The collaboration deepens post-launch with a series of six gameplay scenarios starting from June 30th, which are timed around the movie’s release.

These events blend moments from the movie with on-track challenges, allowing players to relive some moments. You race on tracks like Silverstone, Monza, Zandvoort, Mexico, and Spa, and the final challenge is Abu Dhabi. I’m keen to get my hands on more of the scenarios when they release on the 30th. 

F1 World is back and has brought new features that will enhance competition and collaboration. The biggest update is the new Invitationals mode, where players can team up with their friends to take on special objectives and earn unique rewards. Complementing this new feature is the new “Drive of the Day” system, which now grabs those standout starts getting achievements in their races like “Cleanest Driver and Most Overtakes”, and it also encourages fair play, teamwork work, and positive interactions, and you get your name on the leaderboard for all to see. 

Some significant handling revisions have been fine-tuned through extensive internal testing and community feedback. The result of all of this is a much more refined and realistic driving experience across all platforms and all control methods. For controller users, you get an improvement to steering dynamics, which feel more realistic and intuitive, giving you more of a sense of grip limits and how the track conditions vary.

Wheel users, you will notice updated force feedback settings across various models, which offer more of an authentic response, especially with oversteers. The “Full” traction control setting has also been reworked to provide greater stability whilst maintaining the freedom of throwing the car around. Tyre physics is also super notable with their upgrade, with revised slip models and tyre load calculations, which will affect things like Time Trial if you are a little more aggressive with your driving style, as the tyres will overheat and wear out quicker and you will find you will start losing grip quicker.

There are updates on the throttle response and how the gearbox handles, which is most noticeable in automatic mode. F1 25 is the most real-feeling game in the series, and I can only see it getting better and better and more realistic. I just need to learn to stay out of the kitty litter so I stop popping tyres. 

These titles are sounding increasingly like actual Grand Prix weekends, which excites me because that is a huge factor in these games. Everything sounds spot-on and immersive, from how the car sounds to the commentary to something as simple as the radio calls.

New radio sequences have been introduced, which include voice lines from drivers, flag positions and even some messages from team principals, which is double the lines from F1 24; the game delivers a much richer and more engaging sound design and hearing how happy the drivers are with the small dialogue after taking pole position in qualifying gets you a little more excited for the race. 

Codemasters don’t disappoint with their attention to detail with the graphics, each year delivering sharper graphics and more lifelike-looking environments across each game mode. You have everything from enhanced lighting, which makes the weather transitions feel so real, whilst things like the foliage have been updated so you don’t get those generic-looking trees as you’re flying around the track, and each track’s trees are painted more of a picture of the location.

If you are on a PC, a new path tracing feature has been added, which is an advanced form of ray tracing that offers the most accurate light simulation to date by factoring in indirect light sources. This creates a stunningly natural visual, and with the addition of the NVIDIA Audio2Face technology, we are seeing more and more expressive facial expressions from the characters when they’re talking, which adds a level of authenticity.

I noticed sometimes the face was not lining up with what was being said, or being a step or two behind what was being said, which was amusing and a little frustrating. There were a couple of tracks whilst racing around, I noticed some of the barriers would have these texture glitches, which were a little annoying with the distraction from the race, but I’m sure it’s something that could be fixed in an update. 

F1 25 stands out as a major step forward for the franchise, offering meaningful improvements across gameplay, visuals, audio, and immersion. With the revamped My Team 2.0 mode, enhanced handling mechanics, and deeper customisation, it delivers the most realistic and engaging Formula 1 experience ever. This is going to set a new benchmark for racing games.

Written by: Hayden Nelson