How did Brad Pitt's F1 movie end up in F1 25? Crossover explained

The first one is available to all players, and the other six are a perk included with the Iconic Edition.

Gavin Cooper, the creative director on F1 25, spoke to us about this crossover at a recent preview event in the Virgin Media Gamepad at London's O2 arena. An APX GP car, from the film, was actually there!

You can watch the interview in video form in the player above, or on the Radio Times Gaming YouTube channel. Or keep on reading for some choice quotes!

"I think it's a natural fit," Cooper said of the game/movie crossover. "We've been aware for quite a while that they've been working on the film. They can't help but be massively visible, because they've been doing all their filming at the grand prix over the last few years."

Cooper continued: "It's the same production people who did Top Gun: Maverick. So it's all very much based on real practical photography at high speed.

"So, they've got the actors in essentially an F2 car, that's shaped to look like an F1 car. So, they can be capturing all this footage, alongside the real cars in the sport, as they're blazing around the track.

"So, yeah, we've seen all that stuff kind of going on. I think it was a natural conclusion to draw, that being in the game benefits them. And, you know, having them in the game benefits us."

And what was the process like of taking the film and turning it into a playable experience in the game?

As Cooper recalls, "We got to see an early version of the script, so we could actually go through the process of reading the whole script, figuring out what the whole story was, and kind of lifting out, what did we think were going to be the best contenders for these scenarios? What are the big on-track action moments?

"So yeah, trying to pick those off the page. And then, at the same time as we're developing the game, the movie is developing, and becoming more real in front of your eyes. So, we hit the point where they had some early footage that they could share with us.

"We were able to start thinking, seeing how it plays out, now it's actually been filmed, you know, it's a bit different to what was on the page before. Now we can actually see it realised.

"Because there's a lot that makes it into what you actually see that isn't necessarily explicitly on the page. You hit that next kind of level where we could start saying, 'Well, we could lift it here and kind of cut out there and transition to gameplay here.'

"It starts giving you a bit of a basis for figuring out what the flow of one of these scenarios is going to be, and yeah, figuring out where are the transitions between footage and gameplay? How can we tell the story of what's going on in the track with the tools that we have in the game?

"You know, the voice-over with your race engineer, for example, or the objectives that we give you on track. And then, as the film takes more and more shape, we kind of, like, nip, tweak and move things around to make sure that we're sticking to what's there.

"And yeah, ultimately, you end up with, hopefully, a bunch of really fun scenarios that really put you in the action. The other thing we've tried to do is try and make that transition between the gameplay and the footage as seamless as possible.

"So, one of the things we've had to do is actually look at the colour grading of the game so that we can actually sort of match all the tone [of the film] and how it looks visually."

And what kind of access, if any, have Gavin and the team had to Brad Pitt himself? Did he come down to the studio?

"If you're asking, have I ever seen Brad Pitt? I can assure you, I have not," Cooper said with a hearty laugh.

Nonetheless, it looks from the preview event that Cooper and company have done a great job folding Pitt's movie into the game in a way that's fun to play. We look forward to playing more of it!

In the meantime, you can watch the rest of the interview below.

Read more:

• Braking Point 3 star Emer Kenny teases "shocking" twist in F1 25 story mode

F1 25 launches 30th May for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, with early access available now as a perk with the Iconic Edition.

Check out more of our Gaming coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.