This guide for UFC 6 is all about mastering the stand-up striking game while conserving stamina and health.

Movement And Striking

The basics of striking are as straightforward as they can be, with the real edge coming from your ability to move in and out of striking range when required. Curb your instinct to always push the stick forward into your opponent, which has a negative effect on the striking power of some moves, as well as limits which ones are available.

It is also okay to simply stand still once you have a good range on your opponent, and deliver strikes at their maximum damage potential. Just avoid that tendency to bear forward headlong into the striking range of your opponent.

Defense And Countering

Practice reflexive and consistent head movement which is performed by pushing the right stick in the cardinal directions. Head strikes are all about damage, and handing your fighter’s head on a platter for a consistent target will needlessly lose you fights.

Timing a combination of the right trigger to block, while flicking the right stick towards the rear of your fighter, i.e. a lean back or pull in the opposite direction of your opponent, will allow you to perform a parry block that reduces damage. This is useful in situations where your block meter is running low, and costs practically nothing in terms of stamina. These are also visually distinct between several fighters.

Lunges are done by holding the left bumper and pushing on the left stick in the desired cardinal direction, with the exception of some fighters. When timed correctly, it can be combined with the parry block for greater mitigation of damage if the attack connected.

Steps are performed by lightly flicking the left stick in a cardinal direction. These are good for quickly evading attacks without too much effort, and open up unexpected angles of offense.

Critical Settings

It is recommended that you turn off Strike Assist, as it will lead to an inconsistent experience between your online and offline fights.

While Time Dilation is unavailable in multiplayer matches, it can be very useful to at least practice with, as you will get a much wider timing window within which to react.

Combined with the Frame Timing Meter, you will have a clear visual representation of strike timing windows to test and observe.

That is everything there is to know about proper striking and defense in UFC 6.

This guide for UFC 6 is all about the gameplay mechanics in the new submission system, with tips on stamina depletion, grapple advantage, as well as transitions and their denial.

Stamina Depletion Through Strikes

Submission success relies heavily on your opponent being fatigued enough, and you can accomplish this by depleting their stamina as quickly as possible in a short span of time. If your opponent is passive, you will have to repeatedly strike them in the torso by holding the left trigger and pressing the relevant face buttons for your platform. Facial strikes without holding the left trigger only serve to chip away at their health, but have no effect on stamina depletion.

Be wary of mashing strikes though, as this will have the negative effect of draining your own stamina, potentially to the benefit of your opponent via a transition. Moreover, strikes cannot be cancelled, thus preventing you from denying their transition attempt.

Transition Denial

Opponents that are actively trying to escape will naturally attempt to transition. This presents a far better opportunity for you to drain their stamina in large chunks each time the attempt is made, by denying it. Pay close attention to the prompt indicating a transition denial quick time event. You will need to be quick on the right trigger as you push the right stick in the indicated direction.

The ideal tactic is for you to simply do nothing yourself, including body striking, thus baiting your opponent into attempting transitions, and allowing you the opportunity to then deny them for massive reductions in their stamina. You can accomplish this by simply holding on to the right trigger and patiently waiting for the deny transition prompt indicating the specific direction to push the right stick. With enough observational practice, you may eventually even be able to proactively predict the direction by watching the animation itself.

Repeated transition denials will widen the timing window within which you can pull off further denials due to the increasingly reduced stamina of your opponent, and holding the right trigger in anticipation should make it even easier to pull off successfully every time.

Success in online matches depends on your ability to successfully read the transition animations, as the button prompts are not visible in multiplayer. Also bear in mind that based on your positions, there really are only two possible contextual directions in which you could possibly be prompted to push the right stick.

Grappling Advantage

In the top middle of the screen is an easily missable meter indicating which fighter has the grapple advantage. The meter is very sensitive in direct response to the ongoing context of the fight itself, and fills red in your favor, and blue for your opponent. Always attempt to press any advantage gained, as your speed for accomplishing moves is enhanced, allowing for faster completion of transitions and submissions.

Submission Selection

Once your opponent has been fatigued sufficiently in the moment, you will have a fairly short amount of time to attempt a submission. Do this by holding the left trigger and observing the contextual button prompts for the position you and your opponent are in at the time. You will have seconds to do this successfully, while both the grapple meter is in your favor and the stamina bar of your opponent is at its lowest.

Fighter Ground Game Rating

Fighter selection also plays a role in how wide the timing windows are during submissions. A higher ground game rating will afford you a lot more time to pull off button prompts, and this is in addition to any advantage gained through depleting the stamina of your opponent.

Your own submissions will trigger faster as can be observed from the red dial that rapidly closes on the left side of the screen.

Time Dilation

A lot of the on screen button prompts during submissions have slim timing windows within which to press them, and you can mitigate this through the bullet time or slow motion setting known as Time Dilation. While only available in offline modes, this hand-holding mechanic can accustom you to the timings involved in pulling off the moves displayed on screen.

That is everything there is to know about successfully using submissions to win matches in UFC 6.

This UFC 6 guide is a selection of ten essential tips and tricks for both new and returning players of the series.

Preserve Stamina

While rapidly spamming moves may initially work out with some degree of success for you amongst casual opponents, there is no room for error in player ranks that are intermediate and above. Stamina is a precious resource and you should play close attention to its rate of depletion in the early game.

Maintain Distance

With the massive selection of fighters, moves, and combos, it can be difficult if not impossible to learn every possible counter to every potential attack. However, you can guarantee that a strike won’t land if your fighter is outside of its effective range. Learn to retreat instead of always bearing forward face first into striking distance.

Frame Timing Meter

The practice mode is essential to make use of in UFC 6, and not just to merely memorize combos either. The Frame Timing meter can give you a readily understandable visual representation of the speed of your moves, and the duration of their windows, which can be especially useful in order to properly counter fast fighters.

Fighter Perks

The five Perks for a given fighter can have a significant effect on the outcome of a fight and it is important to know which ones synergize properly with your move list. Be sure to view the Perks for your fighter from the pause menu and commit them to memory.

Flow Boost

When fighter Perks are leveraged in certain contextual conditions they trigger a Flow Boost to accelerate the filling of the Flow Meter. This allows for more frequent use of the Flow State, a powered-up effect which is unique to each fighter.

Flow State Perk

One of the five Perks has an additional effect once the fighter is already in the Flow State. Try and lean on that required move as much as possible, in order to extract the maximum value of that Perk during that short span of time while the Flow State is active.

Disable Flow State Visual Effect

The onscreen effects when entering Flow State can be distracting, if not outright annoying. Fortunately, this can be turned off entirely through the settings menu, for a simple HUD icon instead.

Move Variation

Avoid getting caught up in a hyper fixation for filling the Flow Meter with an excessive reliance on the handful of moves that contribute to Flow Boost. This will make you highly predictable to a vigilant opponent and allow for consistent hard counters of your now readily readable moves. Try and identify alternative moves if any, or at the very least, cycle through different sequences of the five Flow Boost moves in order to mix things up a little.

Range Variation

It can be instinctive to always advance forward while striking, but this can be detrimental to variation in striking power and moves. Learn to let go of the movement stick, or at least try to keep a light touch on it once you have found your fighter’s optimal strike distance for maximum damage output.

Strike Target Variation

Another instinctual habit to bear in mind and possibly break, is the consistent targeting of your opponent’s head. Ignore body strikes at your own peril, as counters to your predictable attacks will open you up to a flurry of follow-up moves.

Those are a handful of tips to remember while learning the ropes in UFC 6.

This UFC 6 guide is all about transitions and how to effectively deny them and even turn them around on your opponents.

Denying Transitions

Performing a transition denial is simple enough, as there is a highly visible button prompt for the quick time event right on screen. Simply hold the right trigger while grappling, and then push the right stick around in the indicated direction to initiate the denial of your opponent’s transition.

Recognizing which transition you are denying is where the real difficulty lies, and for this you will need to lean on the practice mode and the Frame Timing meter. The former will allow you to observe the animations for visual hints, while the latter will give you a sense of the speed of the move and the window you have to counter it.

Effects Of Transition Denials

The greatest effect of denying a transition is the depletion of your opponent’s stamina in large chunks. Doing this consistently will lengthen the window of opportunity for you to continue denying transitions, as well as permit you to eventually turn the tables entirely into a transition of your own.

The ideal time to pull off a transition of your own is immediately after denying a transition, when both the grapple meter is in your favor, as well as the largest chunk of your opponent’s stamina meter has been depleted.

Transition Tactics

Your best bet with reversing a submission is to allow your opponent to attempt to make the move into a transition first, while you wait patiently to deny it with a mere push of the right stick while holding the right trigger in readiness.

Continue remaining passive, as your opponent blindly attempts to transition with no regard for their stamina meter. Eventually it will be depleted enough for you to leverage your practically full stamina bar into a successful transition of your own.

Remember that you can simply hold the right trigger all the while, thus reducing the required button input during the denial window to just the right stick.

Transition Cancellation

It is possible to cancel your own transition by holding the right trigger during the attempt. This can be useful to feint a denial initiated by your opponent or otherwise throw them off.

Time Dilation

Time Dilation can feel like a cheat in the vein of Matrix-style bullet time, but can be a boon for early transition denials when the window of opportunity to push the stick can still prove to be too slim for your reflexes. While unavailable in online matches, you can and should use it offline until you get a good sense of the timing required.

That is everything there is to know about transitions while grappling, and denying them effectively in UFC 6.

Series Distinguishes Itself Further From Madden

EA Sports College Football 27 continues to sculpt its own identity, distinct from Madden’s comparatively rigid NFL simulation with a faster, looser, more chaotic brand of football. In “Saturday Football”, the emphasis is on explosive play-by-plays, momentum swings, and a sprinkling of unpredictability, with innovations in gameplay forming the backbone of this year’s entry. We’ll get into the gameplay iterations during this feature, starting with defence.

Defensive Systems Reworked

Yes, defence is one of College Football 27’s most significant reworks. The game puts more tools and control in your hands, while smarter coverage logic and expanded defensive playbooks – from nine to thirty-one unique playbooks – ensure that reaping the rewards of a solid defensive line is more attainable and enjoyable. Making the correct read demands higher skill compared to earlier entries, resulting in this suite of overhauls bringing satisfaction which better-reflects the intensity of decision making in real-world college football.

Three-Yard Control Has Been Overhauled

Assessing last year’s trench battles and goal line stands, EA Sports found that College Football 26 presented these scenarios differently compared to real-life. These moments, amongst football’s most exhilarating, felt automatic and inauthentic, so this year’s iteration brings overhauled short yardage control. Beginning with the pre-snap, the game now evaluates push strength across the offensive line against defensive shed strength. Tools like the QB Sneak Meter further reinforce the physicality in those ‘fight-for-inches’ moments, where your perfect snap and timing push against other factors such as ratings, late-game pressure, home field advantage, and more.

More Control Across Blocking and Defense

Beyond short yardage adjustments, College Football 27 places renewed emphasis on giving you more control in the run game, protection game, and defensive front. Updates to ID Mike bring more precise targeting of defensive threats, while new protection options include deciding how the offensive line targets specific defenders. Additions such as Gap Integrity and Defensive Aggression let you choose how disciplined your defenders are to their assigned run fits, and how fast they play against each run. Pass-blocking customisation comes in the all-new Chip Block mechanic, giving new ways to disrupt elite edge rushers. Taken together, these new systems embellish risk-versus-reward, where executing high-risk plays successfully is now firmly in your hands.

Custom Adjustments Streamline Strategy

One of this year’s deepest strategy additions is Custom Adjustments, allowing you to save your preferred setups and execute them instantly, making the right play happen faster by reducing the number of pre-play inputs. Via the Create and Share menu, nearly every offensive and defensive tool is available to be built into your own custom package that can be recalled in-play without getting bogged down in sub-menus. This system doesn’t just maintain momentum though – no, with just ten custom adjustments out of a possible forty brought to matches, you’ll need to plan your strategies before gameday.

Physicality and Tackling Have Been Improved

Physical play has also seen refinement, with more impactful collisions and greater weight thrown across the playfield. A significant addition to tackling, however, is the all-new Tackle Stick, which maps different tackle types directly to the right stick’s directional input, giving you more intuitive control when making defensive stops.

Smarter AI Through Machine Learning

College Football 27 enhances AI ballcarrying through a form of machine learning called “behaviour cloning”. In a nutshell, the system learns from real-life examples of good, human-made decisions. The result: AI ballcarriers should make more natural choices – picking better lanes, recognising cutbacks, improving leverage reads, and reacting instinctively to space.

Timing-Based Catching Adds Ownership

Another one of this year’s biggest additions is Timing-Based Catching, which is a new offensive system designed to bring clarity and ownership over catches and dropped balls. Here, after releasing a pass, you can choose your catch type – aggressive, possession, or run-after-catch – with perfect meter timing rewarded with a clean, controlled catch. The result is a more expressive, skill-driven system which gives you the power to execute the right read and manoeuvre, even as various other factors might shrink the perfect catch window.

Dynamic Weather Impacts Gameplay

In College Football 27, it isn’t just AI ballcarriers that are set to appear less static but weather has been overhauled to shift dynamically within matches, tangibly impacting gameplay. Rain can clear mid-match, or snow could arrive to blanket the field at halftime. With weather evolving throughout, the feel, the pace, the visuals, and the atmosphere of the game can shift too. Crucially, player degradation can accelerate during particularly harsh conditions, providing visual authenticity to underpin the impact on gameplay.

Road to Glory Focuses on Managing Potential

This year, Road to Glory places greater emphasis on your off-field journey, with systems built around managing your development, expectations, and long-term potential. Three new playable positions – Tight End, Edge Rusher, and Free Safety – plus pre-determined max potential and attributes which reshape through the decisions you make will continuously define and redefine your journey from high school to Hall of Famer.

High School to College Now a Fully-Defined Career Arc

And on that note, once your player has been created and they’re stepping foot onto the Friday night playing field, it’s up to you to maintain their projection, earn scholarship offers, and ultimately choose the path that defines their career trajectory. A slate of visual tools make tracking your career a breeze, with weekly-updated projection graphs plotted with Memorable Moments – both good and bad – which impact your Draft Projection.

Road to College Football Playoff Emphasises the Journey Too

College Football 27’s competitive online mode places renewed emphasis on every match throughout the regular season having weight. The end goal is the same: reach the championship playoffs, but this year introduces all-new Objectives. Thousands of gameplay-tied mini-accolades, more specific milestones, team specific accomplishments, and conference challenges give you more reasons to absorb the journey.

Road to College Football Ranking System Rewards Risk and Skill

Road to College Football’s tweaked ranking system doesn’t treat every win the same. See, beating a top team with a lower-tier outfit is deemed more impressive than if it was the other way around. Likewise, road victories reward more points than home. It’s a dynamic competitive experience designed to give extra impetus to you if you want to take on extra challenges.

Playoffs Feel More Meaningful Than Ever

And, if you make it to the playoffs you’ll notice a stronger sense of pageantry, with the games themselves taking you through new-to-the-series stadiums the Rose Bowl and the Orange Bowl before the climactic national championship match in Las Vegas. This end-of-season progression presents a true sense of escalation, with the final stage feeling like a genuine achievement.

Mascot Mashup Adds a Low-Stakes Twist

If you’re after a less pressurised experience then Mascot Mashup is the mode for you. Offering a low-stakes, arcade-like alternative, here you’ll take to the field with a team of fluffy, 99 OVR rated mascots, engaging in the same skillful gameplay in a more immediate, light-hearted tone. Unique tricks and exclusive rewards make this a mode suitable for purists too.

UFC 6 is placing a much bigger emphasis on fighter identity and personal stories this time, especially through The Legacy, Career Mode, and Hall of Legends. What was the core creative goal behind making the experience feel more personal, rather than just building another fight-to-fight sports game?

One of our core ambitions for UFC 6 was to deepen players’ connection to the fighters and the sport. We felt that if we were going to invest heavily in making fighters look, move, and fight more authentically than ever before, we also needed to give players a reason to care about who those fighters are.

That philosophy shaped a lot of the game. We wanted to move beyond simply recreating fights and instead help players understand the journeys, rivalries, challenges, and defining moments that make these athletes special. Every fighter has a story, and UFC 6 is built around bringing those stories to life both inside and outside the Octagon.

That thinking ultimately led to experiences like The Legacy and Hall of Legends, while also influencing how we evolved Career Mode. Whether you’re following Chris Carter’s journey, reliving iconic moments from UFC legends, or building your own path through the UFC, we wanted every fight to feel like it mattered because of the people involved, not just the result.

"One of our core ambitions for UFC 6 was to deepen players’ connection to the fighters and the sport."

The Legacy introduces Chris Carter’s journey from the regional MMA scene to the UFC. How does this standalone prologue help onboard players into UFC 6’s systems while also giving them a proper narrative hook before Career Mode begins?

One of the challenges with previous Career Modes was balancing onboarding with long-term progression. New players needed to learn the systems, while returning players often found the mandatory onboarding long and repetitive, especially as it was tied to each new Career run.

The Legacy allowed us to solve both challenges simultaneously. It acts as a narrative-driven prologue that introduces players to the fundamentals of gameplay, training camps, progression systems, and decision-making through the context of Chris Carter’s story.

Because players are emotionally invested in Chris’ journey, the onboarding feels much more natural. Instead of teaching mechanics through isolated tutorials, we teach them through meaningful moments that support the narrative. By the time players reach the UFC, they have learned the core systems organically while also developing a connection to the characters and rivalries that define the story.

Once The Legacy concludes, players transition directly into Chris Carter’s UFC career, carrying their choices and experiences forward into the larger Career Mode experience.

Career Mode has been reworked to get players into the UFC much earlier, with more emphasis on choices, rivalries, social media, training, fitness, and long-term momentum. How much more reactive is this mode compared to UFC 5, and what kind of consequences can player decisions have over the course of a career?

Career Mode is significantly more reactive than it was in UFC 5. One of our major goals was increasing player agency and making decisions feel meaningful.

We overhauled our dialogue and narrative systems, expanded the number of events dramatically, and introduced more situations where player choices create lasting consequences. Decisions can influence finances, training opportunities, relationships, rivalry development, progression paths, and even the types of opportunities that become available later in a career.

Dialogue tree complexity has been considerably expanded, far beyond a single decision leading to new outcome loops, usually triggering a complex set of branching opportunities that are revealed to the player throughout multiple weeks/fights. The back end structure we built targets fans playing multiple career runs: our goal here is to offer a wide array of depth and breadth that makes each run feel different and refreshing, while organically reflecting their actions with much higher accuracy than UFC 5.

We also wanted Hype and Fitness to have a more meaningful impact on player decision-making. Players are constantly balancing short-term gains against long-term goals, and there is rarely a single “correct” answer. The result is a career experience where players feel more ownership over the journey and where different playthroughs can evolve in very different ways.

"We also wanted Hype and Fitness to have a more meaningful impact on player decision-making."

UFC 6 reportedly expands the number of story events and dialogue choices significantly over UFC 5. How do these systems change the pacing of Career Mode, and how often should players expect meaningful decisions outside the Octagon to affect what happens inside it?

We expanded our narrative systems considerably in UFC 6 because we wanted decisions outside the Octagon to feel just as important as decisions inside it.

Compared to UFC 5, UFC 6 features significantly more narrative events, dialogue trees, and branching outcomes. Many of these events present players with choices that have meaningful gameplay consequences, whether that’s improving training opportunities, earning additional resources, developing rivalries, or influencing progression.

Our goal wasn’t simply to add more dialogue. We wanted narrative moments to serve as meaningful decision points that shape how players prepare for fights and build their careers. Players should regularly encounter situations where choices made between fights directly impact what happens when the cage door closes.

With training camps, fitness, hype, social media, and fighter condition all playing a bigger role, how does UFC 6 make the out-of-fight life of a UFC athlete feel important without slowing down the overall pace of the career experience?

We spent a lot of time refining that balance. We wanted the life of a UFC athlete to feel authentic and meaningful, but we also didn’t want players buried in menus or administrative tasks.

A big part of that effort was rebuilding our hubs and streamlining systems so players can quickly understand the impact of their choices. Information is presented more clearly, decision-making is more intentional, and actions tend to have more noticeable outcomes.

The result is that players spend less time navigating systems and more time making meaningful decisions. The out-of-fight experience becomes an extension of the overall strategy rather than something that interrupts the action.

Hall of Legends focuses on Max Holloway, Alex Pereira, and Zhang Weili. What made these three fighters the right choices for this mode, and how did the team approach representing their stories, cultures, rivalries, and defining career moments authentically?

Hall of Legends was built around the idea of celebrating the athletes who have helped define modern MMA and giving players a deeper understanding of why their stories resonate with fans around the world. Max Holloway, Alex Pereira, and Zhang Weili were natural choices because each represents a very different path to greatness. Their careers are filled with iconic moments, memorable rivalries, and personal journeys that have left a lasting impact on the sport.

What made the trio especially compelling was the diversity of experiences they brought to the mode. Max’s journey from Hawaii to becoming one of the most beloved champions in UFC history, Alex’s rise from kickboxing superstar to two-division UFC champion, and Zhang’s role in helping elevate MMA on a global stage each gave us unique stories to tell and distinct experiences to build.

Authenticity was a major focus throughout development. We worked closely with UFC archival footage, conducted extensive research, and collaborated with cultural consultants to ensure each Hall reflected the fighter’s background, achievements, and identity in a respectful and meaningful way. The environments, storytelling, and visual themes were all designed to capture the spirit of each athlete and the moments that defined their careers and the videos featured throughout the Halls were curated and edited by our team from hundreds of hours of UFC footage.

"Authenticity was a major focus throughout development."

Hall of Legends seems to be part museum, part documentary, and part playable challenge mode. How do the interactive fight podiums work, and how much freedom will players have when exploring each fighter’s legacy?

Hall of Legends was designed as an interactive celebration of each fighter’s career, blending exploration, storytelling, and gameplay into a single experience. We wanted players to feel like they were stepping into a living museum where they could discover the moments, rivalries, and achievements that defined these athletes, rather than simply selecting challenges from a menu.

The interactive fight podiums are the centerpiece of that experience. Each podium represents a pivotal fight or career-defining moment. When activated, players transition seamlessly from curated UFC footage and cinematic storytelling into gameplay challenges inspired by what happened in the real event. Our goal was to create a stronger connection between the history of the sport and the gameplay itself, allowing players to experience and feel these iconic moments firsthand.

Player freedom was equally important. Every Hall can be explored at your own pace. You can spend time watching videos, interacting with exhibits, learning about a fighter’s journey and accomplishments, or jump directly into challenges and rewards through the pause menu. Nothing forces a specific path forward. We wanted the experience to feel personal and self-directed, giving players the freedom to engage with each fighter’s legacy in whatever way interests them most.

The new Flow State system is one of UFC 6’s biggest gameplay additions. How did the team balance making each fighter feel more authentic without letting certain Flow State perks become too dominant in competitive play?

The foundation of Flow State is authenticity, not power.

Our goal was never to give fighters arbitrary bonuses. Instead, we wanted to reward players for embracing the styles, tendencies, and strengths that make each athlete unique. The best Max Holloway player should feel different from the best Alex Pereira player because they’re succeeding through the same kinds of approaches that make those fighters effective in real life.

Flow State reinforces those identities by recognizing and rewarding authentic behavior. Whether it’s pressure, precision striking, counter-fighting, volume, or aggression, the system encourages players to lean into what makes a fighter special rather than treating every athlete as a collection of ratings.

From a competitive balance perspective, we were careful to ensure Flow State creates momentum, not inevitability. Entering Flow State can provide meaningful advantages, but players still have to earn those moments through smart decision-making and execution. Just as importantly, opponents have opportunities to recognize, disrupt, and respond to that momentum before it becomes overwhelming.

Ultimately, Flow State adds another layer of strategy while making fighters feel more distinct and authentic. It rewards players for understanding who these athletes are and how they fight, which aligns directly with our broader goal of bringing fighter identity to the forefront of UFC 6.

What kind of post-launch support can players expect after release? Beyond fighter updates, how substantial will the two planned expansions be, and can players expect new modes, Hall of Legends content, gameplay tuning, new fighters, or seasonal live-service updates?

Supporting UFC 6 after launch is a major priority for the team.

Players can expect continued roster updates, gameplay balancing, fighter additions, Fight Week content, challenges, rewards, and ongoing live-service support. We also have two major expansions planned as part of the Expansion Pass.

While we’ll share more details closer to their release, our ambition is for these expansions to deliver meaningful new experiences for players rather than simply incremental updates. We view UFC 6 as a long-term platform and we’re excited to continue supporting the game with new content and experiences throughout its lifecycle.

"Supporting UFC 6 after launch is a major priority for the team."

On the technical side, what are the target resolutions and frame rates for UFC 6 on PS5, PS5 Pro, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S? Will each platform have separate Quality and Performance modes, or is the game targeting one unified visual/performance profile?

In general, we offer a single preset, handcrafted to guarantee the desired balance between performance and level of fidelity. This translates into different techniques and target resolutions across the supported consoles.

Diving more into specifics, here is a full breakdown:

Cinematics (30 fps)

• PS5, PS5 Pro, Xbox Series X: TAA 4K DRS [1800p-2160p]
• Xbox Series S: TAA 1080p DRS [900p-1080p]

Gameplay (60 fps)

• PS5: FSR3 Native + DRS [1080p-1800p]->1800p + bilinear upsample from 1800p to 2160p. Typical internal resolution 1200p
• Xbox Series X: FSR3 Native + DRS [1080p-1800p]->1800p + bilinear upsample from 1800p to 2160p. Typical internal resolution 1300p
• PS5 Pro: Upgraded PSSR Native + DRS [1200p-2160p]->2160p. Typical internal resolution 1600p
• Xbox Series S: FSR3 Native + DRS [600p-1080p]->1080p. Typical internal resolution 720p

Front End Main Menu (30 fps) Ray-Traced Direct Illumination enabled

• PS5: FSR3 Native + DRS [1080p-1800p]->1800p + bilinear upsample from 1800p to 2160p. Typical internal resolution 1200p
• Xbox Series X: FSR3 Native + DRS [1080p-1800p]->1800p + bilinear upsample from 1800p to 2160p. Typical internal resolution 1300p
• PS5 Pro: Upgraded PSSR version Native + DRS [1200p-2160p]->2160p. Typical internal resolution 1600p
• Xbox Series S: Ray-Traced Direct Illumination disabled, TAA 1080p DRS [900p-1080p]

Our intent is to target a unified visual/performance profile on all the platforms.

Will UFC 6 support PS5 Pro-specific enhancements at launch? If yes, is the game using PSSR or Enhanced PSSR, and what improvements should players expect in image quality, internal resolution, anti-aliasing, crowd detail, hair rendering, sweat, skin, cloth simulation, or replay quality?

Yes, specifically:

• Latest version of PSSR instead of FSR3, providing reduced aliasing and ghosting.
• Higher internal and target resolutions, increasing overall image clarity.
• Improved shadow maps filtering, providing improved shadows and reduced jaggies.

Ray-Traced Ambient Occlusion (RTAO) is fully supported during gameplay and replays, making the overall scene feel more grounded by using scene wide information (vs screen space on other platforms which would present disocclusion artifacts), being able to capture finer details, small cavities and precise objects contact.

For PS5 Pro, is the goal to deliver a higher-resolution 60 FPS experience, a cleaner 4K output via PSSR, improved visual settings over base PS5, or any 120 Hz/high-frame-rate option for supported displays?

The main goal for PS5 Pro on UFC 6 is to deliver a higher-resolution 60fps experience, cleaner 4K output via the latest PSSR version, and improved visual settings over base PS5.

On Xbox Series X, what is the target resolution and frame rate compared to PS5 and PS5 Pro? Are there any platform-specific differences in visual settings, loading, crowd density, physics quality, replay frame rate, or animation fidelity?

Xbox Series X is at parity with PS5, but runs slightly faster and is able to typically push a higher internal resolution than PS5 (1300p vs 1200p).

PS5 Pro is able to push higher internal resolution, higher fidelity settings, AI upsampler and even raytraced effects within the same frame budget.

The effort aims to bring “dynamic, real-time” ad placements to popular titles that see player footfall over their shelf life. The studio looks to build strategic partnerships, bringing Ad Units to its sports simulations while using enhanced targeting and measurement features to evaluate ad performance alongside the EA Sports Partner Program, which could help the brands it aims to better integrate themselves into the games we’re playing.

Like its new approach to game launches, this one’s an ambitious feature that looks quite good on paper, although we’re going to have to wait and see how kindly fans of the publisher’s work respond to this new addition. EA has already brought a few big names on board, including VISA, Lowe’s, Red Bull, Peacock, Xfinity, and Mountain Dew. How much that list expands as the program begins across games remains to be seen, but we’re guessing it could find quite a few takers in a new advertising approach.

It all seems pretty logical in games like College Football or the UFC franchise, although we’re quite skeptical about making it work in games like Battlefield or even the next Mass Effect.

Has it achieved that feat? Well, yes and no. Yes, because there are certainly improvements that might make you feel like the three-year wait for this one was worth it. No, because some of the things that plague sport simulators continue to be a part of the experience on offer in this one, for better or worse. Let’s start with what’s good, and the fighting is definitely among the stronger parts of the entire game.

UFC 6 is at its finest when you’re in the Octagon, which is always good for a fighter that carries its ambitions and the expectations of its players. The new real-time striking system is something that’s going to stand out the minute you engage with it. Strikes feel impactful with satisfying feedback that can make trading blows feel convincingly weighty, and you almost feel your blows connect with bone-crunching intensity.

Your strikes don’t depend on canned sequences that feel like they’ve already been decided before you make contact with your opponent. Instead, the outcome of such exchanges now depends on how well you position yourself for an attack, your timing, head movements, and of course, your inputs. It lends a layer of authenticity to every match in ways that immediately make the striking system feel like one of the evolutions we mentioned.

That’s because it makes knockdowns look and feel more believable than they’ve ever been, while each fight now feels more violent and unpredictable. They look so authentic, you’re going to feel like the driving force behind your chosen fighter’s fists and feet for the most part. That’s made even better by the fact that the damage you dish out and take in return is now visible enough to be a visual reminder of how well you’re doing in a fight. The blood paints a grim picture on the canvas, while the injury system makes things quite realistic, although it felt a tad too exaggerated for my taste. Your mileage with it is going to vary, but I did think it could be taken down a notch.

Sadly, the evolution of the striking system feels like it’s actively countered by the stamina bar, which drains far too rapidly for it to be ideal at times, and that does affect the rhythm of fights. It isn’t game-breaking, but it did happen enough for it to be a noticeable annoyance. But it isn’t going to be as divisive as the new Flow State feature. It’s one of the biggest gameplay additions, and is one that could either make or break your enjoyment of this one.

"You’re constantly feeling the ebb and flow of an intense clash, and it’s quite immersive as a result."

It’s a solid idea on paper, as it gives each individual athlete a unique set of strengths that play into their real-world fighting styles. Playing to your strengths increases your Flow Meter, which in turn activates your Flow State once it’s completely filled. That opens up opportunities for finishers, recovering from a bad round, or giving you a distinct advantage in a match you’ve already been dominating, allowing you to take your opponent out of the equation far more easily than you would have without it.

It encourages you to switch things up depending on which fighter you’re bringing to the fight, which is a great way to add a dash of individuality to each athlete while also giving each fight a sense of momentum. You’re constantly feeling the ebb and flow of an intense clash, and it’s quite immersive as a result. I’m a fan, although I can see how the purists among you might end up seeing it as a gimmick rather than a meaningful addition. It’s fun, but comes at the risk of feeling cheesy, as you tend to try sticking to moves that play to your strengths instead of responding dynamically to your opponents with ones that are outside of your chosen fighter’s comfort zone.

It might have worked very well in an arcade fighter, but in something that aims to simulate a real-world sport, it can feel a touch out of place. Aside from the Flow State mechanic, there’s grappling which can feel all too close to what was on offer in UFC 5, as it brings the same stiff rhythm and that deliberate approach from the previous game that’s recognizable almost instantly. It’s got that clunky pacing that makes it feel akin to a tactical exchange instead of a fluid struggle between two fighters who have trained to the peak of their abilities.

It’s a mind game in the middle of a physical fight that doesn’t necessarily make it terrible, but it doesn’t make any evolutionary changes to merit praise. It’s functional at best, and disappointing at worst, depending on whether you liked what was on offer three years ago. Thus far, the gameplay should tell you something about why this one feels like a solid experience, but not one that justifies the long gap between releases in the franchise’s line up. Well, that extends to other areas of the game, including the presentation.

"Some fighters don’t look as close to their real-world counterparts as they should be, with a few awkward body proportions that stick out like sore thumbs showing up from time to time."

In a game like UFC 6, recreating the atmosphere and sheer adrenaline of being at a UFC event is something that’s crucial to the experience. It’s certainly authentic, with walkouts, replays, lighting,  and broadcast-style elements that all contribute to making this one sustain the quality that the franchise has been known for. But there are inconsistencies that crop up and stand out against that backdrop quite prominently.

Some fighters don’t look as close to their real-world counterparts as they should be, with a few awkward body proportions that stick out like sore thumbs showing up from time to time. They stand out against the backdrop of a generally solid experience overall, while the HUD feels far too busy in a game that’s meant to have you laser-focused on your opponent, ready to respond to their attempts to take you down. It’s an issue that works in tandem with the inaccuracies on fighters to bring down the overall presentation from what should have felt like a premium, refined take on the franchise.

However, the game’s many modes kind of make up for those little mistakes. For instance, the Legacy Mode is now a great place for you to dive in when you boot up the game if you’re new to the franchise. It acts as a great tutorial, letting you follow Chris Carter’s career complete with cinematic sequences and fights both inside the Octagon and outside of it. It’s helped along by appearances from Coach Thompson and Carter’s rival Danny Lopez, with the drama and human emotions that come with a career such as his on full display. The fact that his family’s legacy underlines his journey from the regional MMA scene to the UFC is a highlight, and it’s something I found very entertaining.

It’s also a great way to come to grips with the game’s core systems, important mechanics, and more, allowing you to take it all in before you commit to the Career Mode, which features a lot of the same training camps, the integration of social media and your need to manage your online presence, and progression systems in a way that feels natural. It’s well thought-out, and a welcome presence in the game for newbies and franchise veterans alike. That you get to unlock new skills across categories is a nice touch, lending a bit of depth to the game’s progression loop as well.

It also helps the transition to the full-blown Career Mode a lot smoother since you can get to the UFC a lot faster thanks to all the work you’ve already put in. The Career Mode itself is now expanded, with more choices, narrative events, interactions via texts and social media, better training and fitness management systems, and other progression elements, all of which feed into the illusion that your character is climbing the ranks while trying to sustain their popularity among audiences in order to further their career.

"Too many activities are reduced to merely selecting between dialogue options, which doesn’t work well when most of the choices you’re allowed to make feel flat."

All of that’s pretty exciting, but UFC 6 falls prey to a pitfall that has plagued simulation games of its nature: you’re dealing with a lot of menus for too much of the time you spend outside the Octagon. Too many activities are reduced to merely selecting between dialogue options, which doesn’t work well when most of the choices you’re allowed to make feel flat. It all feels mechanical in a way that gives the impression that you’re trying to game the system instead of navigating a range of possibilities in a way that’s fluid and organic.

Moving on to the Hall of Legends, it’s an interesting diversion that’s sure to make UFC fans feel quite happy about its inclusion. You get to move through museum-like spaces, with halls dedicated to popular fighters across the sport’s history. Those halls come with Fighting Podiums that let you step into memorable moments of a fighter’s career, taking control of them in some of the most memorable bouts of their respective careers. It isn’t going to sell more copies of UFC 6, but it’s certainly going to be a nice way to blow off some steam when the pressure of your career threatens to overwhelm you. It’s always good to look to them greats for inspiration, after all.

Fight Now is where you’re going to go if you’re looking for a quick match-up, with different settings, fighters, and categories allowing you to mix and match to your heart’s content. I would have liked to test out the online multiplayer part of the experience, but try as I might, I could not connect to the servers despite multiple attempts. I can’t comment on it thanks to that limitation. It is what it is, though.

However, I can say that I’ve spent enough time with this one to know that it succeeds where it matters the most: the fighting. However, it isn’t the revolutionary sequel that any of us were hoping for, and that’s a damn shame considering how good what’s on offer really is. As an MMA simulator, this one’s as solid as they come, and you’re going to have a good time with it. But as the latest instalment in a reputed franchise, it doesn’t do enough to set itself apart. I’d still recommend it to you, but I can’t help but wish that I could do it more whole-heartedly than I am now.

It falls just short of a generational leap, but I’m hopeful about post-launch updates ironing out at least some of its issues to make it a better rounded-out take on a simulator. It’s got the potential to be the undisputed champion, standing tall among the franchise’s greats, but it’s not quite there yet. This could be the definitive UFC experience given enough time.

But as it stands, it falls just short of true greatness.

This game was reviewed on PlayStation 5.

Note: Varun Karunakar contributed to this review.

Sweeping Fighter Animation Overhaul

Beyond simply upgrading fidelity, in UFC 6, EA Sports want to entrench the identity of each individual fighter into their combat style, ensuring no-two bouts flow the same way. Instead, through sweeping animation overhauls – movement, striking, blocking, and idle stances, captured directly from UFC athletes – events inside the Octagon will now closer-reflect the fighters you’ve loaded in. Furthermore, Signature Movement gives every member of UFC 6’s roster renewed strategic purpose, whilst bringing grounded, real-world authenticity.

Fighter Likeness Enhances Readability

And, a fighter’s anatomical accuracy – their distinct reach length, how they pace, their frame size, footwork, and more – means that choosing your character informs the strategies you’ll be able to deploy throughout a fight. Likewise, subtle behaviours like the way they reset after throwing a combination or how they set their body up before striking are precisely animated, enhancing your ability to read your opponent’s next move, how you build attacks, and how secure you should feel when managing distance.

Visual Revamp Includes Realistic Character Definition

That anatomical accuracy is the result of SAPIEN Technology’s 3D character modelling capability, a toolkit EA Sports has been using in their more physical annual sports titles like Madden, NHL, and UFC since 2023. For UFC 6, the tech maps individual fighters’ bodies, providing frame size, reach, and overall silhouette which we mentioned already, but it also brings realistic character definition too. Details like hair, beard, skin, and muscle bulk are closely reminiscent of their real-world counterparts. Furthermore, a fighter’s definition shifts throughout a fight; hair dampens through sweat, blood trickles out of cuts, and their bodies, overall, respond meaningfully to movement, strikes, and damage.

Foundational Attacks Bring More Strategic Interplay

SAPIEN Tech also enables EA Sports to introduce multiple variations of foundational attack for each fighter, meaning – as per EA’s words – “a hook is no longer just a hook.” See, a fighter’s long arms will mean their hook loops, extending the distance it travels to perhaps open up opportunities for distance control from unusual positions. In contrast, another fighter who wields a shorter, sharper hook, can unleash a more efficient form of punishment and control.

Four New Blocking Styles

UFC 6’s defensive capabilities also mirror EA’s goal of bringing more expressive fighting to this year’s iteration. Central to this are four new blocking styles: Balanced is the all-rounder, bringing dependable defence without major trade-offs; Sturdy is stronger than Balanced, but comes at the cost of mobility; Evasive is the most nimble option, focusing on agile footwork and stamina recovery instead of strengthening blocks. Philly Shell is the most precise blocking style, giving protection to both the body and head no matter the position of your guard, but it’s weak over your lead shoulder. Ultimately, the defensive style you choose will need to complement the body type, frame, and fighting style of your selected character beyond just matching the playstyle you’re most comfortable with.

Real-Time Contact Ensures Believable Brutality

Adding another layer to UFC 6’s renewed focus on authenticity are Real-Time Contact systems, whereby every strike lands exactly where it should, and with purpose to boot. Behind the system’s purported precision are refined contact windows – now up to four-frames – to ensure every punch, kick, and elbow registers consistently. Supporting this are more believable ragdoll physics – powered by the Frostbite physics engine – bringing realistic momentum and force transfer, leading to more natural recoils and believable knockdowns.

New Mechanic: Flow State

Described as those moments where “everything clicks” in the ring, the all-new Flow State mechanic is designed to reward momentum by replicating the sharper focus that comes with controlling the fight. Working in three layers, the first are base effects which give passive bonuses to your fighter’s individual strengths. Then Flow Boosts supercharge your Flow Meter when you execute moves in-line with your fighter’s real-life counterpart. Finally, when momentum peaks, you’ll be able to activate Flow State, creating decisive opportunities to finish your opponent. Enabling you to replicate your fighter’s real identity, you assign them five perks from a pool of thirty. Think of these like techniques, and your pre-match choices are determined by how you plan to gain momentum and, ultimately, how you want to win a fight.

Ratings Integrated Into Deeper Ecosystem

Rather than relying solely on stats and numbers, fighter ratings in UFC 6 are now integrated into a deeper ecosystem, whereby fighter-specific manoeuvres, body types, perks, and Flow State now have direct influence on how you play. In other words: you’re rewarded for fighting true to an athlete’s real-life style. Furthermore, competitiveness is rebalanced across weight divisions, fine-tuned around a fighter’s MMA prime rather than where they land currently.

Upgraded Arena Presentation

As is increasingly prevalent among periodic sports titles, UFC 6 echoes EA Sports College Football, NHL, even WWE 2K26, in upgrading its arena atmosphere and overall presentation. Through detailed colour grading, venue-specific lighting, plus site-specific visuals and crowd behaviours, every arena in the game should feel authentically distinct from each other.

Refined Sound Elevates Auditory Immersion

Sound design is being treated to a substantial upgrade too. UFC 6 brings 3D spatial crowd audio and ambisonic sound, ensuring that every arena feels present, reactive, and electric. From inside the Octagon, you’ll hear crowd chants swell from supporters as momentum swings, while a roar could erupt from the opposite side of the arena entirely. UFC announcer Bruce Buffer’s voice carries overhead too, making every encounter feel breathless, intense, and dramatic.

All-New Onboarding and Learning Tools

UFC 6 isn’t an easy game; its difficulty is supposed to elicit the feeling that every victory is hard fought and earned. That said, this year’s iteration comes with a suite of onboarding tools to give newcomers and veterans alike the best chance of fighting with confidence. Time Dilation slows down key moments, giving you a chance to recognise and react. Stand-Up Assist gives AI support, making it easier to compete without fully mastering every input. And, striking controls can be fine-tuned based on your preferred stance.

Practice Mode Enhancements

Practice Mode is also receiving a slate of enhancements too, with the all-new frame timing HUD being this year’s biggest addition. In this display, you’ll see timing information in real time, making it easier to understand attack wind-up and recovery times, hopefully giving you clarity on where you can take advantage of the brief moments your opponent is vulnerable. Your training setup itself can be customised too, dialling in specific situations and drills for you to work on your timing, reactions, or vulnerability with minimal friction.

Pre-Order Bonuses and Ultimate Edition

Pre-ordering the game’s Standard Edition gives you the Iconic Moments Bundle, with Fighter Skins for 2023 Leon Edwards, 2016 Meisha Tate, and Chan Sung Jung’s appearance from UFC Fight Night 225 contained inside. The game’s Ultimate Edition, however, brings much more: seven days early access, beginning June 12th, a UFC Legends Fighter Pass which includes eight iconic athletes, and an Expansion Pass which grants you access to two post-launch DLCs.

More Ultimate Edition Inclusions: VIP Pass and Rivalry Bundle

UFC 6’s VIP Pass gives you access to 5 additional fighter skins, 6 VIP cosmetics, 3 VIP emojis, plus VIP Create A Fighter items and exclusive perks which refresh every week. The Rivalry Bundle gives you fighter skins for Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa, plus 500 UFC points.

Community Concern

Whilst this all sounds positive, the community has shown meaningful concern in a handful of areas, the most damning of which undermine UFC 6’s focus on authenticity. First, the game’s sound effects are over-blown; more slapstick than realistic. Next, the UI appears under-developed and more in-line with arcade titles than sports simulations. The biggest problem, however, is with Flow State itself. Let’s be honest: Flow State’s supercharged invulnerability is over-powered at best, and downright fighting game magic at worst. It’ll be interesting to see whether Flow State evolves if the community pushback gathers momentum.

And, indeed, the season so far has seen plenty of exciting on-track passes, followed invariably by instant re-passes – the so-called yo-yoing effect – but the authenticity of hybrid car design is also coming under scrutiny: is racing now too artificial? Should drivers be pushing 100% of the time? Or, is battery conservation still a valid measure of skill?

On first impression, F1’s real-life changes feel comparatively subtle in F1 25: 2026 Season Pack. The update refreshes this season’s driver line-up and liveries, introduces two new teams, and the all-new Madring circuit, but the dynamic potential of lighter, half-electric-powered cars is not immediately obvious. 2026 Season Pack is less about noticeable ‘car-feel’ swings and more about what the new regulations demand, in driving style and racecraft alike.

To acclimatise to the 2026-regulation cars I loaded into Time Trial – among F1 25’s modes incorporating 2026’s updates alongside Grand Prix, unranked multiplayer, split-screen, pro challenges, and career – with new teams Cadillac and Audi, the latter swapping Sauber’s lime green for titanium silver and flaming red.

The new Active Aero package allows front wings to open tandemly with rear wings in the same letterbox-style that defined the now defunct DRS. Both systems operate the same – open wings reduce aerodynamic drag for mild speed boosts, albeit there are more opportunities to deploy the system this season compared to the one-or-two DRS zones of earlier years.

Taking the all-American Cadillac for a spin round Austin and Miami, the car felt suitably reactive. Although – as I’ve already alluded – the difference wasn’t as pronounced as I expected. That said, as subtle as the shift in responsiveness is, I still felt a tweak of controller calibration was necessary. Specifically, I widened steering linearity to soften straight-line twitchiness.

However, these early impressions are incomplete without 2026’s revamped energy systems, so into a race weekend I went for my first taste of the new Boost and Overtake Modes. While Boost is available at any time, Overtake’s extra electrical horsepower confirms this mode as the true replacement for DRS. Not Active Aero, but the monumental power surge you access once you’re within one second of the car in-front at a designated point.

Overtake’s key distinction, however, is you have the entire next lap to expel its charge. In real-life F1, we’ve seen drivers use the system to get the jump on opponents, but also, there’s been plenty of battery-assisted overtakes in unconventional places. Indeed, in-game, along Circuit de Gilles-Villeneuve’s final-sector stretch, Overtake Mode was powerful enough that I careened past multiple cars before reaching the braking point at Montreal’s iconic Wall of Champions chicane. However, depleting my battery left me exposed to a re-pass on the start-finish straight.

Likewise, along the fleeting back-end of Melbourne’s Albert Park I breezed past the car ahead thanks to a mix of Overtake and open Aero. But, my opponent reappeared after the brisk left-right of turns eleven and twelve, presumably conserving battery along the straight with the plan to re-take the place immediately. They secured the pass long-before turn thirteen’s mid-weight braking zone, and having depleted my battery I was unable to counter.

"Clipping in the 2026 Season Pack is inconsistent."

So, the lesson: if you think hitting Overtake is a one-and-done manoeuvre, think again. Yes, opportunely deploying excess power is an effective attacking strategy, but you rely on your battery for defence, too. Upon this realisation, the subtleties of 2026’s battery-spec come to the fore: see, depletion comes at a much faster rate than last year, so you need to take a more active role in harvesting. In 2026, the real-life cars do this under-braking and by lifting and coasting – easing off the throttle early before engaging the brake – and by superclipping – that is, when the engine deliberately siphons power to the battery, creating a polarising scenario where cars slow at full speed, soundtracked by a dip in engine revs.

Clipping in the 2026 Season Pack is inconsistent. Where the relatively short run up to Austria’s sharp turn-three presented downturned engine power, coinciding with a welcome recharge, I didn’t experience the same effect on Shanghai’s 1.2km back straight – a place I’d expect superclipping to be prevalent. Some clarity would be appreciated; while your race engineer describes lifting and coasting, and suggests using boost on corner exit as a way to counteract any pre-corner shortfall, superclipping isn’t mentioned at all. Whether you’re a fan or not, clipping needs to be a fully-fledged feature to ensure the most immersive simulation.

So, the most effective recharging is done by lifting and coasting, which for most will mean adapting your driving style. I found that flowing tracks like Qatar’s Losail International Circuit made lifting and coasting – or, in other words, driving deliberately more measured – quite enjoyable. Throughout its long sequences and the absence of heavy-braking zones, Losail became an opportunity to refine my throttle control. And, during races, Qatar doesn’t demand energy management as strictly as the aforementioned Albert Park or Circuit de Gilles-Villeneuve – the latter going further to expose some bad habits too. Now, more than ever, nailing your exit to turn-ten’s hairpin is crucial to securing a pass on the following straight with battery to spare.

But, while some pre-existing circuits require fine-tuning muscle memory to extract the best performance, Madrid’s all-new Madring circuit is a different beast entirely. It’s tight, twisting, varied, and unfamiliar; a strange feeling, admittedly, racing around a circuit that real-life F1 has yet to visit. Alas, what’s unfamiliar forces proper learning, and a chance to explore potentially unconventional overtakes afforded by this year’s batteries.

See, before Las Vegas and Baku, F1’s street circuits were notoriously difficult to overtake. With Madring, its attacking potential would be unclear if it wasn’t for 2026’s regulation changes. There’s an early-lap opportunity to drag-race toward a tightening chicane where electrical horsepower gets the pass done early. If Madring had appeared on last season’s calendar, this manoeuvre wouldn’t have been viable.

Likewise, I was caught out on the briefest zip toward the final corner, showing that even marginal straights yield opportunities for passing. Whether these scenarios play out similarly when F1 visits the circuit is unknown, but Madring makes for an enjoyable experience in 2026 Season Pack regardless.

"My only gripe, really, is that the strategic potential in the 2026 regs isn’t fully explained."

And that’s the thing: the strongest critique of 2026’s regulation changes accuse the FIA of ‘gamifying’ Formula 1. And while that debate is ongoing, in F1 25: 2026 Season Pack those ‘game-like’ changes translate into a tactical tug-of-war, where energy management boils down to a risk-versus-reward mechanic. Whether you’re recharging for one final qualifying lap as the clock ticks down, or you’re desperate to stay ahead of the pack as your battery’s running on empty, F1’s 2026 regulations expand on-track tension. Through refined throttle control, tactical energy use, occasional ERS trains forcing you toward unconventional overtakes, or the dreaded speed differentials between power surging and battery harvesting cars, you’ve more on your plate in F1 25: 2026 Season Pack than ever before.

My only gripe, really, is that the strategic potential in the 2026 regs isn’t fully explained. Sure, your engineer outlines the fundamentals, but it would be appreciated if onboarding suggested more conclusive ways to use the battery-powered tools for tactical attack and defence. Likewise, practice programs appear unchanged. In my view, this is a missed opportunity to train you on how to extract your battery’s potential. Mid-race dynamic objectives have been updated – in one example my engineer asked me to deploy my battery past a certain threshold before the end of the following lap – but by this time you’re already in the thick of it. My strategic ideas glean from watching F1 for real; casual fans who don’t pay close attention to the sport will have to figure it out for themselves.

So, whilst F1 in 2026 is something of a revolution, in F1 25: 2026 Season Pack these sweeping overhauls are more of an evolution. While the changes aren’t as dramatic as you’d expect, newly meaningful strategy emerges during moment-to-moment racing once you’ve a handle on the battery’s tactical potential. What I’m most appreciative of, though, is that the 2026 Season Pack refines the experience in ways that demand more deliberate driving.

This DLC is more than a re-skin, and fans of the series should be eager to access the update before F1 27’s purported revamp.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.