'Haptic Trailer' For Brad Pitt's 'F1' Lets You Feel The Race On iPhone
In the movie "F1" Brad Pitt, shown opposite Damson Idris, is a Formula One racer who gets another ... More chance to prove himself.
Want to feel what it's like to be Brad Pitt as a Formula One driver tearing around a racetrack? Apple has released a 'haptic trailer' for the upcoming racing film F1 that brings racing sensations to iPhones. The trailer leverages the phone's Taptic Engine to deliver vibrations that sync with the onscreen action as Pitt straps in for some high-speed shenanigans.
Apple promises that viewers will 'experience the power of the engines, the rumble of the curbs and the intensity of every gear shift like never before with responsive vibrations.' That makes the haptic trailer sound more dramatic than it actually is, but the revs and roars are still a fun, novel way to draw interest for the film and demonstrate another way technology is making entertainment experiences more multisensory. The trailer works on iPhones 18.4 or later.
F1, out in theaters June 27 from Apple Original Films, stars Pitt as Sonny Hayes, a fictional Formula One prodigy in the 1990s who has to retire due to a crash and now lives in a van and gambles his life away. In the film, a former teammate played by Javier Bardiem convinces Hayes to return to Formula 1 to save a struggling team and get the chance to prove he's still got it. I think we all know where this one's headed.
'As the engines roar, Sonny's past catches up with him and he finds that in Formula 1, your teammate is your fiercest competition, and the road to redemption is not something you can travel alone,' reads a description of the film directed by Joseph Kosinski of Top Gun: Maverick, who also directed Tron: Legacy.
Apple premiered the haptic trailer during this week's 2025 Worldwide Developers Conference. There, the company announced, among other things, its next iPhone operating software, iOS 26, which promises to screen scam calls and hold your place in the dreaded phone waiting line when you're stuck on hold.
F1 features several F1 drivers including Lewis Hamilton in addition to starring Pitt, Bardiem, Damson Idris and Irish actor Kerry Condon, who gives Pitt's character a tough talking to in the trailer. 'They saying Sonny Hayes isn't a has-been,' she tells him. 'He's a never was.' Gauntlet thrown!
Apple first introduced haptics to the iPhone in 2015 with a tiny motorized actuator that delivers subtle tactile sensations to confirm actions like toggling a switch or unlocking a device with Face ID and also provide discreet notifications when a phone's on silent. Last year, Apple released a number of accessibility features for iPhone users, including Music Haptics, which uses the Taptic Engine to layer synchronized sensations onto audio so those with hearing loss can get a more immersive listening experience.
Feel the need for speed but don't have an iPhone? Here's a non-haptic version of the F1 trailer.
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