F1 25 review: a racing game that's all about the drama

We're about a month away from Brad Pitt and his pals attempting to turn a sport that involves understanding the concept of tyre degradation into a gripping Hollywood blockbuster. But if you've been playing the official F1 games over the past five years, you'll know that mixing F1 with melodrama works brilliantly. Yes, Braking Point, the narrative story mode that began in F1 2021, returns for a third time in F1 25.

We'll confess to having a massive soft spot for Braking Point. Alright, some of the plotlines are cheesier than a three day fondue festival, but there's a lot to be said for having a more human off-track narrative pushing you along between race events. This storyline is a continuation of the arc that began in F1 2021 with even messier family drama this time around and, while you might be entirely lost if you've not played the previous two instalments, for long-time fans it's as involving and entertaining as it always was.

Away from the soap opera, the other significant update in F1 25 is My Team mode. Rather than the throwback concept of an owner-driver, this new version of My Team has you stepping into the branded trainers of the team principal of an 11th Formula One team, with all the additional responsibility that entails. While it's naturally not quite as in depth as the now cancelled F1 Manager series, it's most of the way there and streamlined, intuitive menus ensure it's never completely overwhelming.

Plus, unlike F1 Manager, you have the added bonus that when the race weekend arrives you aren't sitting on the sidelines fiddling with fuel strategies. In F1 25 you get to assume control of one of your two contracted drivers and clamber behind the wheel yourself. Oh and one of those drivers might be Brad Pitt.

Yes, that upcoming F1 movie is also well represented in the official game. In My Team you can choose to play as the movie's own fictional 11th team, APX Grand Prix, with drivers Sonny Hayes (Pitt) and Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) casually dropped into the driver mix. There's also a separate scenario mode which blends clips from the movie with in-game challenges in much the same way as Braking Point does.

There's only one small prologue challenge available so far, so as to avoid ruining the plot, with the rest only arriving as downloadable content once the movie is out in cinemas. We'd make a gag about spoilers, but on an F1 car it's actually a rear wing.

After a lacklustre seasonal update last year, whose main development focus appeared to be making the handling model undriveable, F1 25 is a return to form. Braking Point will keep you entertained for a good few hours, but it's the expansive new My Team mode that offers proper novelty and longevity to those who have loyally dropped their cash on the official game every year.

Newcomers and lapsed fans, meanwhile, will return to menus upon menus of modes and options in one of the most refined and feature rich racers available. And if your fantasy is just 'pretending you're handsome Hollywood star Brad Pitt', somehow it's now got that covered too...