F1 25

A new year, a new start. In other words, it's business as usual at EA when it comes to how they treat their sports licences, and whether this is a positive or a negative is something that can be debated forever. For Codemasters and their team, who have been making F1 games in one way or another since 2009, i.e. for 16 years, it is important that this year's edition really delivers (and sells). The ratings as well as the sales figures have declined in recent years and under EA, the game series has pulled in a not entirely positive direction.

Previously very popular, historical parts have been cancelled and instead energy has been put into things that basically have very little to do with the sport. Not least F1 World, which later became F1 Life, as well as Fanzone mode, Podium Pass, and PitCoins. This, combined with what many long-time fans described as the series' worst driving experience in a long-time made last year's game one of the more uneven in the franchise for many years, something that is clearly also reflected in the poor sales figures.

Now, I'm not going manifest failure, but it hardly takes Einstein levels of intelligence to realise that significantly fewer copies sold of a game based on one of the world's biggest motorsports over five years is not sustainable. The official licence is hardly free and the work behind it is costly, no question about it. And on that front, I have to give a lot of credit to the team because despite last year's fiasco, because yes that's exactly what it was, they haven't let off the gas and the efforts this year are quite impressive under the circumstances.

The most ambitious edition yet? No, I wouldn't go that far, but the changes are the biggest in a long-time and not least, they have (finally) left the old consoles behind, as the game is only being released for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, something that in turn means that they have had more power to work with, which is also noticeable in many places. A little crisper presentation, slightly better AI, and a little more depth in the various game modes, where, among other things, MyTeam has undergone what can best be described as a complete renovation.

But let's start with what I personally, and probably many of you other returning fans are most interested in, the driving experience. This is, after all, a point where the games have been criticised time and time again in recent years. Despite efforts to fine-tune how the cars react to everything from weather and wind to surfaces and dirty air, it feels like Codemasters has repeatedly fumbled on this point. Whether this is due to a quest to find a so-called happy medium, a balance between simulation and accessibility, it's hard to say.

I get it, it's not an easy task to make everyone happy, but why not go the same way as they did with their rally games, at least until EA decided to stop all work related to the WRC. But the fact is that I no longer believe it is possible to create something that can both appease the hardcore nerds but at the same time feel warm and welcoming to the happy enthusiast who just wants to clock in a few laps around Monza in a Ferrari, a feeling that has also been reinforced after driving around for a number of hours in F1 25.

For better or worse, this is more of the same, although the changes are also here and noticeable. Overall, this year's game is a slower one, which is a positive change, albeit something that will hardly be noticed by anyone other than those who regularly play F1, year-after-year. It's a step in the right direction compared to the last edition though, landing somewhere in the waters between F1 23 and F1 24. The cars are accessible and responsive, albeit still far too kind and forgiving.

It's great if you plan to drive around with a controller in your hand, but less exciting if you plan to play F1 25 with more elaborate equipment like a steering wheel and pedals. It's worth emphasising here that while I'm a huge fan of the sport in real life, as a gamer I'm far more casual. The controls have never been good enough for me, and my observations and thoughts on the driving experience are based solely on that. But that said, I can still experience the game as a tad more arcade-like rather than realistic.

Kerbs and bumps are toned down from last year and the cars generally feel much more planted along the road. Not least at high speeds where the grip is really noticeable, in a positive sense, while it just as quickly falls away at lower speeds. Likewise, the areas outside the track have also been made more punishing. Not in the sense that you lose all speed by driving into the sand or grass, but rather in the sense that you lose virtually all grip, controlled aquaplaning if you will. If I had wanted a more realistic interpretation, this works like a charm, but as a compromise, this is just fine.

Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the impact of the weather on the races and the cars. Last year's F1 game was already far too gentle on that front, something that F1 25 has inherited and while races in the rain certainly look dramatic, it's not reflected enough in the driving itself. Is it more challenging, absolutely. But hardly anywhere near as much as it should be. In addition, the visibility through the spray from cars in front is far too good.

That intensity and feeling of balancing on the edge between control and disaster simply never materialises, something I can find very sad. What is clear is that there is still plenty of room for improvement, because although the driving experience has been updated and freshened up, it feels more like a step sideways rather than an actual improvement. If anything, the game is probably more accessible than it's ever been before, and while I personally don't mind that too much, I'm not sure it's something that will please the most hardcore of simulator nerds out there.

But if the driving experience is a bit of a status quo, the tracks have been given a major overhaul. Well, a handful of them to be more precise. Using LiDAR scanning, Codemasters has recreated details such as elevation changes, kerbs, curve radii, and neighbouring environments with surgical precision. This has had a big impact on tracks like Suzuka, Melbourne, and Miami, which, alongside the new season of Braking Point, is actually the game's big draw. The dream would be if the Codemasters team were allowed to update all of the game's tracks in this way, but time costs money, and if F1 still exists under the EA umbrella next year, we should be able to enjoy another handful of additional LiDAR-scanned tracks.

Another of the big talking points about F1 25 has been the possibility to drive with a reverse layout, which is now for the first time actually possible at Silverstone and Zandvoort, for example. A gimmick it may seem, but the fact is that it changes the races quite a bit, and using Silverstone as an example, an extra zone of DRS when running reverse layout has been added. Classics may be classics but there is no denying how the changed conditions actually give new life to these tracks.

Unfortunately, only three tracks in total are initially allowed to run backwards, the aforementioned Silverstone and Zandvoort, and the Red Bull Ring in Austria. The computer opponents have also been trained on these and I personally could not experience any major difference in how the AI behaved on the reverse tracks compared to when driving them "normally". Anyway, it is a fun and appreciated addition, but which I again wish there was more of.

But the big draw of the year, and the absolute main reason to actually spend money on F1 25, is clearly Braking Point. Yes, the overly dramatic but outrageously entertaining story mode returns for a third season after being absent in F1 24. Once again, it is the fictional Konnersport that takes centre stage and the story picks up roughly where it left off last time. Familiar names like Aiden Jackson and Devon Butler return, but are also joined by new characters, complete with a Drive to Survive-worthy narrative that is truly hard to tear yourself away from.

As expected, there are both internal and external conflicts, and the drama is consistently at high speed. It's a perfect break from the otherwise dry and serious racing that the game represents, just as good as we remembered it, and thanks to the well composed sequences, improved facial animations, and the believable but possibly slightly exaggerated acting. This third season of Braking Point is really, really good and something that should be a recurring part of the game, year-after-year. On this point, Codemasters has really succeeded and it is something that more racing games should learn from, and include.

As previously mentioned, MyTeam is also back, but has changed quite a bit compared to previous years. A welcome complete renovation of what has been around since 2020 and which already felt rather dull last year. The game mode, which has simply been called "MyTeam 2.0", now involves more than just choosing the colour of your car and hiring a teammate. It finally allows you to build a team from scratch, or if you wish, take over an existing one like Konnersport or APXGP. Yes, the F1 film's fictional team is here too.

Gone is the sense of being a glorified Career mode, here you're forced to balance budgets, manage staff, and make a lot of decisions that can determine the outcome of an entire season. How will the car develop and which sponsors do you want to welcome into the team? These are just some of the questions you'll be expected to grapple with, all while keeping an eye on what Codemasters calls the Fan Rating, which is pretty much what it sounds like, a competition to be as reputable and attractive as possible, which in turn also affects several of the other elements. If you want to attract the most prestigious sponsors, you also need to have a well-run team.

Car and driver development has now also been split, forcing you to make smart choices about how and where you actually spend your available resources. It's not a proper F1 Manager, but there's no doubt that Codemasters has looked back once or twice at the now (sadly) defunct series and chiselled out some of the best bits. While MyTeam 2.0 doesn't offer the same deep dive as Frontier Developments' counterpart, it's more than enough to at least offer something markedly different from just speeding around lap-after-lap behind the wheel.

When it comes to presentation, it's once again the Ego engine that provides the horsepower, and as in previous years, F1 25 looks very good, especially on a computer with enough performance to really allow the game to flex its muscles. With Path-Tracing, it can look terribly spectacular, and something that is completely exclusive to PC at the time of writing. Console gamers, on the other hand, will have to do without it, and there has been no talk of a PS5 Pro update (so far), so we'll see what happens in the future on that front.

What can be enjoyed on all platforms, however, is the generally improved lighting. The F1 games have certainly looked ridiculously good for a long time, and the Ego engine has repeatedly painted fantastically dramatic scenes in the afternoon light, early morning, or late evening. But for some reason, bright daylight has been an area where the game has lagged and felt downright underwhelming visually. Codemasters has now finally rectified this, shaking off the slightly cartoony look that previous F1 games have suffered from during daylight. The difference is tangible and much appreciated, not to mention that F1 25 now feels much more uniform graphically.

Nevertheless, the sound has also been given a boost, not that it was in any way bad before, but now even more authentic sound clips from previous races have been included and the variety is greater than ever. A small but not insignificant upgrade that also does its part to enhance the experience. I would say that the engine roar is a bit more distinctive in F1 25, and in terms of tone I experience a slightly greater difference between, for example, Ferrari's engine and Mercedes' counterpart.

But at the end of the day, the biggest question, the perennial one, is if this year's game is worth investing in if you already own F1 24. Well, or 23 for that matter... As ever, this answer is based on how interested and obsessed you actually are with the sport, and whether you're going to spend a lot of hours online, racing against other like-minded people. The driving experience is still a bit of a question mark, and I didn't find the computer opponents much improved compared to last year either. Diving into corners unfortunately still works a little too well and the AI is quite kind when it comes to backing up to avoid collisions.

Likewise, I noticed some unpleasant and seemingly random bugs, including kerbs causing what is best described as an aggressive and explosive allergic reaction, something that on more than one occasion resulted in a visit to the gravel or into a barrier. It's hardly a dealbreaker as this has been recurring in recent years, but it's still sad that it can occur, and under the wrong circumstances, ruin quite a few hours of playing.

Sure, the Rewind feature is there (for a reason perhaps?), but this shouldn't be a problem at all. A result of limited time for game testing and a tight schedule? Yes, probably, but we can expect some updates at and shortly after launch that should fix the worst of the problems. Yet, how much of the driving experience will change I dare not say.

But in terms of content, there is absolutely nothing to complain about. Braking Point itself is honestly reason enough to open your wallet and even the completely renovated MyTeam is worth the money. The game may be more expensive than last year, but for those who follow the sport or have skipped the previous game, this is a great opportunity to once again dip your toe in the world's fastest motorsport, because F1 25 is hugely entertaining, although there is definitely room for improvement.

You're hardly reinventing the wheel here, and were it not for Braking Point and the new LiDAR-scanned tracks, it would in all honesty be hard to recommend F1 25 to anything but the most dedicated. And at the risk of sounding like a broken record, my final conclusion is much the same as last year. Does there need to be a new F1 every year? No, absolutely not. But I'm undeniably grateful for the efforts that Codemasters has actually made here, and F1 25 is, after all, the most complete and most absorbing representation of the sport you can get on PC or console to date. It's just a shame that it's a fairly straightforward and not very realistic one, and if you're going to play it you should be prepared for some bugs. Not least on PC...