The latest update for **F1 25**, **Patch 1.06**, has officially deployed across **PC, PlayStation 5,** and **Xbox Series X|S** platforms. This release targets several key areas of the racing simulation, with a particular focus on refining car behavior and addressing player-reported inconsistencies, aiming to provide a fairer and more predictable racing experience.
Chief among the improvements are significant adjustments to how cars handle in wet conditions. Players have noted difficulties competing against the AI under challenging skies, often citing the automatic gearbox`s tendency towards excessive short-shifting in higher gears as a major handicap. **Patch 1.06** includes specific tweaks to the automatic gearbox logic when racing on a wet track. This change is designed to curb that frustrating short-shifting behavior, allowing players to extract more performance and genuinely compete with AI opponents when the rain starts falling.
Another technical refinement addresses the impact of underbody scraping. Investigations prompted by player feedback revealed that player-controlled cars were experiencing greater frictional penalties against the track surface compared to their AI counterparts, leading to an unfair loss of top speed. To level the playing field, the patch makes minor adjustments to the front ride height and floor friction levels. The intent here is clear: to reduce the speed reduction caused by underbody contact and ensure that players are not unfairly disadvantaged by the physics simulation.
Beyond these core handling updates, **Patch 1.06** irons out a variety of other creases reported since the game`s launch. Career mode participants will be relieved to hear about fixes preventing peculiar scenarios, such as teams inadvertently hiring three drivers or, perhaps more critically, the player finding themselves without a contract offer at the end of a season – a rather abrupt end to a promising career, one would imagine.
Graphical and presentation elements also receive attention. Minor visual glitches across various circuits have been tidied up. Furthermore, the race engineer voice-over, a constant companion during races, has been polished. Notably, the engineer will now correctly suggest extending a stint when tire wear is low, rather than illogically prompting a pit stop. And, in a welcome nod to technical accuracy, they will no longer confuse a DRS system malfunction with an engine problem – a small but necessary distinction in the complex world of Formula 1 machinery.
For those on **PC**, platform-specific updates include improvements to HDR handling, an update to the AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) implementation to version 3.1.4, and the removal of an `Ultra Max` graphical detail preset from hardware configurations that couldn`t genuinely support it. Various minor UI improvements and general stability enhancements round out the patch.
On a related note, though not directly part of this patch`s released notes, the game`s social media channels have hinted at potential future driver rating updates. Sauber`s Nico Hülkenberg is strongly suggested as a candidate for an increase, following his remarkable third-place finish at Silverstone. This result was not only his first podium in an astonishing 239 starts but also the first for the Sauber team since 2012 – a performance certainly worthy of consideration for a stat boost within the simulation.
Overall, **Patch 1.06** for **F1 25** appears to be a targeted effort by the developers to refine the core gameplay experience, particularly focusing on making the simulation fairer and more predictable in challenging conditions, while also addressing key bugs impacting game modes like Career.
Marcus Bellamy