The F1 25: 2026 Season Pack launched on June 3, 2026, and the learning curve is steep. New ERS mechanics, a completely redesigned active aero system, and a brand-new street circuit in Madrid mean that getting your settings wrong right now has a real cost, in lap time, in visibility, and in racecraft.

F1 25: 2026 Season Pack Esports Setup

Configuration CategoryOptimal Esports ValueMobile Strategy & ImpactAssists

All Assists: OFF

Traction & ABS: Disabled

ERS: Manual

Toggle ERS to Auto early on if balancing the active aero and boost buttons triggers cognitive overload.

Force Feedback

(Wheel Users)

Strength: 100

On-Track Effects: Enabled

Rotation: 310°

Set dead zones in your wheel’s native software (Fanatec, G HUB, etc.) rather than in-game to avoid input lag.

Graphics

(PC Competitive)

Particles: OFF

Lighting & Shadows: Low

Target: 120 FPS / 120 Hz

Turn particles OFF. This deletes tire smoke from cars locking up ahead, keeping your sightlines completely clear. HUD & OSD

Track Map: Full Circuit

Driver Tags: OFF

Delta: Centered, Low Opacity

Turn Driver Tags OFF. Floating names block critical braking boards and apex markers on tight street circuits like Madrid. Audio Tuning

Other Cars: Boosted

Radio Verbosity: Critical

Lobby Mic: Muted

Boost rival volume over your own engine. This let’s you hear if a side-by-side opponent lifts early or stays pinned. Camera Setup

View: Cockpit Mode

Tuned for Aston Martin AMR26

Position your camera so that the physical steering angle and the digital ERS battery readout stay fully in frame. Market Data

PC: £21.99

Console: £24.99

Requires base F1 25 game

Settings carry over automatically from the base game. Choose the 2026 Season Edition bundle if starting fresh.

An F1 esports driver went public with their full setup this week, covering force feedback, graphics, HUD, audio, and camera. These are the same settings running at the esports level. If you have just bought the pack and feel like something is off, it probably is.

Here is everything they use, and why each choice actually matters on track.

What Changed in the 2026 Season Pack That Affects Your Settings

Before getting into the setup, it helps to understand what is genuinely new, because two of the biggest system changes directly affect which settings you should prioritise.

Active Aerodynamics are live for the first time in F1 history. Both front and rear wings dynamically adjust their angle depending on whether you are in a corner or on a straight. Wings close for maximum grip in braking zones and open on straights to cut drag. You control this manually in the game, similar to DRS.

The ERS Boost system replaces the older battery deployment modes. Drivers now use a single Boost Button to manually push the power unit back to maximum output for attacking or defending. Around 50% of total car power now comes from the electrical side in the 2026 regs, which means managing your deployment is no longer optional.

Overtake mode adds another layer. If you close to within one second of the car ahead at the detection point, you get an extra 0.5 MJ of recoverable energy on the next lap. Miss it and your rival gets a meaningful speed advantage you cannot match unless you catch back up.

These systems are reflected in the Season Pack, which is why assist settings and ERS decisions matter more here than they did in the base game.

Assist Settings: What the Esports Driver Runs and What You Should Consider

All assists are off. F1 esports competition requires it, so this driver races with no traction control, no ABS, and no automatic ERS management.

That last one, the ERS assist, is worth thinking about if you are new to the 2026 pack. The manual Boost Button system is genuinely complex to manage mid-race while also handling active aero, tyre management, and overtake mode at the same time. Turning on automatic ERS management is not a crutch. It lets you focus on driving until the other systems feel natural.

Start with automatic ERS on and everything else off. Drop it to manual once you are comfortable managing active aero and boost at the same time.

Force Feedback Settings (Wheel Users Only)

This section only applies if you are on a racing wheel. Controller players can skip to the HUD section.

Force Feedback Strength: 100

The driver runs at 100 because anything higher causes constant clipping. Clipping is when the force feedback signal maxes out and your wheel can no longer communicate what the car is doing. You feel a wall of force instead of detail. Some clipping still happens at 100, especially over kerbs, but the trade-off is worth it for the feel on corner entry.

If your wheel feels like it is fighting you rather than informing you, drop it to 85 or 90 and check for clipping in tight sections.

On Track Effects: Enabled

Keeps kerb feedback active. On circuits like MADRING in Madrid and Baku, feeling the edge of the kerb before you commit to it is a real advantage in tight street circuit sections.

Wheel Damper: 1

A low damper setting. The driver acknowledges not being entirely sure what it adds but has kept it at 1 consistently. In practice, a small damper value adds a very slight resistance that some drivers prefer for centre feel without killing responsiveness.

Wheel Rotation: 310 degrees

This is set slightly below 360 degrees. A lower rotation means less physical steering movement is needed to turn the car, which translates to faster reaction on tight hairpins and chicanes. If 310 feels twitchy, try 330 as a middle point.

Dead Zones: Set in hardware software, not in-game

If your wheel comes with its own software (Fanatec, Thrustmaster, Logitech G HUB), set dead zones there. In-game dead zone settings are less precise and can introduce lag in the signal between your hardware and the game.

Graphics Settings: The Competitive PC Setup

These are the settings used at the esports level. They are built entirely around performance and visibility, not visual quality. Running on a console, most of these are locked by default, so this section is for PC players.

Setting Value Why It Matters Lighting Quality Low Frame rate stability Shadows Ultra Low Frame rate stability Particles Off See below Most other settings High Keeps car detail and track readable High Quality Hair On Personal preference (Carlos Sainz reference) Target Frame Rate 120 FPS Esports requirement Monitor Refresh Rate 120 Hz Matches the FPS target

Particles off is the single most important competitive graphics choice here. With particles on, you will see tire smoke pouring off the front wheels of any car locking up ahead of you. In a braking zone, that smoke fills your screen and you cannot see where the track goes. In a race start, it is even worse. Turn particles off and you keep your vision clean through every heavy braking zone on the calendar.

HUD and On-Screen Display Settings

Full Track Map: On

Running the full circuit map rather than the local proximity map means you can see where a crash happened, how far away the safety car is, and how much ground someone has made up on you during their pit stop. On a 22-car grid, which is what the 2026 Season Pack introduced with Audi and Cadillac joining, having that spatial awareness is more useful than ever.

Driver Tags: Off

Driver name tags floating above cars block your sightlines. On any street circuit, the tags sit right in front of braking boards and track edge markers. MADRING in Madrid, with its 22 corners across 5.4 km of hybrid street and purpose-built sections, is exactly the kind of circuit where a tag at the wrong moment costs you a braking point. Baku is the same. Turn them off.

Virtual Rear View Mirror: Off

Fully personal. The driver prefers to look back manually rather than have a constant mirror image moving across the top of the screen. If you use a mirror, keep it. If it pulls your attention off the circuit ahead, remove it.

Delta Position: Center screen, small, reduced opacity

Moving the delta to the center means your eyes do not travel to the corner of the screen to check it mid-lap. It still distracts you, that is the honest admission here, but at least the distraction happens while you are looking roughly at the track instead of pulling your focus to the top right. Keep the scale small and drop the opacity so it does not block your racing line.

Audio Settings: The Rival Engine Trick Most Players Ignore

Most players treat audio as a comfort setting. At the competitive level, it is more than that.

Setting Value Reason Sound Effects 10 Baseline tire and track sounds Music Low Removed from race focus Other Cars Volume Higher than own car Hear rival throttle in battles On-Board Mix Broadcast Best tonal quality Open Lobby Mic Muted by Default Removes lobby noise Radio Verbosity Critical Limits engineer talk to alerts only

The rival volume setting is the one most players do not use. When you are side by side into a braking zone, you can often hear whether the car next to you is at full throttle or lifting. A driver lifting early gives you braking room. A driver staying on the throttle tells you they are committed. You do not need this information, but if it is available, it is worth having.

Radio verbosity on Critical is also something to change immediately if you are still on the default setting. On the full verbosity setting, your race engineer talks constantly throughout the race. Critical filters it down to what actually matters, pit windows, safety car calls, and gap updates. Everything else can wait until after the race.

Camera Settings: Cockpit Tuned for Aston Martin

The driver runs a cockpit camera tuned specifically around the Aston Martin AMR26. The two priorities are:

  1. The ERS and boost readout is visible at the bottom of the screen. With 50% of car power coming from the electric side in 2026, you need to see your energy state at a glance.

  2. The steering wheel is in frame. Watching wheel angle tells you when you are close to lock-up before you feel it in the pedals.

Camera settings are personal, but these two principles apply regardless of which team you drive. Find a position where your energy readout is on screen and your wheel angle is visible. Everything else is preference.

One Note on the Base Game vs. Season Pack HUD

The driver flagged mid-video that the HUD shown during their walkthrough was actually the base F1 25 interface, not the 2026 Season Pack version. EA’s own FAQ confirms that all existing settings from the base game carry over automatically when you load the Season Pack. The menus and setting names are nearly identical. Any minor interface differences will not change how these settings translate.

Where to Buy the 2026 Season Pack

The Season Pack requires the base game F1 25 and is available now on all platforms.

  • PC (Steam, EA App, Epic): £21.99

  • Console (PS5 and Xbox Series X/S): £24.99

If you do not yet own F1 25, a bundled 2026 Season Edition is available that includes both the base game and the expansion.