Whether Lewis Hamilton’s stellar career, the recent domination of Max Verstappen or the current rise of Aussie Oscar Piastry, Codemaster’s F1 game has been relatively impressive for many years. They generally look good, play well, and feature an impressive list of modes that remain true to the depth and authenticity of the sport.
Many of the pillars of the F1 25 remain familiar and stable, like in general gameplay and main mode, but some additional additions have been added, including Brake Point 3 and new team features, leading to one of the better entries in the franchise to date.
I’ll take it to the truck
Most of the notable improvements feel to be within deeper modes and new features, so we’ll be touching on the core gameplay and mechanics of the F1 25. If you play recent F1 entries, you’ll feel like you’re home here.
Whipping around the track at 300 km/h gives you weight and pace at every moment. As always, there are plenty of customizable settings that allow you to fine-tune the overall experience based on your comfort and skill level. There are certain presets that automatically adjust settings, but you can also enter and chop to change them.
Also, driver AI will respond on the spot this year by trying to overtake, slow down, get in the way, or make aggressive and unique attempts, making aggressive and unique attempts.
From a visual perspective, certain circuits are redder scanned for greater reliability and realism. Bahrain, Miami, Melbourne, Suzuka and Imola all received such treatments and the results are truly amazing. From cars to driver similarities, lighting effects, and even more detailed truck pass traces, the F1 25 looks as good as the franchise has seen. I hope this feature will become a standard practice for every track moving forward.
My Team 2.0
The new My Team mode has probably received the biggest facelift as far as modes are concerned, and there are a few new tricks in store. I’m now managing drivers for the first time, rather than the driver/owner concept of the previous game. Here we have not only full control over the team and race capabilities, but also the impacts and consequences of such dynamics.
For example, a team may get only one particular part of the car that can improve the overall performance of the car, such as handling, whether it is speed. By consistently fondling one driver over another, it can create a cleft of overall chemistry and value. While drivers from other teams may be seduced by your choices and strategies, they may want to leave.
The menu is a bit heavy at times, but I love how it all comes together beyond the track. Earn XP points and spend across engineering, personnel and corporate teams. You need to manage fan ratings for all drivers. This is a feature brought in from F1 24.
The Team HQ section also allows you to break down exactly how many people work within each of the three teams. Additionally, R&D is split into two systems. This allows you to investigate and develop various parts of your car.
You can also use resource points to purchase upgrades and build parts, but you can even decide how to develop them. For better results, spend time using parts at the expense of several races and rush through the process to risk the overall performance of your car.
Finally, you need to manage your sponsors to unlock new rewards. There’s just a bit of busy work here, as you just need to track your current deals so you don’t step on your toes, but you can appreciate its inclusion. Overall, these additions help to feel deeper and help to point out how refreshing it feels as a result.
Brake Point 3
It’s probably a mode for returning fans, but it encourages players to check out the third article of this incredibly fascinating story. I’m a sucker in the sports game story mode (Fight Night Champion, I’m still watching you), but I’m quite a bit of weight in the overall story as well as the commitment to bringing these characters back to the new round of Chaleneggs.
The players control Iden Jackson and Curry Meyer, the latter now joining the F1 Konnerport team. Devon Butler, the sister of the character who was once an antagonist of the series, became manager of Konnersport, I am rather unpotential, trying to remain competitive and relevant in elite sports, where she is an unfortunate outlier at this point.
In Brake Point 3, players control a certain number of laps in a series of tracks and situations that generally keep things fresh and interesting. Whether you’re racing with a broken gearbox or without a front wing, you can still play either Aiden or Curry to get the fastest lap, finish in a certain position, or simply win the race.
There are a lot of dialogue over the radio, and even some properly acting cutscenes that keep the tension high. It’s not the deepest story you’ll find in the game, but it’s far better than any rights.
Although it is more flexible and less customizable than my team or driver’s career mode, there’s no need to do so as the story itself leads to this driver’s career mode.
Unfortunately, the standard driver carrier mode feels like the most basic mode here. Simply because it doesn’t receive much facelift. It’s not a bad thing or boring and I’m not going to dismiss it. That’s just what it is.
F1 World and F1: Movies
F1 World returns as it adopts race online, and is primarily profiting from the new Invitationals system. Here you can create races based on track, weather, time of day and specific gameplay mods and invite friends to ride. As a result, you can get many unique rewards based on the invitations you complete, each with its own rewards and points available.
The upcoming F1 film starring Brad Pitt and Javier Bardem will also be featured prominently on F1 25, but unfortunately it’s an ongoing work. This mode essentially allows access to certain races and scenarios based on the film. This will have clips directly from the movie and become available.
At the time of writing, only the first scenario is available and will reappear later in June. Players can earn exclusive cosmetic rewards to jump and compete on fictional APXGP teams.
I might have never believed you before, but I’m here, if you said you could play as Brad Pitt in the seat of a Formula 1 car a few years ago.
Final Thoughts
If the F1 25 feels like a driver’s career mode is almost untouched and fals on the fact that the F1 travel part is not yet complete, consider me as one happy camper.
The F1 25 is extremely fun to play and looks the same as before. With my team mode and surprisingly attractive brake point 3, it’s very clear that it’s a good time to close everything down and become an F1 fan.
4 stars (out of 5)
Highlight: Fresh My Team Mode. Brake Point 3 is very attractive. Visually amazing
Low Light: Relatively untouched driver carrier mode
Developer: CodeMasters
Publisher: EA Sports
Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Windows PC
Available: Now
Reviews conducted on PlayStation 5 are conducted using pre-release code provided by the publisher.
