Chris InglisF1 25 is the official video game of the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship, developed by Codemasters and published by Electronic Arts. The game launched on May 30, 2025, and came roaring out of the pits with a more significant shake-up this year, particularly with the career modes and on-track quality. While F1 24 served as an excellent immersive experience, F1 25 seems to have aimed for a deeper, more refined experience that veterans will appreciate and also appeals to a wider audience with the upcoming release of F1 The Movie.
One of the standout improvements in F1 25 is the refreshed My Team 2.0 mode. Rather than just being a driver/owner, you can now take on the role of a team principal utilising the owner perks system. This means more control over engineering, personnel, and corporate departments. You’ll be making more strategic decisions about staff numbers, R&D investments, and even balancing your budget against the cost cap and aerodynamic testing restrictions. Then on weekends, you get to choose which of your drivers to race as. This added depth creates a far more immersive and satisfying long-term career mode with varying options to keep each race weekend feeling like you’re in control. Of course, being an Australian I just had to go with the driver career as Oscar Piastri and McLaren given his amazing start to this season of racing.
Braking Point also makes a welcome return this year, picking up the dramatic narrative of the Konnersport team. F1 25 has a compelling story you can dive straight into that throws the team into chaos and puts you at the heart of their fight for the championship. At times, you even get to step into the shoes of Konnersport’s Team Principal, Casper Akkerman, making crucial decisions on department events that can significantly impact the team’s performance and reputation. This definitely adds to the immersion as your choices off the track are directly coupled with your physical performance in the driver’s seat on the track.
Adding another layer of cinematic immersion, F1 25 features an exciting tie-in with the upcoming release of F1 The Movie starring Brad Pitt. You can watch the movie trailer as well as jump straight into the action with a preview race that forms part of the movie, offering a direct taste of the cinematic experience right in the game. This is a dynamic feature that will expand with six more races added after the movie’s official release on June 26. This innovative integration is a fantastic way to bridge the gap between the game and the movie, providing an engaging and unique activity to do outside of the regular championship and career modes. You can also recruit both new driver icons into the career modes and race as the APXGP team if you own the Iconic Edition of the game.
There have also been some significant technical advancements made to select tracks this year utilising LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging). There are five tracks utilising this technology – Bahrain, Miami, Melbourne, Suzuka and Imola – to provide much more accurate depictions of the circuit surfaces and surroundings. Where F1 24 boasted stunning overhauls to specific tracks like Spa and Jeddah, F1 25 translates to a more authentic driving experience on these five tracks. In addition, the inclusion of reverse track layouts for Silverstone, Zandvoort and the Red Bull Ring is an interesting twist to the formula and gives players both new and old, a fresh perspective on these familiar circuits. Muscle memory will be out the window as you learn to adapt to the reverse direction for these particular tracks.
The AI opponents feel more intelligent and competitive than in previous iterations. In F1 24, the AI offered a good range of difficulty, but even a novice like me was overtaking the in-game representations of Norris and Verstappen. Whereas this time around they are much more aggressive, they make better tactical decisions regarding DRS and ERS and engage in more convincing race battles. Any mistakes you make are sure to be punished by the AI opponents. The result is much more dynamic and challenging races, especially in career modes, and this held my interest much more per play session.
Visually, F1 25 continues the high standards set by its predecessor and the game ran flawlessly on the Xbox Series X. The car models gleam with lifelike quality, the character models look close to the real thing, and the lighting has seen a noticeable step up. The upgraded audio experience, including more real-world driver dialogue during qualifying, further pulls you into the action which was a bit of a miss last year. I can understand the cost implications of getting more real dialogue from the drivers but for a game that ticks a lot of boxes already, hearing more lines from your favourite drivers in career mode would be the icing on the cake.
Overall, F1 25 has improved in many areas and delivers a more engaging and in-depth experience. The overhaul to My Team 2.0, the return of Braking Point 3, graphical and audio enhancements, a tie-in series of races connecting us to F1 The Movie, and the technical advancements in track accuracy and AI make this an essential upgrade for F1 fans.
This review utilised a key provided by EA Australia and F1 25 is out now on Steam, Xbox and PlayStation.
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