As Codemasters and EA get ready for the upcoming F1 25, senior creative director Lee Mather, creative director Gavin Cooper and producer Si Lumb answered some of our burning questions, including about improvements to visuals and racing physics thanks to the studio’s use of LiDAR technology to scan race tracks. To begin with, what are the biggest changes that are coming to F1 25? Gavin: There are lots of big changes coming to F1 25 that we’re very excited to share with our players, starting with fan-favorite My Team mode receiving its largest update since its introduction, My Team now invites players to take control as the Owner of their Formula One team, placing more emphasis on managing the fates of both drivers in the team, alongside the team itself. Braking Point is also back, with Konnersport returning as an established team on the grid and battling for championships. For the first time, players can extend their Konnersport experience through other game modes. Once they’ve finished Braking Point, they can also take the team into Driver Career or My Team. Iconic Edition players can also experience post-launch gameplay chapters inspired by the film, featuring the APXGP team from the upcoming movie, F1. We’ve also incorporated LIDAR technology to more circuits to enhance authenticity and realism. In a first for the official F1 games, players can also race around Silverstone, Zandvoort, and the Red Bull Ring in a reverse track layout adding a new dimension to the racing experience. "Braking Point is also back, with Konnersport returning as an established team on the grid and battling for championships." How much will the LiDAR scanning of tracks affect the second-to-second driving gameplay? Lee: LIDAR-scanned circuits offer clear benefits to players of all skill levels. For those who are detail-oriented and appreciate the intricacies and nuances of a race track, LIDAR provides an unprecedented level of accuracy in track ribbon and curb placement. But the advantages go beyond that. All players benefit from the precise recreation of the environment surrounding the track. From grandstands to terrain, whatever players see in real life and on TV is faithfully represented in-game. What sets our LIDAR circuits apart is that the data is captured during an actual F1 race weekend, ensuring the most accurate and up-to-date representation possible. How will the latest chapter of Braking Point tie in to the stories we’ve seen in the previous games? Gavin: The latest chapter of Braking Point will tie into the previous chapters, as we continue to follow the Konnersport Team featuring Aiden Jackson, Devon Butler, and Callie Mayer. Braking Point, first introduced in 2021, centered around Aiden Jackson, a rookie determined to make a name for himself while facing off against the ruthless Devon Butler, a driver willing to do whatever it took to succeed. The story continued in F1 23, with the debut of the fictional team Konnersport and the introduction of Callie Mayer, the first woman to win the F2 Championship. In this sequel, the once-feared Devon Butler saw his perspective on the sport shift, creating an opportunity for Callie to break into F1. After two tough seasons, the team made significant progress, improving their position in the sport and setting the stage for the upcoming F1 25. Nonetheless, players will be able to enjoy the story and have a complete experience regardless of whether they have played the previous games. What kind of features and enhancements can one expect in My Team? Gavin: My Team sees a host of new features and improvements this year, with one of the most significant changes being a shift in how roles are defined. Previously, players took on the dual responsibilities of both Team Owner and Driver, a setup that isn’t typical of the sport. To reflect the real-world structure more accurately, the mode has been reimagined so that players now focus solely on the responsibilities of being a Team Owner. This revamped approach brings a greater emphasis on managing both of the team’s drivers. During race weekends, players can now choose which driver to put on the track. The progression system has also been refined — Owners will work to boost their team’s Fan Rating by meeting objectives and winning high-stakes Rivalries against competing teams. Off the track, team operations are now run from a completely redesigned Team HQ — a dynamic environment that expands in size, staff, and activity as the team’s reputation grows. Decisions around workforce size, development expenses, and facility upkeep will be crucial, with owners needing to carefully manage resources to stay within the cost cap. Additionally, Research and Development have been split into distinct branches, giving players more strategic freedom over part production and deployment. For example, producing just one part from a new upgrade package is quicker, but choosing which driver receives it first can impact their morale and influence future contract negotiations. "To reflect the real-world structure more accurately, [My Team] has been reimagined so that players now focus solely on the responsibilities of being a Team Owner." How much will the new sponsor decals feature affect income in My Team? Gavin: In My Team you’re limited in terms of how many sponsor decals you can put on your car. That limit is based on your Fan Rating, so as you increase your Fan Rating (by completing team accolades, winning rivalries with competitor teams, or performing at GP weekends), your team will become more prestigious and be able to get more sponsorship – so more decals on your car. Each decal slot you fill earns you cash, but there is a drop-off in effectiveness as you add more. We devised a system to push you to wanting more decals on your car, especially as a fledgling team struggling to stay afloat. But as your livery gets more and more populated, we didn’t want to stomp all over players’ creativity by essentially forcing them to stick a new decal on every time a slot unlocked. Those later slots won’t earn you as much as your earlier ones, and if you would rather retain your design, the extra income you miss out on won’t be game-breaking. At the start of the game, you’ll only have access to a limited range of sponsors, but you can unlock more by scheduling the sponsor discovery activity between race weekends. All of this is separate to your title sponsor, which works quite differently. Your title sponsor is signed for an entire season and represents a significant chunk of your income. That sponsor is inherently displayed on the car, and building a relationship with that sponsor can, over time, unlock further decal variants and even a special car livery designed around that sponsor. Figuring out how to balance the decision between sticking with a title sponsor you have loyalty to versus jumping to a new sponsor that may be more lucrative is just a part of what you’ll have to do as Team Owner. Are interviews coming back in F1 25? Gavin: Interviews are making a return in Braking Point, where the fictional characters like Aiden and Callie allow us to deliver fully voiced, context-specific responses that feel authentic and well-integrated with the story. The storyline allows us to create tailored interviews based on whether the driver suffered a crash, a win or a key moment between rivals. Thanks to new tech like Nvidia’s Audio2Face, these interviews also now look more lifelike, much closer to what you’d expect from a real TV broadcast. Career Mode presents a tougher challenge. With so many possible outcomes and storylines, it’s hard to craft interviews that feel personal and meaningful. Figuring out what’s relevant in any given moment, not just in a race, but across an evolving season is a complex task. And without voice acting for official drivers, responses would lose the impact that makes interviews worthwhile. So while interviews won’t feature in Career Mode this time, we’re keeping the door open for the future, ensuring the mode evolves in a way that supports them properly. "The storyline allows us to create tailored interviews based on whether the driver suffered a crash, a win or a key moment between rivals." Are there any plans to bring classic F1 cars? Lee: While they are not in this year’s game, it is always an ongoing conversation. The return of Braking Point 3, My Team, the LIDAR updated and reverse tracks have been the focus areas for this year’s game. What kind of improvements have you made to the handling and physics this time around? Lee: A number of changes have been made to how cars feel in F1 25. The core handling model was developed using player feedback from F1 23 and F1 24. We invited sim racers and content creators to the studio in November to play an early build and refine the model to create a balanced and stable platform with reduced understeer and a more compliant rear under acceleration. Some of the main improvements include: Balancing the transition between mechanical and aero balance to ensure the cars feel exciting and dynamic across all speeds. Updating the gearbox and transmission to deliver seamless gear changes that don’t upset the car’s balance. Applying insights from the F1 Sim Racing tournament to fine-tune ERS, DRS, and slipstream behaviour, promoting effective overtaking in both single and multiplayer racing. Modifying tyre wear values to enable more varied tyre strategies, offering teams greater flexibility in how they run their race. With the wide range of setup options in F1 25, players can also fine-tune the car to match their driving style. Can you talk us through the various customization options available as far as car set up goes? Lee: Car setup in F1 25 offers advanced players the opportunity to tailor the car’s feel and performance to better suit their preferences. Creating a fast car isn’t just about raw performance; it’s also about player confidence and the ability to drive and race consistently. Players can adjust a wide range of setup areas to impact the car’s feel and performance. Fuel load can be adjusted, which directly impacts the car’s weight. Aerodynamics can be fine-tuned, but players should be mindful of how these adjustments affect ride height and suspension setup, which can also be modified. Additionally, transmission, brakes, and tyre pressures are open for adjustment, providing players with the tools they need to find those vital tenths of a second. With Path Tracing, how big of a leap in visuals can we expect in F1 25 over 24? Lee: Path Tracing in F1 25 significantly improves realism, offering more accurate reflections, shadows, and ambient lighting for supported PCs. Thanks to Path Tracing, the light now follows every bounced path, including that from indirect lighting and multiple reflections. Shade, light, and colours dynamically shift as they would in real-life, whether you’re racing under the thousands of lights in Bahrain or navigating the castle section in Baku at sunset. If you have a PC capable of experiencing it, Path Tracing is the most realistic simulation of light on track that we’ve ever delivered. With it, everything looks exactly like it would on the track, making the venue feel more authentic. This is particularly important for true-to-life realism in sports games. Outside of Path Tracing, we have made tonemapping improvements to create a more dramatic effect across all weather conditions throughout the game, and the track surface shader has been updated to more accurately reflect the real-life circuits. Off the asphalt, LIDAR has also helped in making trees and foliage better match the type, size and shape of their real-life counterparts, with new additions such as cherry blossom added to the track in Suzuka. "If you have a PC capable of experiencing it, Path Tracing is the most realistic simulation of light on track that we’ve ever delivered." When it comes to the console versions, will there be enhancements exclusive to the PS5 Pro? Lee: F1 25 benefits from all the technical enhancements that elevate visual quality, gameplay, and player immersion we delivered when the PlayStation®5 Pro was released last November. This includes: Upgraded Quality Mode, now featuring on-track Ray Tracing using PSSR. We leveraged Sony’s PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) to include more Ray Traced techniques on track for increased photorealism while maintaining the 4K/60Hz target. Performance Mode now runs at 4K (on 120Hz screens only). Players choosing this high frame rate will enjoy a crisp, smooth experience and extra clarity from the increased resolution. A new Resolution Mode delivers 8K/60Hz (on 8K screens only). Resolution mode also features Ray Traced Dynamic Diffuse Global Illumination (DDGI) on track. EGO’s full suite of RT DDGI, AO, reflection and shadow effects are enabled in 8K/30Hz for cutscenes, replay Flashback and photo modes. We’re always exploring new ways to optimise and innovate on all platforms, and our commitment to delivering the best possible experience for our console players remains as strong as ever – and this year for F1 25, we have included splitscreen mode running at double the frame rate, so couch competitors get that Codemasters 60 Hz signature without compromise. Are there any plans to bring the F1 series to the Nintendo Switch 2? Lee: There are no plans at the moment to bring F1 25 to the Nintendo Switch. How vital will technologies like PSSR play in pushing visual fidelity further on PS5 Pro? Si: We were delighted that the PlayStation®5 Pro featured such a well-tuned upscaler in PSSR. For a while in graphics technologies, the upscalers have allowed rendering engines to push more fidelity into a lower resolution “input” image, and then benefit from the AI models to take those to incredible looking large resolution frames, upon which we can then apply post effects and tuning. For PS5 Pro, we originally weren’t going to use PSSR on F1 24, as we were trying to de-risk our approach. However, when testing it, it was so good at transforming from the input to high resolution output that we could actually use double resolution Ray Traced reflections as input and rely on the AI to give us a much higher quality image. It’s something we couldn’t have done with our own TAA upscaler. As we go into F1 25 with broadly the same solution as F1 24, we get the benefit of that same quality, just with far more LIDAR tracks to see the increased density and uplift that the Quality mode provides. Moving forward, and without anything specific to announce, we look forward to exploring what other areas of our title we can leverage technologies like PSSR to achieve new targets of visual quality on console hardware.