Codemasters’ latest Formula One sim includes the return of Braking Point mode, a movie tie-in, and the introduction of reverse tracks.
This year’s instalment of EA’s officially licenced Formula One game arrives just as the real-life F1 season is starting to get into its stride. As is customary, the game, like last year’s F1 24, was crafted in the exotic climes of Birmingham by veteran racing game specialist Codemasters. And while it remains as startlingly realistic as ever, F1 25 goes much further in adding elements of fantasy, that fit in surprisingly well.
Perhaps the headline inclusion in F1 25 is the return of Braking Point, the story mode which returns for a third time, after a two year hiatus. Braking Point 3 is surely the best instalment yet, of the Konnersport story, with a twisty storyline that feels like a big budget TV soap opera.
Its action is cleverly varied, too. At times, for example, you might have to hold up the cars behind you without being passed, while your teammate catches up on new tyres after a pit stop, or you have to set a sequence of fastest laps to reel in and pass the rampant Red Bull cars. With 15 – albeit sometimes short – chapters, it’s quite meaty, too.
Like the other recent F1 games, F1 25 is pretty complex in structural terms, offering a bewildering variety of play modes. This year, these modes have been arranged in a more logical manner and Codemasters has turned most of its attention to the key My Team Career mode, giving it such a major revamp that it decided to call it My Team 2.0.
You still take on the role of the owner of a new team, but this time around you don’t drive the car yourself, but can jump into each race as either of the two drivers you have hired. Which makes much more sense – and in general, My Team 2.0 feels much more logical and authentic than it used to.
You can opt to start from scratch or with a more established factory, and as you improve your factory facilities (a key mechanic in the game) you actually see them grow more sprawling. Separating research and development, so that you often have to choose which driver gets upgrades, also aligns more with the real world.
The Driver Career mode is more or less unchanged, although the addition of specialists – in subjects like manufacturing or strategy – gives you additional goals, bringing further perks as you seek to get one over your teammate. This time round, you can also play as a number of iconic drivers, including Button, Senna, and Schumacher, as well as fictional ones from Braking Point and the upcoming F1: The Movie.
There’s also a whole new Career mode entitled Challenge Career, which lets you work through scenarios which are available for a limited time and post your best effort to compete on a global leaderboard. Pre-launch, the only such scenario involved steering Lewis Hamilton in a Ferrari through three race weekends, so the jury is somewhat out on whether Challenge Career might develop into something compelling.
Speaking of Jerry Bruckheimer and Brad Pitt’s F1: The Movie, F1 25 lets you play through scenes from the film, starting with Pitt testing his fictional car at Silverstone. Like Challenge Career, various playable episodes will be added after launch.
The fun of a Formula One game is that it cannot only simulate the reality of the current season but also what-if scenarios of varying degrees of plausibility. F1 25 takes that fantasy element to a new dimension with the ability to drive around three tracks – Silverstone, Zandvoort, and the Red Bull Ring in Austria – in the reverse direction.
That’s something that isn’t allowed in real life and involved more work than you might imagine, since pit lane entries, exits and so on had to be virtually remodelled. But the effect is stunning; the tracks’ characters completely change when you drive the wrong way around them. Silverstone becomes even more high-speed, feeling like a longer version of Thruxton, while Zandvoort, with its banked corners, is bonkers in reverse.
All the essential building blocks of a Formula One game feel impressively solid in F1 25. The cars’ handling and tyre modelling is fantastically realistic – after a wobble in F1 24, when Codemasters improved the physics but had to make some tweaks when the game was released. And it looks simply magnificent, some tracks scanned in using Lidar technology, bringing a new level of ultra-realism to them.
This year’s game has the best Braking Point yet, the tweaks to My Team Career work beautifully, the Challenge Career is intriguing (albeit unproven), and the reverse tracks should prove irresistible to Formula One fanatics. It’s difficult for any yearly sequel to truly break the mould but F1 25 provides a heady mix of both realism and fantasy, to appeal to every kind of Formula One fan.
F1 25 review summary
In Short: Startling realism mixed with clever fantasy elements create one of the most compelling motorsport games of the current gen.
Pros: Great new Braking Point mode and astutely tweaked My Team options. Looks and feels fantastic, with more iconic drivers than ever. Reverse tracks work great.
Cons: The jury is out on Challenge Career and the overwhelming number of options and complex handling can be intimidating for inexperienced players.
Score: 8/10
Formats: Xbox Series X/S (reviewed), PlayStation 5, and PC
Price: £69.99
Publisher: EA
Developer: Codemasters
Release Date: 30th March 2025
Age Rating: 3
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