Formula One is currently in its 75th season as a few major changes have taken place so far this season. Codemasters and EA SPORTS have releasedF1 25that replicates all of these updates and even features tie-ins to the upcoming F1 film starring Brad Pitt. When the series jumped to the current generation of consoles, many were excited about the possibilities of where this franchise goes. Fast-forward five years and the series remains on its dated EGO engine and has relied on a narrative mode across three different releases that caters to fans introduced to Formula One via a Netflix documentary.F1 25doesn’t feature much that’s new, but this car handling may just be the best the series has ever seen.
Third Time is the Charm for Konnersport
This sport would still be the most popular form of racing in the world even without striking lightning in a bottle with Drive to Survive on Netflix. Every other motorsport has invested in following suit, hoping to hit that same home run. This is literally every other motorsport as even MotoGP has a documentary featuring Marc Marquez on the way. A few years ago, Codemasters started its own narrative known as Braking Point to bring new fans of the sport over to the game that were introduced with that documentary.
Years later, Braking Point gets its third story in Codemasters' F1 series as the story has gone deeper than simply a rivalry between Aiden Jackson and Drake Butler. This premise seems to be what the F1 movie is based off of, but we won’t know for sure until that actually releases. A documentary that spurs a video game story mode that spurs a movie with a similar premise that gets tied-in with said video game. All of this continues to help the sport of Formula One grow.
Braking Point 3 starts with a recap of what happened in Braking Point 2, which the story skipped last year’s game. Davidoff Butler, father of Drake Butler, now owns Konnersport and shows that he’s an intrusive owner. The story has heavily morphed since its original concept, as the narrative has shifted to focusing on Konnersport as a whole with the Butler family rather than a driver rivalry.
Braking Point 3 is surprisingly dark, but it relies on big plot events and a lot of character movement without letting events sink in. Davidoff makes a strange phone call then passes away mysteriously as Callie’s mother calls during a race? It just feels like that an owner that involved would be at the race or someone that big and notable in the sport would have the race stopped. It’s a story mode, after all, though.
Years later, Braking Point gets its third story in Codemasters' F1 series as the story has gone deeper than simply a rivalry between Aiden Jackson and Drake Butler.
Callie really takes over the story focus, but driver focus can be switched at certain points between her and Aiden Jackson, who really just seems is along for the ride at this point. Drake goes from being indifferent as a team principal to just going on a full-on power trip like his father. There are a lot of heavy swing events in a short period that are filled with interrupting phone calls.
On the gameplay side, you’ll be inserted into different moments throughout the 2024 season asKonnersportgoes one on one with Red Bull. Weirdly there are never any interactions between anyone on the Konnersport team and anyone else in Formula One. Interviews will affect news stories which can be viewed in the menu and social media posts can be viewed but not interacted with. There isn’t much going on in Braking Point other than progressing through a surprisingly dark story.
Review: F1 24
With F1 24, the development team has touted an overhaul of the physics engine and the addition of Legends to a revamped Career Mode.
The Highlight is the Handling Model
ForF1 24, many weren’t pleased with the handling model for the cars. The development team was advised by Max Verstappen on the handling and they made it as easy as Verstappen makes it look on race day. Cars would drift and hardly spin out as the game took a direction away from realism. This year, however, the development team may have put in the perfect formula for both the controller (at least a DualSense) and a racing wheel.
Racing with no assists and a racing wheel such as theFanatec Gran Turismo DDultimately feels mostly perfect.The default force feedback strength is rough and needed to be adjusted.Now this isn’t a pure simulation, but the direction with the car handling swings much more towards a simulation experience as opposed to recent years. The car will easily get sideways and hitting curbs at a bad angle can introduce wheel hop causing a spin. You’ll need to find that perfect line between grip and the edge, andF1 25allows you to do this. You never feel like the game cheated in a situation and the rewind feature helps to ease the learning curve.
Now this isn’t a pure simulation, but the direction with the car handling swings much more towards a simulation experience as opposed to recent years.
The cars still feel grounded, but the tire behavior is where it needs to be. Turning traction control to medium helps to ease up on the overall focus allowing oversteer to be saved in some circumstances. Pushing the car, especially around a slow corner and not exiting smooth, will cause spin even with traction control with medium. The feel of the tires and of the rear of the car is excellent with a wheel, but the controller experience thanks to the haptic feedback and being able to discern the loss of grip in the triggers of the DualSense makes for what’s possibly the best car handling physics the series has seen. Many online will most likely aim to have all assists on, but playing without any allows for a fantastic racing experience.
The AI and Other Gameplay Issues
While the handling is fantastic, the overall experience is getting outdated. The AI is frustrating no matter the difficulty level. The higher the difficulty level, they all just seem to take off at the same time, never seem to lose grip or to lose tires, and generally follow the racing line. There may be an occasional pass, but a good bit of the time they are just in the way on a corner, then get immediate grip and take off. They’re decently aware of their surroundings, but not really that much. Even making a pass with DRS on a straight, the AI will slowly veer over.
The start of races can get atrocious. It’s difficult to avoid front wing damage as the entire field will slam on the brakes at the same time and bunch up. It feels like waiting in a parking lot. Cutting to the inside, the AI doesn’t realize you’re in the area. The AI and racing experience hasn’t evolved at all, as this includes the speech to text menu and asking your engineer for updates. The same pit entry option exists that was introduced a few years ago. Tire monitoring could be more detailed or provide a bit more context as well.
An issue that occurred last year, and it wasn’t a rule change in Formula One, was the DRS option being available after passing a car.The fact this is still an issue is mind boggling and with the heavy amount of eSports involved with this game, it would provide an unfair advantage in close battles. Load times are also slow and inconsistent for some reason, likely due to a connection with the server. Why this would be needed for an offline race makes no sense, but that may not be the case. The fact is that some load times, for an aging EGO engine on a system with a fast NVME, are simply too slow.
Other Gameplay Modes and Options
Codemasters has provided slight updates to already established modes forF1 25.The focus was definitely Braking Point 3, but a solid update to My Team is welcoming to those fans in the community.The option to be an owner or to choose a driver is available inF1 25, as you have the option to choose the driver to race for that weekend. As the owner, you will manage operations and R&D and line up drivers for next season. This provides a deeper experience than in the past and is a welcome addition that did need something to jolt the mode.
Everything from the facility to the staff can be upgraded. Accolades have also made their way over from the Career Mode to My Team. AI can also recruit and sign Icons. Brad Pitt’s character from the movie is available as a driver in My Team, but paying for two Icons would break the bank. My Team 2.0 offers a lot of small updates that will please those who are familiar with the managerial-side of the sport.
The option to be an owner or to choose a driver is available inF1 25, as you have the option to choose the driver to race for that weekend.
F1 World returns to serve as the central hub for everything else in the game that isn’t Braking Point, My TEAM or the Career. This is where the online racing is hosted, and the layout remains confusing. Special multiplayer events will take place in Invitationals, which were added for this year. Car customization for online racing and traditional single player events are housed here. Multiplayer offers ranked matchmaking and lobbies, and unfortunately nothing would connect on launch day to race online. Hopefully, this was just a launch issue.
First F1 25 Deep Dive Focuses on My Team 2.0
My Team 2.0 builds upon the original and it is detailed in the first Deep Dive for F1 25 along with the Career Mode.
New Circuit Updates and Changes
ForF1 25,Codemasters has brought in LIDAR technology to laser scan tracks allowing for the upmost authenticity. Other franchises have done this in the past and now that the door is open on this technology for the series, it’s a big plus. Only five tracks out of the entire calendar of 24, however, received LIDAR scans for this year. Bahrain, Miami, Melbourne, Suzuka and Imola all received the treatment. Miami is fairly new and Melbourne does have a new section that needs to be updated. Time constraints and availability may have had something to do with it, but there will most certainly be more tracks in the future.
The biggest curve ball to the game this year was the inclusion of reverse courses. This sits along the lines of adding the super cars a few years ago, as adding reverse tracks is definitely something different for the series. Only three tracks are available, however, with the Red Bull Ring in Austria, Silverstone and Zandvoort. These are great tracks to run backwards thanks to their layouts. It just would have been nice to have more. These can be raced in Grand Prix, Time Trials, Multiplayer and in the Career Mode after the second season.
New Visual and Audio Impressions
Having tested this on both a PlayStation 5 and a PlayStation 5 Pro, the visual experience on the Pro will at least pull the game away from feeling like it’s from 2020. Backgrounds and environments along with player models and car models don’t feel up to par on a base console. The Ray Tracing that’s added for the PS5 Pro severely helps the look during the race. The image quality is also much sharper on the PS5 Pro in comparison.
The PC version seems to be getting the brunt of the visual upgrades and changes as it introduces both Path Tracing and 8K support. When looking at the base requirements, the game only requires a GTX 1060 for gameplay and recommends an RTX 2070 for 60 FPS at 1080p high. Credit to this engine for continuing to grow, but the consoles aren’t seeing these changes.
The PC version of F1 25 supports both 8K resolution and Path Tracing
Player models are all the same height and feel dated, despite having new technology implemented for facial expressions.The cutscenes in Braking Point 3 look fantastic, but there’s a sharp difference between gameplay and that.This is due to being on an aging EGO Engine for the visuals. The greater hardware has allowed for more overhead, but the game isn’t looking as detailed as some of the other racing series. Codemasters states that there’s improved lighting with foliage, but the foliage still seems generic and the lighting may be working better with the ray tracing option on the Pro.
Codemasters has doubled the voice dialogue and expanded it into qualifying. The car audio still sounds just as good as ever with these cars, but all the voice dialogue across the board is stellar. Voice acting quality in Braking Point 3 is also solid. The game features a ton of modern EDM music and an upgraded in-house soundtrack that’ll suit anyone’s mood. The expanded dialogue helps to further deliver the modern-day television race experience for players, but it would be cool to hear in-race commentary. Speaking of commentary, all of the commentators are here and also further support that race day feel.
Closing Comments:
Codemasters gets it right with the handling inF1 25, allowing for challenging physics no matter the assist options or the controller. Using a racing wheel with no assists brings one of the more realistic interpretations of the sport the series has ever seen. Every bit of this is fixed over last year’s outing. It’s addictive and challenging while allowing those with a greater skill to showcase how much faster they can be than those with less skill. Outside of this, the experience is familiar. Having LIDAR circuits and reverse circuits are good additions, but there just aren’t many that take advantage. Braking Point 3 offers a darker story for those that are looking for a story mode in an F1 game. My Team 2.0 adding more depth is a welcome addition for those that understand the managerial portion of the sport. Most importantly, for those who are simply wanting to race,F1 25offers an excellent experience.
Version Reviewed: PlayStation 5
This Story Is YoursLeave your mark on the world of racing in F1 25, the official video game of the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship", featuring a revamped My Team mode and the thrilling third chapter of Braking Point.My Team 2.0Create your own F1 stories as you take control as the Owner of a Formula 1° team. The new Owner Perks System allows you to specialise in your preferred areas of team management, then get behind the wheel of either of your two F1* drivers on race weekends.
