F1 25, the review of the DLC with the 2026 season

We have entered the heart of the 2026 season of the Formula 1 championship. A year of revolution, with new regulations and new teams joining the fray. The opening of this article wanted to be a bit more defeatist, due to the umpteenth mediocre start of the Prancing Horse and what seemed like the beginning of another Merc dominance, but after the Spanish weekend, I'm vaguely more optimistic. One swallow does not make a summer, but what's another year of shattered hopes? Worst case scenario, we'll root for Kimi.

On the video game front, 2026 also holds an unusual script for us. For the first time in quite a few years, a new F1 game will not be released. EA and Codemasters have, in fact, decided to offer the full package as DLC for F1 25. This includes the updated roster of drivers and teams, the current calendar, including the newly introduced Madring, and obviously the new set of rules, adapted to the cars and control system for an "unprecedented" experience. They save on development costs, we save on the ticket price, halved compared to a new release. Was it worth it?

In my opinion, this was probably the worst year to invent a "legacy" edition of the series. The more pronounced electric component and the greater number of movable appendages would require a tailor-made driving model, rather than a rehash of the old one. You don't notice it too much in-game, but I'm also not so knowledgeable about it to notice the minutiae. I would also venture that it was an excellent opportunity to leave behind the cheap melodrama of Konnersport and pull a new story out of the hat, perhaps at the helm of a "small" team that takes advantage of the changes to take its first steps in the paddock (a bit like Cadillac is doing now). It's true that we can more or less replicate the same thing in the regular Career mode.

Speaking of which, for some bizarre reason, it's not possible to participate in the 2026 championship with a friend. No co-op, in short, and its introduction is not foreseen in the future (barring last-minute decisions, given the general discontent). You'll have to wait until 2027 to get your hands on a feature already present in the base package. Okay to amortize costs, but here we're losing pieces.

To explore the new pastures of this 2026 Season Pack, I decided to get on board the green gate as good old Nando. Difficulty 80% (I drive a lawnmower and I'm rusty, allow me to try and fight for some points) and off we go to Melbourne. The experience in the pits and behind the desk hasn't changed at all: the same interfaces, the same test and development programs, lots of graphs and numbers to consult meticulously to best tackle the sessions, satisfy employers, and beat the competition. Behind the wheel, however, something has moved.

The single-seaters are slightly smaller than in the past and mount a larger battery, which accounts for 50% of the total power. This makes them very agile, but also quite nervous and in constant need of management, to ensure they don't run out of juice. Lift and coast, the practice of releasing the accelerator before braking into a corner, is a necessity, and clipping, the loss of speed on a straight due to low residual charge, is more pronounced (the so-called "super clipping"). In the real sport, after some clumsy races, a good compromise was found (especially after the Miami "patch"), but in-game it is still possible to strategically use electric energy to surprise opponents. The variables have increased, but you can always avoid "yo-yo racing" and leave everything to the automatic control of flaps and engagement modes; it seems to know its stuff.

The AI doesn't seem to have been affected by the new setup. Its aseptic driving style leaves no room for interpretation: almost never a gamble or a foul, and it's difficult to catch it off guard because it never tries. It can give you a hard time on a clear track, but if the car in front or behind me suddenly changed livery and/or driver, I wouldn't even notice. The difficulty, then, I don't think is very balanced. The pace in qualifying and in the race doesn't match, with the former definitely above the others. I often start at the bottom of the grid, but a few corners are enough to find myself in the points. If I didn't lose a second on every straight thanks to the magical Honda tractor, I could easily challenge for the podium.

Few technical novelties. After all, it's the F1 25 engine. The presentation of cars and tracks, sense of speed, and lighting effects are excellent, and performance on PC adapts to a wide range of hardware. Less impressive are the human models, whose now lifeless faces vainly try to convince us that there is still life within their waxen limbs, moved by the usual recycled animations. The features of the drivers are getting closer and closer to their real counterparts, but at this rate, we'll be at it for a while. The licensed soundtrack and soulless commentary are a torment. The engine sound is much better.