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In F1 25, braking and getting the car to rotate is one of the hardest things to master. Because the cars are so quick everything happens extremely fast, and the technique is unique to any other sim racing game. What works in iRacing, ACC, or Le Mans Ultimate won’t necessarily make you fast on F1 25.
To make this guide practical, the examples that you will see throughout this guide, are from real PSGL F2 and F3 drivers. I am not showing hypothetical mistakes.
All five of these mistakes are from sim racers competing as a part of the FVR esports team. FVR, is the F1 team I am a part of and is one of just four community teams to qualify for PSGL Eseries. The mistakes you are seeing here are some that even the fastest drivers can make. So if you are reading this, there will be things you can improve to help you lap faster in F1 25.
In order to see many of these mistakes, telemetry software such as Racelaps (paid) or Team Telemetry (free) can be used to get a live telemetry input.
These apps will help you see exactly when you’re pressing the brakes and how much pressure you are applying. This data is essential for identifying and fixing mistakes. Learn how to install Team Telemetry in this video.
Something to understand is that different games and different cars will have different braking styles. The “unique” physics model of F1 25 — with its stiff suspension and high front-end grip — means that the braking shape is unusual compared to traditional sims.
On the left, you will see a traditional trail-braking shape. On the right, you will see an F1 25 braking shape, which I have called Drop Braking.
If you are struggling to determine which mistakes you are making in your driving style, lap analysis is a service included in our F1 25 Pro Setups & Strategy Bundle. Myself and other top drivers analyze laps via our Discord server and determine what you should work on to go faster.
The first mistake occurs at the very beginning of the braking zone. This is when you are on full throttle, you are getting to a braking zone and you need to hit 100% braking input. Some drivers have a tendency to have both the throttle and brake inputs be at 100% or be very close to 100% at the same time.
In telemetry readouts, this shows up as overlapping inputs — or where both bars are maxed out at the same time. The image below shows a driver where he is on throttle 100% and braking 100% at the same time. The telemetry will show 100% braking before any change in throttle input.
Ideally, you want the initial press onto the brake and the release of the throttle to occur at the same time. As one input comes on, the other input comes off. Like a seesaw, as the braking input goes up the throttle input should go down.
Generally, both numbers should add up to 100%. So, 90% throttle and 10% braking to 50% throttle and 50% braking. Then finally 100% braking and 0% throttle. The image below show this.
Another mistake you could be making is touching the throttle under braking. This can either be a hardware setup issue or a mental mistake. It is important that you have enough deadzone set in your pedals that you are not accidentally touching the throttle (or the brakes) in phases of corners where you should not be.
Touching the throttle under braking might show up as a few pixels being held constantly or a small tap onto the throttle too early in the corner.
You can fix this issue in your pedal software. Slightly press the brakes and press the minimum force icon on your pedal calibration software. Then do the same for the throttle. This has now increased the minimum force required to measure an input by the pedals.
Another common and costly braking mistake in F1 25 is not getting to 100% brake input quickly enough.
Because the Formula 1 cars in F1 25 generate such extreme levels of downforce and mechanical grip, every heavy braking zone in the game can be attacked at full brake pressure without the risk of instant lockups — provided you’re braking in a straight line. This means that hesitation in reaching maximum brake pressure is wasted time.
If you take too long to reach full pressure, your effective braking point moves several meters earlier, forcing you to brake sooner than you need to.
--- Article continues below --- Shop Sim Racing DiscountsA slower time to 100% braking might take .265 seconds as opposed to .1 seconds. This braking technique is different from iRacing where you do not want to brake 100% input due to lock-ups or excessive anti-lock braking system (abs) activation.
If you are sim racing in different games, consider lowering your pedal strength needed for F1 25 to allow you to easily reach the 100% braking input.
As I mentioned earlier in this guide, cars in F1 25 have a lot of front end grip. This allows drivers to flick the wheel into low to medium speed corners and not understeer. However, in order to flick the car and not understeer, you need to be aware of String Theory.
This is the concept that your braking input is tied (figuratively and literally) to your steering input. So when braking in a straight line (steering=0%) you can brake 100%.
However, when starting to turn the car for example, steering 20 degrees or about 11% (20/180) the tires can no longer turn the car with 100% braking input applied. So the braking needs to be reduced to maybe 90%.
--- Article continues below ---Unlock maximum performance with multiple setups for every track and complete strategy packs.
This continues as more steering is applied and more braking input needs to be released. This is the concept of trail braking.
However.. If you are flicking the wheel into the corner like many corners allow in F1 25. Your braking needs to reflect this aggression. This is why we have the concept that I called drop braking.
You brake 100% to slow the car down and as you flick the wheel in, your braking needs to be quickly reduced to 10 to 20%.
A mistake that you sometimes see is a driver flicking the wheel but still slowly trailing on the brakes. This will almost always lead to understeer. The left image below shows a traditional trail braking technique. Then the right image shows the correct drop braking technique.
One final mistake that many drivers make in F1 25 is reapplying the brakes mid-corner. This usually happens when you lift completely off the pedal during the trail braking or drop braking phase, then realize you’re still carrying too much speed and quickly press the brakes again. While this is a good way to “save” the corner, it almost always costs lap time.
There are two main reasons this mistake happens:
In your telemetry, this error shows up as a “double hump” in the brake trace. Instead of one clean, smooth release, the graph shows a dip (lifting off) followed by another spike (reapplying). This might feel like understeer on corner entry and sluggish mid-corner because the car never rotates properly.
However, this mistake has uses in racecraft. It is known as modulating the brakes. While slow in single lap pace, this technique can be used for closing the gap to cars in a train.
Additional brake pressure is often needed to not rear end cars who needed to brake earlier than normal due to traffic or going side by side into a corner. Small taps in brake pressure mid corner can also help the car get rotation or oversteer especially in very understeery cars.
Mastering braking in F1 25 isn’t about braking the latest. It’s about adapting to the game’s unique physics. The five mistakes we’ve covered (listed below) are some of the biggest lap-time killers.
Every one of these mistakes is fixable with awareness and practice by using telemetry tools, recording your laps, and focusing on your bad habits.
Watch my video guide that summarises this entire article.
Our pro F1 25 car setups and strategies give you the tools to dominate your league race with the ideal setup and strategy at every track. Created by incredibly fast PSGL sim racers, our pro setups are among the fastest available.
To not understeer while using a flick technique in F1 25 required you to brake hard at 100% pressure into a corner. Then, just as you flick the steering wheel, reduce your braking quickly to 10-20%.
In F1 25, you can add a little deadzone to your throttle pedal. This can also be done in your racing wheel’s software. This will require a tiny bit more pressure to apply any throttle, but can prevent your foot hovering on the throttle and registering input in game.
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Carson is an Esports setup engineer, specialising in Formula 1 setups for one of the fastest Esports teams, FVR. He is also an F1 content creator and writer for Sim Racing Setups.
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