F1 25 had a weird kind of pressure on it for me. Not just because this is the 75th anniversary of Formula 1 (which, if you’re a racing nerd, is a massive deal) but also because last year’s game genuinely disappointed me. I’ve been living and breathing F1 since childhood – Sunday afternoons with my dad, yelling at the TV, then months spent arguing in forums about who’s overrated. And when Codemasters and EA took the reins together, I had hope that the series might finally break free of its incremental-update curse.

So when F1 25 landed, I cleared a weekend, set up my wheel and pedals, yanked my Shenmue soundtrack off the playlist (sorry, Ryo), and dove in with a mix of skepticism and hope. This, friends, is how it went down.

Key Takeaways – F1 25 in a Nutshell

• Breaking Point mode returns with its best narrative energy since debut, though it’s more “Drive to Survive” soap than deep drama.
• Career mode gets a surprisingly robust overhaul: finally, meaningful team management and a skill tree for you as an owner.
• Gameplay and graphics are, for better or worse, familiar. If F1 24 annoyed you, most of that DNA is still here – but so are its strengths.
• Official content is impeccable: LIDAR tracks, all real drivers, and slick broadcast-style presentation.
• Accessible for newcomers, but long-time fans might feel déjà vu after a few hours.

First Impressions: Nostalgia With a Side of Déjà Vu

The first boot-up of F1 25 always hits me with that EA Sports stinger — which, yes, triggers a tiny Pavlovian “let’s go” after all these years. The menus look even sleeker than last year, and there’s the usual F1 TV glitz overlaying everything. But it wasn’t until I poked into the single-player modes that I realized Codemasters had actually done something bold: Breaking Point is back, and it’s not an afterthought. Anyone who’s played F1 games in the last few years knows that when this mode’s missing, the game feels sterile. Here, as soon as I saw Devon Butler’s smug face and the Konnersport crew bickering in slick cutscenes, I cracked a smile — it’s trashy melodrama, but it’s our trashy melodrama.

But let’s not kid ourselves — this is still an annual sports game. The moment I hit the track, I had a weird sense of déjà vu. The handling, the visuals, even the “flick” of the car under heavy braking — all felt comfortably familiar. For a second, I wondered if I’d booted up F1 24 by mistake. But then, the Career mode caught my eye…

Getting Stuck In: Career Mode Finally Levels Up

This is where I lost hours. For the first time in ages, Codemasters has made actual, meaty changes to Career mode. You’re not just picking sponsors and moving sliders — you’re a team boss with real choices. I spent half an evening obsessing over my team’s calendar, weighing whether to run a costly marketing event or focus on research. (Hot tip: the new planning screen is a time-sink if you love min-maxing.)

What got me genuinely excited was the new owner skill tree. I never thought I’d care about spending formation points on “Retrospective Analysis,” but when it kicked in and gave me a resource boost after a delayed upgrade, I actually fist-pumped. There’s something weirdly addictive about building your management abilities, not just upgrading the car. It reminds me of some of my favorite sports sims where your off-track decisions matter as much as what you do during a race.

Don’t get me wrong, you’re still playing the on-track sessions — practice, qualifying, the works. But now, every result feels more connected to the broader campaign. I ended up screaming at my screen after a botched pit call cost me a podium, only to realize that my own planning had led to my chief engineer being overworked and distracted. It’s not as punishingly deep as some niche PC management games, but for an F1 sim, it’s finally more than skin deep.

Breaking Point 3: High Drama, Low Stakes (and I Love It)

Look, I’m a sucker for narrative sports modes. It’s the Shenmue fan in me. Breaking Point 3 nails the Netflix “Drive to Survive” energy — you bounce between perspectives, pick your protagonist (Callie or Aiden — both fully voiced, thankfully), and tackle bespoke race objectives. I picked Aiden for my playthrough, just to see if he’d finally grow a spine, and was rewarded with classic F1 melodrama: rivals crashing out, tense radio calls, and some genuinely funny paddock squabbles.

The mode doesn’t overstay its welcome, and while some cutscenes border on cringe, it’s all delivered with enough polish that I kept playing “just one more chapter.” I wish the decision points mattered more — it’s mostly an illusion of choice — but it’s still miles ahead of the stale “win five races” objectives most sports titles throw at you. Bonus: the integration of the upcoming F1 movie, with playable versions of Brad Pitt and Damson Idris’s characters, is pure fanservice, but I can’t pretend I didn’t geek out the first time I saw them on the grid.

On-Track Action: Familiar, Sometimes to a Fault

This is where my enthusiasm wanes a bit. After 10+ hours on both pad and wheel (for science), the driving model feels… well, very F1 24. The physics engine is still the EGO engine’s latest flavor, and while you get a nice sense of suspension travel and tire slip, the changes from last year are minor. Casual fans will be fine — it’s responsive, with solid feedback and all the assists you could want. But if you’re a hardcore sim head or you’ve been grinding these games for years, you’ll probably notice that the car dynamics, tire degradation, and weather effects aren’t radically improved.

The new “reverse” track layouts (Silverstone, Austria, Netherlands) are a fun novelty. I spent a good hour running time trials, trying to unlearn muscle memory — it’s almost like a fresh circuit until you instinctively brake at the wrong spot and plow into the gravel. Otherwise, the most impressive updates are under the hood: tracks like Bahrain, Miami, and Suzuka use new LIDAR scans, and you can tell — the camber, kerbs, and elevation changes finally feel spot-on. Still, unless you’re the type to memorize apexes from real-life broadcasts, you’d be forgiven for not noticing.

Graphics and Presentation: Polished, but Not a Quantum Leap

Visually, F1 25 is in that awkward spot where you can tell EA and Codemasters want to push things further, but the tech just isn’t making the jump yet. On PS5 and PC (tested on a 3070 Ti), it’s sharp, with great lighting and some new visor effects — I love the flying dirt and tire debris, which gives longer races a layer of immersion. The broadcast overlays are clean, and the driver likenesses, especially the F1 movie characters, are scarily good. But if you stare too long at the crowd or pitlane, you’ll spot plenty of reused assets. It’s not ugly — far from it! — but anyone hoping for a generational leap will be underwhelmed.

Performance-wise, it’s smooth as butter on my rig (1440p, high, 90-120 fps) and perfectly stable on PS5. Load times are fast — a huge plus if you just want to get racing. I had zero crashes, which, considering EA’s usual launch woes, is a minor miracle.

Who Should Play F1 25?

I keep asking myself: Who is F1 25 really for? If you skipped last year or the year before, this is probably the best series entry since the PS5/Xbox Series era started. The upgraded Career and the return of Breaking Point are legitimately worth your time.

F1 25 doesn’t reinvent the wheel—but it tunes the engine enough to keep fans strapped in for another satisfying ride.”

For diehard sim-racers, you might find the lack of deep physics tweaks and incremental graphics a bit stale, but the official immersion and LIDAR tracks are pure candy if you’re an F1 devotee.

And if you’re brand-new? The tutorial, assists, and story mode make this as welcoming an entry as you’ll find. F1 World and the F1 Zone are decent distractions, but I never lost myself in the online side — your mileage may vary.

Bottom Line: The Official F1 Sim Settles in for the Long Haul

After a couple dozen hours, my initial skepticism gave way to a kind of grumpy respect. F1 25 isn’t revolutionary, but it’s finally evolving in the right places. The story mode is back, the Career is deeper, the presentation is slick, and the F1 vibe is stronger than ever. Sure, hardcore sim heads will still grumble, and the visuals aren’t cutting-edge, but for once, I don’t regret another lap around the sun with this series. It’s a confident, accessible entry that feels made for the anniversary — and for the fans who keep coming back despite knowing exactly what they’re going to get.

TL;DR

If you want the official F1 driver experience — with a dash of melodrama and a much-improved team management sim — F1 25 is the best the series has offered in years. It won’t convert the skeptics or satisfy every hardcore sim-lover, but as a celebration of F1’s 75th, it absolutely gets the job done.