F1 25, a tale of sleek cars, sharp corners, and a baffling obsession with racing backward.
The 2025 Formula 1 season is well underway, and as usual, Codemasters and EA have come back to the garage with EA Sports F1 25. Big changes have been made to the My Team career mode, and the game has a shiny new coat of polish thanks to LiDAR-scanned tracks and other small visual and audio changes.
Another thing it does is continue the story-driven Breaking Point saga while making just enough changes to other parts to call it “new.” But players’ expectations are rising every year, so the big question is: do these changes really matter, or are they just a stop on the way to the next game?
In Breaking Point 3, the story continues with the made-up Konnersport team’s rise as an underdog in Formula 1. Aiden Jackson and Devon Butler, who are back, and Callie Mayer, who is the first female F2 champion, are at the center of the story.
You are thrown into different Grand Prix weekends and given dialogue options that affect how well your team works together and how well they do. It combines the gameplay of Driver Career and My Team with great voice acting, smooth motion capture, and a story that doesn’t shy away from adding some sports drama and rivalry between teams. If you’ve been reading the Breaking Point series since the first book, this one is a good continuation.
The basic gameplay of F1 25 is mostly the same as in previous games, but it has been improved. It feels natural and easy to control, which is especially clear when starting a time trial. The cars really grip the road whether you’re playing with a racing wheel or a controller, and small changes to how responsive the steering helps you find the limit without too much trouble. By changing the settings and assists, you can make the game fit your skill level.
Time Trial, Grand Prix, Driver Career, My Team, and F1 World are the main game modes. This year, the biggest changes are made to My Team. Career Mode, on the other hand, gets very few important changes. F1 World keeps going with small changes to multiplayer, such as Invitationals and a Driver of the Day system. There is also a strangely promotional set of challenges based on the new Brad Pitt F1 movie.
Let’s switch the puzzle pieces for plans for the pit. The most challenging aspect of F1 25 is mastering racing strategies, including qualifying pace, tire management, DRS usage, and weather strategy. There will be times in both Breaking Point and My Team when you must make choices, such as which driver to back for an upgrade or how aggressively to handle wet conditions.
One of the strangest new features is reverse track racing, a unique way to test your racing skills. You can now race backward on three tracks, like Silverstone. It won’t change the game, but it is a fun and slightly disorienting way to test your muscle memory and race awareness.
The best thing about this is, without a doubt, the handling. It feels both easy enough for beginners and complex enough that you can get better at it with practice. The experience is smooth and builds confidence whether you use a wheel or a controller. This is no longer the shaky F1 22.
The backward tracks? A fun curiosity, but they get way too much attention for something that most players will only try once and forget about. Breaking Point works, but it’s not for everyone. It won’t blow your mind, but it does add some variety. When you play My Team, you have to really think about who gets the resources, how to manage staff, and how you want your brand to grow.
XP is earned passively in My Team and Career by doing well in races and meeting goals. Progress opens up better car parts, happier drivers, and extra money. In the Engineering tab, you’re in charge of research and development (R&D) paths.
In Personnel, you’re hiring or renewing drivers, and in Corporate, you’re working on sponsorship deals. You can even move sponsor decals around on your livery, which now lets you make some small changes. However, you still can’t make a completely unique driver or team owner, which is strange at this point.
Getting more XP affects how quickly your car changes and how well your drivers do, but the system isn’t too hard to get used to. It’s more about good management and making sure the race is fair.
LiDAR, which stands for “light detection and ranging,” is this year’s big tech word. Codemasters used it to scan multiple tracks for more lifelike detail. The scanned tracks appear and sound like they were recorded in real life. They show changes in elevation and surface flaws in great detail.
It’s a clear improvement over the five tracks that were changed. The other 19 still look good, but this boost to realism doesn’t help them. This makes the feature feel more like a tease than a revolution. LiDAR also has an impact on cutscenes, making off-track scenes more detailed and enhancing overall immersion.
The sound isn’t loud, but it’s better. In the game, EA added more real-life driver voice samples that react to things like pole position, race wins, and engineer chatter in the middle of a race. You might even hear your driver say things like, “Radio check, radio check.”
It’s not a big deal, but it makes it seem more like you’re in the F1 paddock. The engine sounds are still clear and loud, and the spatial audio lets you know when a competitor is coming up behind you.
F1 25 is a game that moves quickly in one direction (My Team), but other parts of the experience stay where they are. It’s easy to drive and feels great, better than it has in years. The handling is excellent. LiDAR track scanning appears to be effective, but it has its limitations. Breaking Point continues the soap opera story in a fun, if predictable, way.
However, Driver Career hasn’t received any significant updates in a while and features like the ability to reverse tracks and limited customization feel like they were hyped up as main courses but aren’t truly there. F1 25 isn’t bad—in fact, it’s pretty good if you like management modes—but if you want a big improvement in every way, you might want to wait for a sale or the next big step forward.
