REVIEW – This anniversary year marks the 75th birthday of Formula 1, and EA Sports and Codemasters are once again in the driver’s seat for the official World Championship simulation. With a revamped Career Mode and the third season of the Breaking Point series, can the franchise manage to bring a fresh spark to captivate fans of Verstappen, Norris, Hamilton or Leclerc?

A milestone year for one of the world’s most popular championships: Formula 1! Launched in 1950, it’s now celebrating its 75th anniversary, an occasion highlighted by the FIA, as well as Codemasters and EA Sports. The developers and publishers are back behind the wheel of F1 25, the official simulation. While last season’s edition had some shortcomings in progression, this year’s iteration brings a handful of enticing content updates.

A Fresh Push for Storytelling

He’s back! When he’s not around, the F1 game feels quite flat. The Point de Rupture story mode returns, bringing back the iconic characters of the Konnersport team: team boss Devon Butler, owner Davidoff Butler, and drivers Callie Mayer and Aiden Jackson. Inspired by the style of Drive to Survive, players can enjoy the small stories of the paddock across different chapters and Grand Prix races, with clearly defined race objectives that push the narrative forward. A nice addition is that at the start you can choose between Callie and Aiden, changing the perspective of the story.

This year’s edition also includes a promotional hub and features tied to the F1 movie. Set to release on Apple TV+ in a month, it stars Sonny Hayes and Noah Pearce, played by Brad Pitt and Damson Idris. Although not all features are active in this mode yet (currently only the film’s trailer is available), the characters are impressively rendered in 3D and can be played in Career Mode if you enable the Icons option.

Codemasters has focused on Career Mode this year, alongside Breaking Point. A few years back, they already revamped it to let players develop their car and control the two chosen team drivers in multiplayer. Now the Career Mode offers an even broader range of control. The owner and car models remain deep and detailed, and there are five areas accessible at the start of a career. The first is scheduling – crucial for planning activities over several days that bring in revenue or new fans. This area has been upgraded to offer more choices beyond employee, driver or car development management.

Management and New Features

Team management is as important as ever, with your two main drivers’ contracts, recruiting new talent and managing egos only scratching the surface. Employees and engineers also play a vital role in boosting results through research and development. The biggest addition this year is the Owner Training Tree – a skill tree to upgrade your manager’s abilities in engineering, HR and business areas. For example, by spending 1 training point and 3 days on the “Retrospective Analysis” skill, you’ll permanently earn 20 resource points whenever a research project is delayed. As for the Career “driver” mode, you can still start by taking control of a Formula 2 driver.

In other sections, F1 World gathers customizable Grand Prix (classic races), online modes and challenges, along with the F1 Zone community space. There, you can join groups of fans of the same team or driver, answer polls or tackle special challenges. While there are no new circuits this season, three tracks – Silverstone, Spielberg and Zandvoort – can now be played in reverse to add variety. As usual for an official simulation, every driver and track is faithfully recreated using LIDAR technology for detailed laser scans – this year including Bahrain, Miami, Melbourne, Suzuka and Imola.

Gameplay and Graphics

The EGO engine still delivers, but there’s no revolutionary change in gameplay or driving feel this year. For newcomers, the game is certainly accessible, with a coherent feel to the suspension, braking and live energy management – but veterans might have reason to grumble. Visually, it remains clean and polished, with small details like dust or debris on the helmet visor adding a fresh touch, but the gap compared to F1 24 isn’t really significant after a few hours of racing. It’s the new content that stands out more than major graphical or gameplay advances.

Final Verdict

As often with EA and Codemasters’ F1 entries, new additions bring novelty, but under the hood, it’s not exactly a revolution. The return of Breaking Point and the arrival of the F1 film characters are welcome boosts for narrative fans, but in the long term, it’s the Career Mode that truly shines. While it doesn’t drastically change its gameplay or visuals, F1 25 is still a solid official simulation – welcoming to newcomers and engaging enough for series veterans.

– Gergely Herpai “BadSector” –

Publisher: EA Sports
Developer: Codemasters
Genre: Racing simulation
Release Date: May 30, 2025