Building on the exciting new partnership with Max Verstappen, who now boasts EA Sports branding on the chin of his helmet, the back-to-back World Champion is confirmed as the cover star for the digital-exclusive F1 23 Champions Edition.

Braking Point returns for a bold new chapter following the careers of young upstart Aiden Jackson, and protagonist, Devon Butler, now teammates for Konnersport Racing Team, a fledgling organization hoping to succeed against the current real-world F1 teams and drivers. Adding a host of new characters, fresh rivalries, and racing challenges, both aim to take their careers to the next level, but there will be twists, turns, and pitfalls along the way.

F1 23’s handling has been upgraded from last season, allowing for more predictable behavior, and new vehicle physics gives the cars better traction when braking, accelerating, and cornering. By incorporating actual F1 team feedback, a greater balance between aerodynamics and tyre grip results in a more realistic feel. Engine torque and inertia improvements also mean throttle control is more authentic and offers a greater level of connection to the car. Alongside these improvements, Precision Drive controller technology will give pad players better control and confidence in those crucial race moments.

The video, narrated by Sky Sports F1 presenter Natalie Pinkham, takes a closer look at various improvements for the different game modes, including F1 World, Braking Point 2, enhanced multiplayer, as well as the return of Career and My Team.

Following its debut in F1 2021, Braking Point, the fictional narrative-driven story mode, returns this year. A bold new chapter begins following the careers of young upstart Aiden Jackson, and protagonist, Devon Butler, now teammates for Konnersport Racing Team, a fledgling organisation hoping to succeed against the current real-world F1 teams and drivers. In addition to a host of new rivalries, drama and racing challenges, there are a whole host of new characters featured in the story. One of those is the newly crowned Formula 2 champion and sister to Devon Butler, Callie Mayer, who is hungry for a shot on the biggest stage of all, Formula 1. To bring her story to life, the writing team partnered with three-time W Series World Champion and Williams Racing development driver Jamie Chadwick, who gave invaluable insight from a driver’s perspective.

Another key feature explored is F1 World, an exciting new way to enjoy the game that serves as a central hub for multiple game modes. It features solo and multiplayer experiences, a shared progression system, daily, weekly, and seasonal content, an overhauled License Level system, and many different ways to play. F1 World will introduce the complex world of Formula 1 to new players and help them get to grips with the game before launching a bid for the World Championship. For returning players, the feature will make them rediscover their favourite areas of the game including Time Trial, Grand Prix, and Multiplayer. As players progress through F1 World, taking on events and challenges that change over time and align with the season, they increase their Tech Level and earn upgrades that can be equipped to their F1 World car. This improves the car’s performance and opens up more difficult events to master.

Braking Point Makes Its Return

In F1 2021, the fictional narrative-driven story mode Braking Point made its well-received debut. It followed the journey of Aiden Jackson, the most-recent driver to break through into Formula 1. Aiden was confronted with many trials and tribulations along the way, with one of those being a ruthless Devon Butler who would stop and nothing to succeed.

The two became rivals and this year, as Braking Point returns for its second helping, Devon and Aiden find themselves as teammates at Konnersport Butler Racing Team, the latest team to join the F1 grid.

In Braking Point 2, the focus will be on the 2022 and 2023 seasons. As well as some familiar faces, there are a whole host of new characters that feature in the story. One of those is the newly crowned Formula 2 champion, Callie Mayer.

As the first woman ever to win the F2 championship, Callie is hungry for a shot on the biggest stage of all, Formula 1. To bring her story to life, the writing team partnered with three-time W Series World Champion and Williams Racing development driver Jamie Chadwick, who gave invaluable insight from a driver’s perspective.

As you progress through Braking Point, your on and off-track actions will determine your Performance and Reputation levels. Completing Braking Point with higher Performance and Reputation will earn you more rewards.

Depending on the decisions you make when developing your car and the team, alongside the responses you give to the press, you may unlock bonus objectives. Whether you complete or fail these objectives will have a lasting impact on how a storyline plays out.

As with all modes in F1 23, progressing through Braking Point will earn you Podium Pass XP which has its own rewards to unlock on top of those for completing the story.

If you pre-order the Champions Edition of F1 23, a number of the Braking Point characters will be available as Icons for use in My Team.

With Callie’s domination in Formula 2, will Devon or Aidan have to step aside? Will the pair’s rivalry boil over? There will be many twists and turns along the way, with plenty to look forward to for racing fans new and old in Braking Point 2.

F1 World - The Hub for All

Welcome to F1 World, your go-to place for all things F1. As a brand-new feature for F1 23, there’s a lot that’s been packed in.

F1 World is an exciting new way to enjoy the game, serving as a central hub for multiple game modes. It features solo and multiplayer experiences, a shared progression system, daily, weekly, and seasonal content, an overhauled Licence Level system, and many different ways to play.

For new players, F1 World is the perfect place to jump in to help introduce the complex world of Formula 1, whilst getting to grips with the game before launching a bid for the World Championship.

For returning players, you’ll rediscover that all the beloved areas of the game have a fresh look and feel including Time Trial, Grand Prix, and Multiplayer. Not only does the time spent in these modes feel more rewarding, but you can challenge yourself on difficult objectives for even greater benefits.

As you progress through F1 World, taking on events and challenges that change over time and align with the season, you'll increase your Tech Level and earn upgrades that can be equipped to your F1 World car. As your Tech Level increases, as will your car’s performance, opening up more difficult events to master.

Series

Series in F1 World is designed to offer a range of competitive events that take you on a singleplayer global tour of Formula 1. These events will span a variety of game modes and tracks, with various primary and secondary objectives to complete. Improve your driving skills against the AI, master different circuits, and get a taste of luxury with Supercar events to help improve your Tech Level and the F1 World car.

Solo & Multiplayer Events

Including an ever-changing list of daily, weekly, and seasonal events and objectives, Solo & Multiplayer Events offer a taste of both singleplayer and multiplayer racing. Content drops align with the real F1 calendar, so there’s always a good reason to come back.

F1 World Car

Your F1 World car is the vehicle you'll be using throughout most of F1 World. Just like in previous games you’ll be able to change how it looks, but in F1 World you'll unlock upgrades to equip, instantly changing its performance.

As you progress through F1 World, you'll unlock upgrades known as Car Parts (like Brakes and Gearboxes) and Team Members. Team Members include a Team Principal, Strategist, R&D Head, and Sponsors. Each of these can have Contracts assigned to them that give added gameplay modifications. Unwanted upgrades can also be dismantled into resources that can be used to craft other items.

Upgrading your car will increase your Tech Level, making your car faster, handle better, and brake more efficiently, ultimately making it more competitive in events.

All upgrades (both Car Parts and Team Members) are unlocked through gameplay in F1 World, with additional upgrades being available as part of the Free and VIP tiers of Podium Pass. These items can be acquired more quickly by purchasing XP boosts with PitCoin but outside of this, there are no ways to purchase individual upgrades with real-world money.

Licence Level

Throughout F1 World, F1 23 will encourage you to race cleanly with a new safety rating system. Whether you’re playing Series or Solo & Multiplayer Events, the number of penalties you receive and how well you play to the rules will impact your Licence Level.

Clean driving throughout events will have you advance through ranks A-D, with higher ranks opening up more realistic race styles. For example, in Rank D, collisions with other drivers in Multiplayer are disabled, whereas those racing with a Rank A licence will have full damage enabled for a more authentic experience.

For all events in F1 World that rely on your License Level, you have the freedom to choose which level you play at. Even once you’ve attained a particular licence level, you can still select a lower one ahead of each event for a more casual experience.

If you don’t want your Licence Level impacted, you can always switch this off when playing custom Multiplayer games, or in Grand Prix offline. Similarly, should you wish to lock off custom Multiplayer games to those with a particular licence level, you can do that too.

Ranked Overhaul

Whilst Series and Solo & Multiplayer Events use the F1 World car, the entirely overhauled Ranked mode relies on equal performance vehicles to allow pure driving ability to take center stage.

Unlike previous games in the series, Ranked now features a division-based system. Drivers are placed into groups, with 100 players in each. Every group has its own leaderboard, and depending on how you perform in Ranked events, you’ll climb or drop down your leaderboard accordingly.

If you’re one of the top players in your group by the end of the week, you’ll be promoted to the next division. Fall behind, and you may be demoted to the divisions below you. Drivers in higher Divisions will earn Podium Pass XP boosts, with bonuses ranging from 5-20%.

Think you’ve got what it takes? The Elite division is the highest of them all and those in that division can earn the right to call themselves one of the best players in the world. Whilst those in your group are made up of drivers on your chosen platform - be that Xbox, PlayStation, or PC - cross-play is enabled when matchmaking. For the Elite division, you’ll be able to see where players rank on the global cross-play leaderboard, as well as where they rank on your platform.

Goals and Compendium

In addition to everything else in F1 World, we’ve added two new sections to get you closer to the history of F1 past and present, Goals and Compendium.

Goals offer even more opportunities to earn rewards in F1 World and to speed up your progression in Podium Pass.

The Compendium is a virtual sticker album. Stickers can be unlocked throughout your time in F1 World or crafted using resources you earn. Completing stickers earn you XP and more resources to go towards upgrading your F1 World car.

Following community feedback, 35% race distance makes its debut, providing the perfect sweet spot between the previous short and long race options. Additionally, red flags add a new strategic element to F1 23, and the ability to react quickly could change the outcome of a race, both for better and worse. Alongside the full 2023 season calendar, which expands to include Las Vegas and Lusail, the game also boasts three legacy circuits, with Paul Ricard (France), Shanghai (China), and Portimão (Portugal) all confirmed for launch.

The introduction of the F1 World hub delivers a fresh experience with content inspired by the real-world calendar. Helping introduce players to the complex world of Formula 1, F1 World brings together multiple game modes, including Time Trial and Grand Prix, offering an exciting new way to play the game. A new progression system allows players to level up by completing challenges to unlock car upgrades, new liveries, race suits, and helmets. A new safety rating system links online and offline play, encouraging drivers to race cleanly. This system also helps pair like-minded drivers more efficiently for improved online racing.

The digital-exclusive F1 23 Champions Edition comes with time-limited Las Vegas content*, Max Verstappen Race Wear Pack, Braking Point 2 Icons and Vanity Item Pack, Dual Entitlement**, four new My Team Icons, an XP Boost, F1 World Bumper Pack, 18,000 PitCoin and three days early access starting on June 13. A physical and digital Standard Edition featuring EA Sports ambassador Charles Leclerc alongside Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris will be available from June 16 with F1 World Starter Pack and 5000 PitCoin for those who pre-order.

F1 23 is coming to PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC (EA App/Epic Games Store/Steam) on June 16, 2023.