F1 25 adds playable chapter scenarios inspired by F1 The Movie

When F1 25 launched last month, it included a playable scenario recreating a pivotal scene from F1 The Movie, in which Brad Pitt’s character Sonny Hayes attempts to beat a lap time set at Silverstone by his teammate, Joshua Pierce.

Now that the film is out in cinemas, the remaining scenario chapters can be accessed in F1 25 as part of the new v1.05 update.

While all players can access the introductory chapter for free, the six extra chapters inspired by the F1 Movie are a pre-order bonus for the Iconic Edition, or they can be purchased separately as DLC for £8.99 / $9.99.

F1 25’s chapter scenarios see you drive the fictional APXGP car across Silverstone, Monza, Zandvoort, Mexico City, Spa-Francorchamps and Abu Dhabi, completing objectives inspired by scenes in the film. Completing every chapter unlocks Sonny Hayes’ helmet, which can be used in F1 World or Driver Career.

Each chapter seamlessly blends live-action footage from F1 The Movie with gameplay. It’s a similar setup to Braking Point, which is no coincidence as F1 25’s Creative Director Gavin Cooper recently revealed to Traxion that the chapter scenarios share the same code.

 “We got early access to the script so we could start perusing it and figuring out what the narrative highpoints are and thinking what would make good candidates for scenarios,” he explained.

“It’s a lot like game development. We started to see very early cuts of some of those sequences, which meant we had to potentially change our plans to match how the movie was taking shape.

“Once we identified these specific bits we wanted to try and recreate, there was a whole design process where we tried to figure out ‘what’s the story of this bit of on-track action?’ ‘How can we tell that story with the tools we have in the game?’ ‘With the objectives, where do we cut back from footage to gameplay and back to footage?’

“We then tried to stitch together a plan for how the scenarios would pan out. Then it went to a designer to implement all of that and balance it for all the different difficulty levels.”

Each chapter scenario is also visually styled to match the film’s cinematography. “The art and graphics teams spent a lot of work on the colour grading of these scenarios,” Cooper added. “We changed the colour grading of the on-track action to visually match the look of the film, so that transition is a lot more seamless.”

Starring Brad Pitt as veteran F1 driver Sonny Hayes and directed by Top Gun Maverick’s Joseph Kosinski, F1 The Movie is out now in cinemas. Lauded for its visceral racing scenes filmed during actual Grand Prix weekends with bespoke cameras mounted to the cars, the film grossed $144 million in its opening weekend worldwide, making it Brad Pitt’s highest-grossing film to date.

How to access F1 25’s F1 Movie chapter scenarios

• Included in F1 25 Iconic Edition at no extra cost
• Available as standalone DLC for Standard Edition players (£8.99 / $9.99)

F1 25 update 1.05 patch notes

• Added six F1 The Movie Chapter Scenarios. Available for those with F1 The Movie Chapter Scenarios add-on – sold separately and included in Iconic Edition pre-orders
• Added F1 The Movie Soundtrack songs from Ed Sheeran, Chris Stapleton, Don Toliver & Doja Cat, and Roddy Ricch to the EA Music playlist – available for all F1® 25 players