But which is the absolute crème of the crop? Let’s dive into our nominees for the best graphics of 2025, starting with…

Ghost of Yōtei

Everything about Sucker Punch’s sequel is a massive improvement over Ghost of Tsushima, and that especially applies to the visuals. Much greater draw distance with almost no noticeable pop-in, more details, higher quality textures and materials, improved effects – there’s even seamlessly implemented ray-traced global illuminations. All in all, whether you’re in the throes of combat with swords clashing and mud splashing or speeding through fields of flowers, Ghost of Yōtei doesn’t disappoint.

Silent Hill f

Between the expressive facial animations and grotesque environments, Silent Hill f is a nightmarishly stunning experience. Its environments are packed with incredible texture work and backed by realistic lighting and shadows that accentuate every gruesome reveal. Then there are the monsters, designed by kera, which strike a nauseating fine line between beauty and dread.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach

After pushing the limits of the Decima Engine in the original, Kojima Productions somehow goes even further beyond in Death Stranding 2. Gazing upon mountain ranges with nary a hint of slowdown or pop-in, the phenomenal character models with realistic skin textures – it’s a feast for the eyes, and only gets better as you progress further in. For instance, the entire first encounter against Neal and his soldiers? Simply amazing.

DOOM: The Dark Ages

Count on id Software to take technology like ray-traced global illumination and make it a core part of its game while still delivering incredible optimization. Like its predecessors, DOOM: The Dark Ages focuses on brutally fast, though definitely more methodical, combat, but it still packs some fantastic sights like projectiles reflecting off glossy surfaces, more realistic environmental destruction and stellar atmospherics. All of this results in easily one of the best-looking shooters of all time.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Another excellent showcase of RTGI, Assassin’s Creed Shadows brings late Sengoku-era Japan to life in surprisingly stunning ways. However, it’s all the other details that help the experience come together so well, from the physics-based weather and realistic wind to the environmental destruction (especially when destroying a stand and watching dozens of fruit tumble onto the street). The depiction of various cities and castles is also incredible, making this feel like a lived-in world.

Clair Obscur: Expedition

No, Sandfall Interactive’s debut role-playing game isn’t the result of only 32 people and a dog, but you have to admit: Its visuals stretch the definition of “double-A” to an obscene degree. While balancing its fantastical painterly art direction with realism, it delivers some truly surreal environments and moments, packed with detailed shadows and lighting. Even the world map with its diorama-like layout looks incredible.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2

If you played the original Kingdom Come: Deliverance, then the sequel’s outstanding visuals shouldn’t be a surprise. However, the universal leap in quality is mind-boggling, especially considering the increased scale. The composition of the cutscenes and facial expressions of its cast are only the start as you’re treated to realistic fire, rainfall, and excruciatingly detailed foliage. And it all runs like a dream.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater

Having more detailed and realistic character models and environments than the original is only the start. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater goes to extensive lengths to look drop-dead amazing – extensively complex skin meshes, a physically based material system for the clothing, Lumen GI for realistic lighting and shadows, the list goes on. Of course, even with the improved facial expressions, Konami retained every single element of the original’s quirky presentation, and we couldn’t be happier.

F1 25

Say what you will about its improvements over previous games, F1 25 still highlights the sheer beauty of the racing sim series. LIDAR technology results in more realistic tracks, but the implementation of path tracing, which enhances lighting, reflections and sheer detail, especially during various weather conditions, is excellent. Of course, Codemasters’ penchant for painstakingly crafting its F1 vehicles remains as praise-worthy as ever.

Battlefield 6

With the amount of time and resources invested in Battlefield 6’s development, it’s somewhat surprising that it looks this good despite the lack of ray tracing and other advanced features. Nevertheless, the presentation is off the charts, whether you’re running through an active battle with jets screaming overhead or watching buildings torn apart, their debris realistically scattering. The fact that it achieves all this while still offering buttery smooth performance is yet another win.

Dying Light: The Beast

Speaking of not offering ray tracing and still looking incredibly good is Techland’s Dying Light: The Beast. Lighting is a core element of the franchise, and its implementation is especially impressive here, as is the extensive range of parkour animations (which play out seamlessly) and revamped damage model. Striking enemies with melee weapons creates realistic cuts and deformations to a gruesome degree, giving melee combat that extra bit of edge.

The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered

Virtuos opted for an intriguing dual-engine approach here, retaining the original code base and core while overhauling the visuals in Unreal Engine 5. Sure, it’s resulted in some problems, but Cyrodiil comes to life like never before. Emperor Uriel, with his realistic wrinkles and excruciatingly fine cloth textures, is only the start as the environments and NPCs are brimming with details.

ARC Raiders

Several Unreal Engine 5 titles come under fire for their poor optimization and performance issues. Then you have ARC Raiders, which offers exceptionally peak performance. Achieving this meant opting away from the likes of Lumen and Nanite, but the fidelity is still surprisingly strong. Reflective surfaces on ARC, realistic-looking weather, detailed destruction – it’s almost enough to make you forget that this is a multiplayer shooter.

Borderlands 4

Once you surmount the various technical problems on PC, there’s no denying that Borderlands 4 is a great-looking game. Gearbox’s signature cel-shading style looks more nuanced than ever, and it’s impressive given the scale of its environments, the seamless exploration, and the surprisingly complex character designs (especially the enemies).

Hell is Us

There’s an eerie atmosphere to Hell is Us, made all the more tangible with the presence of Time Rifts and otherworldly creatures in otherwise realistic, war-torn environments. While it required further optimization at launch, discovering Lake Cynon’s lush field of blue flowers or exploring the sleek interiors of Auriga Museum still made for some startling moments, further bolstered by the excellent texture quality, lighting and reflections.

And the title with the Best Graphics of 2025 is…

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach

Let’s be real – this generation hasn’t exactly been brimming with titles that push the graphical envelope. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is, of course, the exception and it becomes apparent in the opening minutes. Quick cuts of Mexico, the first location, look almost identical to real life. The skin tone on the characters, alongside details like realistic sweat and retinas, also makes them feel that much more alive. And mind you, this is before Australia, where the sheer breadth of the world is unveiled, from the different biomes to the real-time weather effects (including dust storms).

We mentioned the battle against Neal and the impressive use of lighting, reflective puddles and effects, but it’s even more incredible how this is achieved with screen-space reflections rather than ray-tracing. If all of this wasn’t enough, seamlessly going from the main menu right into the game underscores just how ahead of the curve Death Stranding 2 is of the competition. For that reason and many more, it’s our pick for the best graphics of 2025.

This approach is considered part of a “strategic reset” for the Codemasters-developed franchise. Fans can expect a new title in 2027 that “looks, feels and plays differently” while offering “more gameplay choices,” seemingly answering longtime requests from fans. EA also promises a “refreshed experience” that “expands on what longtime players have loved from the franchise.”

Codemasters senior creative director Lee Mather said, “F1 25 has been an incredible success, fueled by the passion of fans and the energy of the sport. With Formula 1’s momentum on and off the track, now is the perfect time for us to look ahead and build for the future.

“We’re fully committed to the EA Sports F1 franchise. Our multi-year plan extends this year’s excitement with the 2026 expansion and reimagines the F1 experience for 2027 to deliver even more for players at every level around the world.”

The announcement comes in the wake of Electronic Arts’ acquisition by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners for $55 billion. Although the deal will be completed by the first quarter of fiscal year 2027 (i.e., by June 30, 2026), the publisher has already made significant changes. This includes partnering with Stability AI to “co-develop transformative AI models, tools, and workflows that empower our artists, designers, and developers to reimagine how content is built.”

How all of this will affect the next F1 remains to be seen. For more details on F1 25, check out our review. As EA notes, it’s currently in Season 4 with a new mode, Survival Challenge, available.

Gears 5

The Gears series was always at the forefront of modern rendering techniques, and Gears 5 is obviously no different in that regard. Released in 2019, Gears 5 continues to impress with its gorgeous level of detail present in every aspect of the presentation, including but not limited to the environment, characters, and the sheer spectacle of the firefights on offer.

Fortunately, that isn’t the case with the PS5 Pro. There are quite a few titles that make the most of its power, and it’s gamers who win as they get to experience games like never before! Here are a few great titles that have made the most out of Sony’s latest powerhouse, and come out all the better for it.

We’ve put together some of our favorite ones for you to check out. Let’s dive in!

1. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

Insomniac’s take on the neighborhood-friendly webslingers is nothing short of a masterpiece on the PS5 Pro, with New York City coming to life on the Performance Pro mode. With full ray tracing via PSSR and a smooth 60fps guiding the action along, swinging across the game’s urban sandbox is a visual treat while making the entire experience feel authentic and immersive.

Of course, the grand set-pieces also benefit from the PS5 Pro’s raw power, making this one a game you shouldn’t miss on the console.

2. Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart

While the PS5 version of the game was certainly a looker, Insomniac really took things up a notch with the PS5 Pro update on this one. While the Performance Pro mode offered the standard version’s Fidelity mode at 60fps, the new Fidelity Pro mode brings some serious ray-traced goodness to push the visuals to the maximum.

With increased reflections and even pedestrian density in certain areas, this game makes great use of the PS5 Pro’s abilities to make the entire experience look and feel incredible to those of you playing through the iconic characters’ latest adventure.

3. Callisto Protocol

Although Striking Distance’s implementation of its new graphical improvements might not have been as impressive as other titles on this list, there’s no denying that the new ray-traced Performance mode makes the entire experience feel significantly better than the base version.

Additionally, the use of TAAU did make the game perform better, which is always a good thing for an experience that’s as riveting and scary as this one.

4. Gran Turismo 7

Codemaster’s excellent use of PSSR to improve the image quality on offer both on the track and outside of it earns Gran Turismo 7 a place on our list of PS5 Pro games that push the powerhouse to its limits. Diving into a race with the new graphical bells and whistles at 8K is quite immersive, with your car’s interiors now appearing more detailed, and tracks come to life as you blaze through them.

This is a title whose amazing visuals get even better when you play it on the PS5 Pro.

5. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

The developers took advantage of the PS5 Pro’s versatility mode to build on the PS5 version of this sequel to Final Fantasy VII Remake, combining the best of the base version’s Quality and Performance modes to make it the definitive way to enjoy Cloud Strife’s adventures.

This is a title that is a great showcase of just how well PSSR can function to bring incredibly designed worlds to life in all their glory.

6. F1 25

Codemaster certainly knows how to make use of the PS5 Pro’s power, with F1 25 bringing three different graphical options to the console. As if running races at 4K/60fps with Quality mode wasn’t enough, Performance Mode took the framerates up to 120fps on compatible displays.

But the real star of the show is Resolution Mode, which bumps things up to 8K/60fps for an experience that comes pretty darn close to the real thing, thanks to ambient occlusion, reflections, and shadows bringing incredible visual details to the track. This is a game that you might use to show off your PS5 Pro’s real power.

7. Death Stranding 2

Hideo Kojima’s follow-up to the original Death Stranding is simply stunning on the PS5 Pro. The Decima engine really shows off its chops in the game’s performance mode, allowing for an experience that you must see to believe.

Sam’s trek across Mexico and Australia is a visual treat that’s made even sweeter on the PS5 Pro, although the base PS5 also does a great job of bringing this new world to life.

8. Assassin’s Creed Shadows

The decision to set the game in Sengoku Japan has been quite well-received, with a solid gameplay loop backing up an intriguing setting. The open world makes the experience even better when it’s played on the PS5 Pro’s Balanced mode, which offers a superb mix between Quality and Performance modes on the base PS5.

With ray tracing and 40fps enabled on compatible 120Hz displays, the PS5 Pro version of Shadows is the best balance of smooth graphics and incredible visuals that push the console to its limits.

9. Alan Wake 2

Remedy Entertainment’s survival horror experience does very well on the PS5 Pro, bringing an almost perfect balance between the base versions’ Performance and Quality modes. While the differences might not be as evident on paper, playing through this title on the new console makes the entire experience feel that much more immersive, drawing you into Alan Wake’s bizarre world right off the bat.

Playing the game at 40fps with ray tracing enabled across the board is something we’d do over and over again, thanks to how great it makes the experience look and feel.

10. Cyberpunk 2077

The PS5 Pro simply brings Night City to life in a way that makes it a very strong option for those of you looking to enjoy CD Projekt Red’s take on a dystopian future. With 40fps on Quality Mode and 80fps in Performance Mode, this is a title that really pushes the PS5 Pro and makes great use of its power.

Cyberpunk 2077 has certainly come a long way from its messy launch and is now a game that’s right up there with modern gaming’s greatest hits.

11. Resident Evil Village

Playing through Ethan Winters’ search for his daughter in the titular village on the PS5 Pro’s 120Hz mode is a great way to let the game’s many horrors terrify you even more than they did on the base console.

The official Pro patch makes good use of PSSR to bring ray-traced immersion and a solid framerate to enable new levels of immersion to the experience on offer, and earns Village a place on this list.

12. Dragon’s Dogma 2

Although we were quite impressed by Dragon’s Dogma 2 when it first came out, there’s no denying that the experience needed a lot of improvement on the base PS5. However, the game’s balance mode bought a lot of those improvements and then some to the table.

Performance was nearly locked at 60fps while ray tracing brought a fresh coat of paint to the Arisen’s world, making this one quite the looker on the PS5 Pro.

13. Returnal

How did Housemarquee make an excellent shooter even better? By giving it a free PS5 Pro update that brought a significant resolution boost, along with a buttery smooth 60fps to the table.

The end result is a game that showcases the Pro’s graphical prowess like no other, with the particle physics and visually stunning world and enemies looking their very best, while the gameplay loop keeps its players coming back for more. Returnal is a fun game to play on any platform, and a graphical marvel on the PS5 Pro.

14. Battlefield 6

We’re quite impressed with the graphics on offer in this one, even if its main campaign has drawn a bit of flak since its release. However, the Fidelity mode on offer for PlayStation gamers brings an impressive level of visual detail accompanied by excellent framerates that simply cannot be ignored.

If you’re looking to dive into this one on a console, the PS5 Pro is the one to beat.

15. Ghost of Yotei

Sucker Punch’s follow-up to Jin Sakai’s touching tale brings a lot of meaningful changes to the formula it set up in 2020. Among them is a visually stunning open world that comes alive from the second you first behold its expansive vistas as Atsu.

On the PS5 Pro, Ezo is an absolute stunner, with the RT Pro mode being the option that makes the game blend all of its visual splendor into an experience that can have you spending hours just exploring away while the Yotei Six wonder where the onryo meant to bring them to justice vanished off to.

And that’s a wrap on our picks for the games that push the PS5 Pro to its limits. Were there others that you think deserve a place on this list?

According to the report, there have been a total of 71 million games sold in 2025 across PC and consoles in Europe, which marks a 6 percent drop over the same period from 2024. This data accounts for sales having taken place up to July 28. Of the 71 million game sales, 52 million were digital copies, while 19.7 million were physical copies. These are 3 percent and 9 percent reductions over the previous year, and around 74 percent of games sold this year in Europe have been digital, which, when it comes to percentages, is a 2 percent rise from 2024.

The best-selling game in Europe in 2025 has been EA Sports FC 25. The title was released back in 2024, and taking it into account, Assassin’s Creed Shadows currently sits in the number 2 spot for game sales overall in Europe across PC and consoles. The top 20 sales chart, which you can check out below, also include other games released this year, including The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, Elden Ring: Nightreign, and Nintendo Switch 2 launch title Mario Kart World. It is worth noting that digital sales data for Nintendo games hasn’t been revealed.

The data, coming from official European charts company GSD, also interestingly omits Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. It was noted as being missing because publisher Kepler Interactive hasn’t shared sales data for the game with GSD. An analyst from GSD, Sam Naji, also revealed some details about how game spending has changed for PC and consoles over the year.

In his analysis, Naji said that the first 19 weeks of 2025 saw spending drop by 2 percent compared to 2024, down to €1.33 billion, while the number of copies sold dropped by 9 percent. He attributed this to the average price of games having gone up by around 8 percent, with gamers spending an average of €29 per game, when compared to 2024’s average of €27 per game. He also noted that digital spending had gone up by 8 percent compared to a 6 percent drop in number of units sold, attributing it to a 15 percent rise in average price for digital games – €22 to €25 per game.

Best Selling Games in Europe for 2025 Across PC and Consoles:

1. EA Sports FC 25 (EA)
2. Assassin’s Creed Shadows (Ubisoft)
3. Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar)
4. Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar)
5. Hogwarts Legacy (Warner Bros)
6. Split Fiction (EA)
7. Monster Hunter Wilds (Capcom)
8. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (Activision Blizzard)
9. Mario Kart World (Nintendo)
10. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (Plaion)
11. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered (Bethesda)
12. Star Wars Battlefront 2 (EA)
13. Elden Ring: Nightreign (Bandai Namco)
14. It Takes Two (EA)
15. Grand Theft Auto Online (Rockstar)
16. NBA 2K25 (2K Games)
17. F1 25 (EA)
18. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege (Ubisoft)
19. Mario Kart 8: Deluxe (Nintendo)
20. Battlefield 1 (EA)

“We delivered a strong start to FY26, outperforming expectations ahead of what will be the most exciting launch slate in EA’s history,” said CEO Andrew Wilson in a letter to EA’s shareholders (via Variety). “From deepening player engagement in EA Sports to gearing up for Battlefield 6 and skate., we’re scaling our global communities and continuing to shape the future of interactive entertainment.”

The letter also included words from CFO Stuart Canfield, who spoke about the company having exceeded its previous forecasts about how well EA would perform in this first quarter. Canfield also spoke about having a “robust pipeline” in place that will lead to strong performance from the company in future quarters as well, thanks to upcoming releases like Battlefield 6.

“We exceeded the high end of our guidance in Q1 highlighting the resilience of our live services and the breadth of our portfolio,” said Canfield. “With strong fundamentals and a robust pipeline ahead, we remain confident in our full-year guidance and long-term margin framework.”

Net revenue reported by EA for Q1 sits at $1.6 billion. With operating expenses of $1.1 billion and a $279 million cost of revenue, the company has reported a net income of $201 million. The company is also expecting a strong FY 2026, projecting net revenues of between $7.1 billion to $7.5 billion. For the next quarter, EA is forecasting net revenues of between $1.75 billion and $1.85 billion.

During the earnings call, Wilson had stated that the company doesn’t currently have plans to change its pricing strategies for the upcoming Battlefield 6. The statement came in response to a question about the game’s price which was likely fueled by rumours indicating that it would be priced at $80.

“When you think about everything from free-to-play through to our premium products and our Deluxe editions, our orientation is always to capture the full spectrum of pricing so that we can serve players in the best way possible and offer them the greatest value,” he explained. “We’ll continue to look at opportunities to deliver great value to our players through various pricing schemes over the course of time, but no dramatic changes planned yet.”

EA is currently getting ready for a host of new releases. Along with Battlefield 6, the company also has major sports releases on the way, including EA Sports FC 26, as well as Madden NFL 26. EA has also been getting ready to finally release Skate this year after having spent quite a bit of time on playtesting it over the last year.

In the meantime, Battlefield 6 recently received an official reveal trailer, which you can check out in our coverage. Its multiplayer will be revealed on July 31st, so stay tuned for more details.

Every year, a common complaint centers on F1’s car physics. F1 24 magnified these grievances exponentially, with accusations the game had lost its challenge, in part due to non-existent understeer and too-easily correctable oversteer. Rightly or wrongly, F1 24’s legacy is cemented in its perceived failings to provide authentic racing experiences.

"F1 25’s car handling suggests newfound authenticity, but is it perfect? No, it isn’t. Overall, it’s still largely forgiving."

So, F1 25 and its car handling revisions, devised in tandem with pro F1 sim racers, focuses on refining four key areas: tyres, power units, aero performance, and controller-slash-wheel feedback. What you’ll want to know is this: does F1 25 feel good to drive? I’m here to tell you yes, overall, I believe it does. Although, a quick caveat before we go further: I’m playing with a controller. Like most gamers, cost, practicality, and accessibility inform the apparatus I game with. Steering wheels, of course, enhance immersion, with F1 25 reportedly fine-tuning force feedback to provide greater sense the car is fighting to straighten its wheels through corners, but I can’t confirm how this feels.

What I can confirm is there is tangible sensation through the PS5’s DualSense when I break too hard, when I miss my apexes, when I step on the gas too greedily out of cornering. It feels, in a way, that this should be as good as it gets through a controller, running the car on the ragged edge, deftly depressing the brakes, and feathering the throttle. This feedback informs car behaviour well and is vital for learning how to eradicate locking up under-braking or suffering wheelspin out of corners.  

F1 25’s car handling suggests newfound authenticity, but is it perfect? No, it isn’t. Overall, it’s still largely forgiving. I should say at this point that I turned all driving assists off except traction control which was set to medium (the other options being full assistance or off altogether, the latter of which – sorry purists – I’m not quite skilled enough for). Medium traction control gave me the much-needed, aforesaid sense of ragged edge. I could conceivably spin out should I stomp on the accelerator pedal too early as, what happened frequently, the back end would step out. However, rarely did this amount to anything more than a missed heartbeat. The snap was easy to control. This may be symptomatic of medium traction control, but the point is there was feeling there that the car should have nosedived into the Armco, but it never did. Oversteer, for the most part, is a non-event. An inconvenience at most. Likewise, should you dip a tyre beyond track limits, into gravel or scraping on grass then the penalty is largely non-existent. Time lost is minimal.

The question I ask myself though is this: is more accessible driving a bad thing? After all, more fans are flocking to the sport thanks to Netflix’s Drive to Survive, and with this summer’s F1 movie the presumption is more fans are incoming. Expert racers might be agitated by diluted physics, of course, but balancing authentic car feel with accessibility for the laymen can’t be easy to achieve and yet Codemasters have got there with F1 25. Whilst, like I said, it’s not perfect, distinctions between tyre compounds, degradation, and fuel loads are noticeably felt through the controller.

Another example of accessibility – and something EA haven’t talked about in the runup to F1 25’s release – is car setup. Default setups, favouring straight line speed or cornering, or a balance of the two, are quite effective this year. It feels as though you can get 90% of the way to extracting the most performance out of any car by choosing one of the game’s pre-determined setups. And if the car is still a tad understeer-y at low speed, a simple tweak of front wing angle provides noticeable bite. This is a win in my book as, yes, F1 games historically are simulations but not everyone newly interested in the sport is going harbour in-depth setup knowledge. Something that levels the playing field shouldn’t be smirked at. Seasoned pros who understand the nuances of car setup can still extract more through custom setups, so there’s no reason to be upset.

Moving on to another one of F1’s consistent problems: computer-controlled driver AI. This year, EA say they have re-tuned AI to reflect the thrill and excitement of driving against human opponents. Do they succeed? Well, I’m afraid to say this one’s a no. Complaints from previous years will rear their head again. For instance, AI drivers are extremely cautious when under-braking, to the point where it’s incredibly easy to rear-end their gearbox a hundred metres before either of us hit the apex, whilst their much-promoted defensive nouse amounts to nothing more than sliding the car to the middle of the track. Of course, it doesn’t help that DRS is overpowered, perhaps in response to the dreaded DRS trains that consistently formed in F1 24. DRS trains don’t appear to be as much of an issue in F1 25 but that’s because flipping open your rear-wing letterbox sees you breeze past your opponent with ease, whether they’ve got their DRS open or not.

"Impressive is the effect decisions have on your team’s psyche, especially ones that’ll influence a driver’s perceived position within the team. "

A lot of work goes into creating artificial intelligence, there’s no denying that. But the problem with F1 games is that opposition drivers seem incapable of unpredictability. There’s definite improvement over last year; computer-controlled drivers now deploy ERS tactically, but 25’s racing demands volatility to be as authentic as Codemasters purport it to be. AI should make mistakes: more lockups, noticeably succumbing to pressure, or visible caution trailing in dirty air. There is room for improvement here, but the problem I suspect is in how complex it is to program these behaviours. Hopefully we’ll get there; AI in F1 25 takes a step in the right direction but, I feel, it isn’t as large a leap as EA’s marketing material claims.      

F1 25 focuses too much on off-track innovations as opposed to more-needed on-track improvement. Case in point: the vast overhaul of My Team. Refining the team owner role is My Team 2.0, with day-to-day running of multiple departments, managing company-wide morale, including both drivers, researching and developing (which have been split into separate processes for the first time), and strategising the financial impact of every decision. Then, on race weekends, you can get inside the cockpit and race as one of your drivers. There’s a lot going on.

Impressive is the effect decisions have on your team’s psyche, especially ones that’ll influence a driver’s perceived position within the team. Case in point, your R&D budget might only stretch to one new car part; sticking it onto your number one driver’s car will disgruntle the other. A shallower version of F1 Manager’s Mentality System this may be but following that series’ demise there’s space for complex F1 management in F1 25. My Team 2.0, however, only skims the surface of what F1 Manager was capable of. Worse, it’s unsure of what it wants to be, and its engagement suffers as a result. If My Team goes further down the team owner route, navigating the sport’s politics or fostering academy talent through F2 and F3, or – a glaring miss – undertaking a hefty period of Winter testing to compliment the newly split research and development departments then this will enrichen the experience.

You will spend a lot of time away from the track in My Team 2.0, so thankfully you can still undertake a season without any ownership fluff via career campaigns, and these are largely the same modes that have come before, including the returning chance to mix F1’s current field with driver icons, F2 drivers, Braking Point’s Konnersport contingent, and characters from the F1 movie. So, the dream of chasing an 8^th world title for Michael Schumacher or getting Franco Colapinto into an Alpine before the devs do is still on. And when you are behind the wheel there are five new laser-scanned tracks to admire.

F1 25’s LIDAR circuits have been rebuilt from the ground up, encompassing the first five of last year’s calendar – Bahrain, Melbourne, Imola, Suzuka, and Miami – with the look and feel of each fantastically refreshed. The real-life tracks were scanned during F1 race weekends, ensuring barriers, advertisements, grandstands, lights, trees, foliage, fan areas, all are as true to life as possible. LIDAR’s billions of data points translate to bar-raising tarmac replication too, with more profound bumps, elevation changes, off-camber corners, and curb heights woven into controller feedback beyond non-LIDAR tracks. When EA talk about F1 25 exhibiting newfound authenticity, look no further than LIDAR tracks. I’m a big fan and can’t wait for the rest of the calendar to be rebuilt.

"The return of Braking Point with its third campaign provides an ample jumping in point for anyone eager to get started with impactful racing."

The reverse tracks, however, I’m on the fence. There’s only three – Silverstone, Austria’s Red Bull Ring, and Zandevoort – and whilst the execution is thoroughly well done with floor decals, lights, pit crew formations, marshal positioning, safety barrier tweaks, adjusted racing lines, recalibrated AI, and anything else you can think of proving this isn’t just a case of flipping cars 180°, it does feel a tad gimmicky. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a neat way to introduce – for all intents and purposes – new tracks to the calendar but maybe I’m too much of a purist. It feels strange driving iconic circuits the ‘wrong’ way. Also, you might argue Codemasters’ time and effort would be better spent introducing historical circuits, something F1’s community has been relentlessly requesting.

An overdue feature incoming is the new Decal Editor, enhancing custom liveries for your cars in F1 World and My Team. The process is cool; starting with a base livery, decals customizable via scale, angle, and position provide personality and – that word again – an authentic look to your design. Whilst I’m usually unperturbed by cosmetics, I feel eager to unlock more customization options as I continue racing through the game’s various modes. However, it would have been nice to see the decal editor extend to your driver’s overalls as whilst a car loaded with advertisements looks the part, a driver in blank racewear is jarring.

The return of Braking Point with its third campaign provides an ample jumping in point for anyone eager to get started with impactful racing. Without spoilers, Braking Point 3’s emotional story marries well with off-track politics prevalent in the sport providing an engaging diversion away from blockbuster racing. My only gripe really is the suspension of disbelief in some of the mid-race objectives; sprinting from 7^th to 1^st in the final 6 laps of a race would be too much to ask even of Max Verstappen and his near-invincible 2023 Red Bull.

Finally, F1 25 finds space for F1 The Movie with a campaign that’d presumably be similar in delivery to Braking Point 3. An introductory scenario is raceable for all F1 25 owners, but only those with the more expensive Iconic Edition will be able to take on key challenges replicated from the film when they drop in post-launch updates starting 30^th June.

"Finally, F1 25 finds space for F1 The Movie with a campaign that’d presumably be similar in delivery to Braking Point 3."

Innovations like the Decal Editor demonstrate F1 25 is steering the series in the right direction. Arguably, however, we aren’t experiencing their full potential. LIDAR tracks aside, as whilst it’d be very welcome for every circuit to be remade and present, they’ll take time, My Team’s management focus, car handling’s enhancements, AI’s revisions, even the reverse circuits, there’s a sense that F1 25 is trying out a host of new or refined ideas without fully committing to them.  

I can’t comment on F1 25’s sure-to-be welcome focus on respectful, multi-player racing though as the online lobbies are barren at the time of writing, but the new Invitationals mode could be an excellent way to play online without worrying some rogue gamer will T-bone you into a gravel trap. Instead, Invitationals encourage racers to collaborate in achieving a shared goal in exchange for ample rewards. Furthermore, revamped Driver of the Day systems, plus awards for cleanest driving, most overtakes, and more, should encourage teamwork and respectful racing further.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

Lumb went on to explain how AI-based supersampling like we see in technologies like Nvidia’s DLSS and AMD’s FSR typically works, and how the PS5 Pro sets itself apart by being able to transform images it was given into high-resolution outputs. Lumb also revealed that, thanks to PSSR, the studio was able to double the resolution of ray traced reflections while leaving it up to PSSR to up the image quality while maintaining steady frame rates.

“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,” Lumb explained. “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.”

The producer also spoke about more of the technology being used in order to enhance visual fidelity for F1 25, including the use of LiDAR scanning in order to more accurately model the game’s various racing tracks and the surrounding flora and audiences. The studio plans on making use of PSSR even more thoroughly for its next title to try and get an even higher degree of visual fidelity on the PS5 Pro.

“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,” said Lumb. “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.”

In the same interview, Lumb, along with creative director Gavin Cooper, had revealed quite a few details about the upcoming F1 25, including some of the new My Team features, the evolution of the Braking Point story mode, and updates to the game’s handling and physics system.

F1 25 is coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on May 30. The title will mark the return of the Braking Point storyline, and will aim for high levels of visual fidelity on PC through path tracing. For more details, here is everything you need to know about the game.

We spoke to creative director Lee Mathew, who confirmed three modes on the console – Quality, Performance and Resolution. Quality Mode targets 4K/60 Hz with on-track ray tracing and PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution enabled. Performance Mode delivers 4K for 120 Hz screens and offers “a crisp, smooth experience and extra clarity from the increased resolution.”

Finally, there’s Resolution Mode, which debuted last year when F1 24 received PS5 Pro support. It runs at 8K/60 Hz, and supports ray traced dynamic diffuse global illumination (RT DDGI) on tracks. Ambient occlusion, reflections, shadow effects and RT DDGI are also viewable in cutscenes, Photo Mode, and replays in 8K/30 Hz.

If that wasn’t enough, couch co-op in split-screen runs at 60 Hz “without compromise.” F1 25 launches on May 30th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC, but Iconic Edition owners can start playing on May 27th. Check out our feature for everything you should know.

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.