Wow it's been a long season and 22 races later and we've completed the season. Christmas is now around the corner, and I've got lots of goodies for you, all free as usual. Although, if you appreciate the work and you're feeling generous, there is a donate button.There's still more to do, but this is likely the last chance I'll get to do any modding before Christmas.
Car Liveries
Williams FW43B
Williams FW43B 2021 Saudi Arabian GP livery
Williams FW43B 2021 Saudi Arabian GP livery
First up is the Williams livery from the Turkish GP and the Saudi Arabian GP. They ran the Turkish GP livery for most of the tail end of the season. Sadly, Frank Williams passed away on the week leading up to the inaugural race in Jeddah and all teams ran with Frank Williams tributes, a logo from the original team. The halo also includes a quote from the film Top Gun, a favourite of Frank's.
I will update the Abu Dhabi livery soon, but until then, enjoy the Saudi Arabian GP livery.
Alpine Liveries
Alpine Qatar 2021 GP livery
Alpine ran with a green rear end at the Saudi Arabian GP, which was to commemorate 100 races with Castrol as the fuel supplier, formerly known as Renault. This dates back to the 1997 season where Jacques Villeneuve won the title in a Williams powered by Renault at the time.
This livery is included, as well as the US GP livery where they changed the main logos to Mandiant.
It also includes the Abu Dhabi livery, where they retained the green, but put the Alpine logo back on it. It also includes 'El Plan' on the rear wing.
The original work was done by Excalibur and Hega from RSCT, all I've done is amend the livery slightly.
Special Helmets
I feel like there's a mountain of helmets yet to do, but there's quite a few completed so far. I'm not doing them in any particular order, generally I'm picking off the easier ones first. As always, I'm indebted to Jvinu for the shapes and templates available on his blog. It means these helmets are compatible with ACSPRH helmets in other games.
Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel 2021 Mexican GP helmet
Here's Seb's Mexican GP helmet. Because of the nature of the helmet, the majority of this helmet is created from photos rather than painted, it was the only way for me to be happy with how the helmet looked in the end.
Sebastian Vettel 2021 Saudi Arabian GP helmet
In Saudi Arabia, Vettel was promoting his own political message, supporting equal treatment of women, particularly in motorsports. The world map is now reminiscent of a train map, which has glow in the dark sections in. That's not exactly possible in GP4, but I have given them as shiny alpha channels as I could to try and replicate the effect.
Sebastian Vettel 2021 Abu Dhabi GP helmet
Also included in this pack is the Abu Dhabi helmet, which features various phrases that is close to Vettel's heart.
Here is Valterri's coffee inspired helmet, designed once more by his girlfriend. This helmet went through various iterations during its creation, in the end I found most of the source pictures, which I had to carefully place on a sparkly base. I'm quite pleased with the alpha channel and reflections on this helmet too.
In addition to the car running tributes to Frank Williams, Russell ran this rather simple yet striking helmet design that looks great with the car. (mirror)
Daniel Ricciardo
Daniel Ricciardo 2021 Qatar GP helmet
It was almost not worth doing a preview of this helmet, but it's the same as the Qatar GP only with updated logos on the visor strip. Other than that, the helmet is the same.
Daniel Ricciardo 2021 Abu Dhabi GP helmet
In Abu Dhabi, the shiny helmet became glittery. Quite a lot of the helmet has been re-coloured and the alpha layer is completely different. Both helmets are included in the pack. (mirror)
Carlos Sainz
Carlos Sainz Jnr 2021 Abu Dhabi GP Helmet
Carlos began the season with a glittery version of his standard helmet, and he's done the same again at the season finale, except the sparkly bits are on the opposite parts of his helmet to the Bahrain version. Also the base colour of the helmet shines between purple, blue and even yellow in some shots. Out of all the sparkly helmets so far, this one is my personal favourite that I've created so far. (mirror)
Lance Stroll
Lance Stroll 2021 Abu Dhabi GP 100th Race helmet
This was Lance Stroll's 100th GP and he ran with an amended helmet livery with a special 100 Races logo added. It's also a glittery helmet with the Maple Leaf and the Wings now a very reflective green. (mirror link)
Yuki Tsunoda
Yuki Tsunda 2021 Abu Dhabi GP helmet 'Thank you Honda'
I thought Yuki had finished updating his helmet for the year, but he rocked up at the final race with this helmet, with colours amended to reflect more of the Japanese red and white in tribute to Honda's final race in F1. All of Honda's era's in F1 are marked on the top strip. There's shots of two of his helmets painted side by side, and the grafitti is different on both of them. Anyway, out of all the grafitti designs he's worn all year, I'm happiest with how this one turned out in particular. (mirror)
Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton 2021 Abu Dhabi GP helmet
I quietly released the first iteration of this helmet that Sir Lewis has worn at all the Middle-Eastern rounds, but the season finale saw him wear a sparkly version of it. Generally speaking, it's not gone well with drivers who have worn special helmet designs going into title deciders (Max's lid carried a small thank you to Honda on it, so that doesn't really count), so I guess that trend continues.
In the final race of the popular Italian, Antonio ran a tribute livery for his team-mate, Kimi Raikonnen, who is also leaving the team, in a design inspired by Kimi's 2007 Championship winning helmet. Nice, simple, effective and I certainly think it's Kimi's helmet before remembering it's actually Antonio's lid.
Kimi ran his first proper special helmet of the year, this one inspired by his first helmet some 20 years ago when he drove for Sauber. The helmet also carries a message of thanks on the rear.
Welcome to the final round of our Time Trial League. It's been a truly fantastic championship, we've seen some really tight battles, we've seen some controversy but ultimately, we've all had a lot of fun. It's almost sad to see the end of a season, but it's good to have a bit of a break.
The final round takes place at the Yas Marina circuit. There's no updates to the 2021 version in GP4 yet, so we're on the classic version of the track, created by F1 Virtual
It's been a really busy few weeks for me, so sadly I haven't had time to enter this round, but I would have really enjoyed this last chance to blast around this track. So I'll be joining you as a spectator for this round. As always, thanks to Carl for putting the video together. Clearly I went home early and left the trophy on the car.
We have more wheel users this round, Carl as always, Prblanco and 32bobo32 joins in with his new wheel set up. Unfortunately his set up still needs some adjustments still and we're hoping he'll get them all sorted for next season. Prblanco did submit a lap on the keyboard as well, but it was two seconds off the pace from his other lap.
0:09 - The first corner is a rather innocuous 90-degree corner, but it leads into quite a long flat-out section. It's really about getting a good exit and not losing too much time here. Gildoorf and Prblanco shoot into an early lead. Prblanco is slightly ahead through turns 3 and 4, but Gildoorf brakes much later into turn 5 and is slightly ahead. Kerley is in third right now, just ahead of 32bobo32 and Carl.
The first sector beam is really kind of pointless here, but here's confirmation of the running order.
1
Gildoorf
00:15.884
+0.000
2
Prblanco
00:15.895
+0.011
3
KerleyF1
00:16.238
+0.354
4
32bobo32
00:16.381
+0.497
5
Carl_gpgames
00:16.506
+0.622
0:24 - It's noticable how much kerb the wheel users can take, and all three of them make great gains on the keyboard runners here, with Kerley in particular losing out in this tight twisty section.
The speed-trap is at the end of the long straight before turn 8 where Kerley is able to claw back some of that deficit, whilst also explaining why he was struggling so much in the slower corners.
1
KerleyF1
335.6
0
2
Gildoorf
325.4
-10.2
3
Prblanco
317.5
-18.1
4
Carl_gpgames
317.3
-18.3
5
32bobo32
314.3
-21.3
Gildoorf is also carrying much less wing that the others, but nowhere near as little as Kerley's. That advantage gifts Gildoorf back the lead from Prblanco, whilst 32bobo32 is only a fraction ahead of Carl.
Prblanco and Carl get their braking just right, taking lots of kerb at the apex. 32bobo32 is carrying way too much speed and is understeering like crazy through this chicane, having to get out of the throttle at the point he should be nailing it. He's almost running too wide on the exit as Kerley sneaks up behind him.
1:07 - There's not really been any corners of interest to talk about yet, and we've done two sectors.
1
Gildoorf
00:43.601
+0.000
2
Prblanco
00:44.146
+0.545
3
32bobo32
00:44.485
+0.884
4
Carl_gpgames
00:44.555
+0.954
5
KerleyF1
00:44.917
+1.316
With those long straights, Gildoorf puts his set up to great use as he eeks out his lead, but will the wheel users with their bigger rear wings be able to haul Gildoorf in through the final sector? Perhaps surprisingly, Kerley doesn't set a particularly good sector despite his top speed advantage, I suspect he's really going to struggle in S3.
Overall after S2, here is the running order and gaps.
1
Gildoorf
00:59.485
+0.000
2
Prblanco
01:00.041
+0.556
3
32bobo32
01:00.866
+1.381
4
Carl_gpgames
01:01.061
+1.576
5
KerleyF1
01:01.155
+1.670
The now non-existent turns 11-12-13 and 14 are a series of tight corners and a chicane, which Gildoorf effortlessly dances through with aggression and speed. He is driving beautifully as he has done all season. Prblanco lines up his car well, but could be much more aggressive with the speed he can take through there. 32bobo32 is using lots of kerb when he's not overshooting the corner and is testing all the track limits as the kerb finishes in turn 13 and 14. Carl looks like he's on a leisurely Sunday drive, whilst Kerley struggles to find the limit on his way through.
1:19 - Turns 15 and 16 are flat as you prepare to brake for the tight section around the hotel. Gildoorf lines himself up nicely through turn 17, as does Prblanco. 32bobo32 is locked in a battle with Carl, as he once again aggressively understeers, using as much kerb as he can. Kerley nearly loses it, going too deep into the corner.
Prblanco is keeping Gildoorf honest here, and he's hoping he can make some gains using the wheel in this sector. Gildoorf is visibly closer to the limit, carrying great speed through the double left handers, whilst Prblanco shows us how to drive with only an inch of your wheel on the white line and be within track limits. Carl continues to close down 32bobo32 as he neatly takes the left hand bends, whilst 32bobo32 forgets about the right hand side of the track on the exit of turn 19. Kerley also neatly drives through this section.
1:38 - We're into the final two turns, and they are deceptively tricky and you can gain lots of time here. Turn 20 is super fast, but you have to be brave and super committed, as Gildoorf usually is, using all the exit kerb available. Prblanco, whilst keeping Gildoorf honest, just does not have the same confidence through here. It's not going great for 32bobo32, who is starting to look lost... it's like he leaps to surprise that a corner has suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Kerley takes a good amount of speed in, but is hesitant to get the power back on again on the exit.
The final turn is an opportunity for Prblanco to gain on Gildoorf, but he's too far gone as the two cross the finish line. Carl runs a bit wide in the final turn, but it doesn't matter, because 32bobo32 is having another shocking final sector, as Kerley begins to close in on him.
Across the line they go.
1
Prblanco
00:43.553
+0.000
2
Gildoorf
00:43.724
+0.171
3
Carl_gpgames
00:45.829
+2.276
4
32bobo32
00:46.605
+3.052
5
KerleyF1
00:48.078
+4.525
Prblanco sets the purple sector times rather unsurprisingly, but its Gildoorf who is able to keep the gap down to under two-tenths of a second, doing heroics on the keyboard once more. There's a massive gulf between the leading duo and the chasing pack which Carl leads through sure and steady driving, ahead of 32bobo32. We expected Kerley to struggle, but he's lost 4.5 seconds in this sector alone.
The overall times are:
1
Gildoorf
01:43.209
+0.000
2
Prblanco
01:43.594
+0.385
3
Carl_gpgames
01:46.890
+3.681
4
32bobo32
01:47.471
+4.262
5
KerleyF1
01:49.233
+6.024
Gildoorf closes out the season with his second straight win, a classy drive to close out the season. Prblanco is competitive here, but is unable to extract the most out of the wheel to really challenge for the win. I'm sure he'll be happy with the second place finish, his first in that position this year, with a relatively small gap to the winner. Congratulations to Carl for his third podium finish of the year, despite being at the back of the pack at the end of the first sector. He'll enjoy beating 32bobo32 for the first time since Turkey. Further back 32bobo32 once again falters in the final sector, having run quite strongly for over half the lap. Kerley enjoyed a good first sector, and will enjoy two points for completing the rest of the lap.
Carl: "Congratulations to @Gildoorf to win our last race of the season! @Prblanco was following closely and deserves his P2! for myself, i'm happy to score another podium. π πΎπΎπΎ
It's been an amazing season, thanks to all of you @Fongu, @Gildoorf, @Prblanco, @32bobo32, @Kerley F1, @Duffer! Let's do it again!"
Fongu: "Congrats on another excellent victory @Gildoorf"
Gildoorf: "Thanks, @Carl_gpgames. Flawless lap, congrats for another well deserved podium, mate! @Prblanco, amazing performance recovering a lot of ground at Yas Hotel section. It was a fantastic first TTL Season, what a great achievement from all of us! Now looking forward 2022 Contest, let's go!"
32bobo32: "Congratulation mates! A really nice Championship! My First One ever!"
Prblanco: "It seems I finally got my second place π"
And just like that, the season is over. You'd think we'd all be on top form, having had over 20 rounds to hone our skills and put on a really good show for the final round. That was the case for two of the competitors, but the driving standards of the others speaks more of a need for a break!
Final Standings
Thanks to Prblanco for this lovely graphic as we close out the season.
With 14 wins from 22 rounds, never finishing lower than second the championship, the table says I rather dominated it. The reality was that there was only a few rounds where that was the case, but there were some hard fought victories in there, some of them I'm quite proud of.
Gildoorf takes a commanding second place finish, deserving of more than just four victories. He's the only one to use the keyboard at all rounds, being competitive in all of them, never failing to finish on the podium. Only two of those podium finishes were third places, which speaks of the great quality on displayed on every type of track we visited. An incredible performance, exemplified with his fine victories at the tail end of the year.
Prblanco had a rollercoster kind of a year, with four victories and six other podium finishes. But he did finish in the bottom two on five occassions, as he flip flopped between using the keyboard and a steering wheel. A lot of the credit to the wonderful tracks we raced on this year has to go to Prblanco, especially newly updated tracks at Imola, Zandvoort and Losail this season, as well as small updates on previous works unmentioned. Good cc-lines ensured that keyboard players had a chance and that can't be understated how valuable that is to the competition.
32bobo32 has given us lots of joy over the season and boasts eight third place finishes. We lose count of how many times he looked competitive only to throw it away with a dodgy sector here or there. We hope he gets his wheel working properly and we look forward to more battles in the next one.
Carl ends the season on a high with a podium finish. Ever smooth on the wheel and pedal application, there's been a few glimpses of how fast that style can be. This championship would not be anywhere near as fun, and these reports would certainly not exist, without his dedication to making the videos and motivating us all to compete.
Whilst Kerley has spent a lot of time at the back of the pack, there's been visible improvements in competitiveness, after taking on board advice and putting it into practice. Two podiums mid-season in Russia and Turkey were most definitely highlights, as well as nearly getting on the podium in his home race in Brazil. He's also competed in every round, not all of us could say that.
Duffer competed fairly regularly at the beginning of the year, showing some great pace at a few rounds, and nearly getting the victory in Montreal. It's a shame he never had the motivation or time to do more rounds, but we look forward to him getting his new wheel and pedals setup in time for next season.
I just wanted to thank all the guys for kindly inviting me into this competition, for your dedication in creating these great tracks so that I can beat you at them. But seriously, it's not been an easy year for anyone and it's good to have some good-natured fun and banter as we all found new ways to enjoy this 20-year old game. I hope you've enjoyed following along as we head off for a bit of a break. Expect some shake ups to the format when we return next season when we do this all over again.
With the Jeddah track only just finished and passing the FIA checks on the eve of the Grand Prix weekend, it was right to not rush into recreating the track in GP4 until it was fully complete. Plus Prblanco has been busy all year creating other new tracks for us to test ourselves out on, let alone putting in great performances in this league.
But I'm glad for the replacement, the Dubai Autodrome, which has been released by F1Virtual for some years now. It also resides in the middle east, and it was a resounding favourite option from the competitors for this round.
The track features some high-speed corners, some challenging mid-speed corners and a couple of slower ones too. There's a good bit of variety, as well as undulation. Sector 1 is about high speed turns, there's no lifting between turns 2 and 5. Turn 7 is not great for keyboard users, a curved braking zone into a tightening corner, the CC-line is unforgiving for running wide here. Turn 9 offers some different lines onto the longest straight on the track, before a tight hairpin at the end of it. There's another couple of tight turns in 14 and 15 which offer different lines and techniques, and before you know it, there's one corner left before you're over the finish line.
Let's get into the laps...
Thanks once more to Carl_gpgames for all these great videos.
Carl is the only one using a wheel this round, the rest of us confined to using the keyboard.
0:14 - It's Kerley who takes the top speed honours into turn 1, but we're all within 3 kph of each other, so it's pretty negligable. Turn 1 is down hill, quite fast, and you basically want to aim for a good exit for the flat-out sweeping turns coming up. So you can't afford to be too aggressive, but certainly those who are braver in here will reap the rewards. Although I'm heading into turn 1 first, it's Gildoorf who gets a better exit and leads the rest of the pack around turn 2. By the time we get to turn 4, Gildoorf and I are pretty tied together, but starting to build a gap to the pack behind. As usual, Prblanco is keeping us honest, 32bobo32 is not far behind him, and Kerley is slightly ahead of Carl.
Gildoorf is able to maintain much more speed through turn 6 than the rest of us, without compromising his approach to turn 7. There's no dramas to report through here.
0:38 - Sector 1 times have been set, and Gildoorf and I are clearly ahead, setting low 29s. Prblanco is just in the 29s, with 32bobo32 setting a low 30. Kerley is just keeping Carl behind him at this stage.
1
Gildoorf
00:29.274
+0.000
2
Fongu
00:29.377
+0.103
3
Prblanco
00:29.906
+0.632
4
32bobo32
00:30.210
+0.936
5
KerleyF1
00:30.598
+1.324
6
Carl_gpgames
00:30.653
+1.379
As you flick through turn 8, you can stay on the inside, or you can sweep out wide, all of it is dependent on how you want to approach turn 9. I decide to keep it fairly tight on the inside, getting the power down early, and running as much exit kerb as possible onto the long straight. Gildoorf opts for a wide exit, and benefits from 20kph head start on my down the straight. The four runners behind all maintain their order through here, but Carl gets a better exit than Kerley and moves up a place by the end of the straight.
0:53 - Speed trap time, and its Prblanco with the highest speed here.
1
Prblanco
313.0
2
Fongu
311.5
3
KerleyF1
311.4
4
Gildoorf
311.3
5
Carl_gpgames
311.2
6
32bobo32
310.8
The rest of us are pretty similar, all within 1kph of each other. Although I'm slow onto the straight, I am marginally faster than Gildoorf by the end of it, but it's clear I have lost ground. Hard on the brakes into the right handed hairpin, and I take a bit too much speed in, running wide on the exit - almost reminiscent of all Max Verstappen's divebombs on Lewis Hamilton, though not that extreme.
None of us really make the apex, but again, we're lining up for turn 11, which is tricky. It's tempting to take lots of speed through here, but as the track drops down hill, it can easily throw you over the kerbs and over track limits. It's Gildoorf who has more confidence to push on the exit here. Kerley misses the apex, running the corner wide, and on the wheel you'd have more confidence to carry more speed, but on the keyboard there's always a risk it will make you go wide and Carl takes full advantage to pull out a gap.
1:11 - Sector 2 times are set as we approach turn 12.
1
Gildoorf
00:37.328
+0.000
2
Fongu
00:37.350
+0.022
3
Carl_gpgames
00:38.338
+1.010
4
32bobo32
00:38.363
+1.035
5
Prblanco
00:38.555
+1.227
6
KerleyF1
00:39.319
+1.991
Gildoorf and I are extremely close in our sector times once more. Just as close are Carl and 32bobo32, Carl really having a great sector, but both are a second slower than the leading duo. Prblanco is not far behind, but Kerley has dropped a second to Carl in this sector alone.
The overall running order is:
1
Gildoorf
01:06.602
+0.000
2
Fongu
01:06.727
+0.125
3
Prblanco
01:08.461
+1.859
4
32bobo32
01:08.573
+1.971
5
Carl_gpgames
01:08.991
+2.389
6
KerleyF1
01:09.917
+3.315
As we round turn 12, there's very little to differentiate between the leading duo, with 32bobo32 very much in contention for a podium finish as he's right behind Prblanco now. Carl has extended his advantage over Kerley.
1:22 - Into turn 14, and if I was on a wheel, I'd angle the car into the bend, braking in a straight line, do a tight turn and then accelerate out aiming for a wide entry into turn 15. Unfortunately it doesn't really translate on the keyboard, so there's very little to choose between my line and Gildroof's more traditional line, although he is quite wide through T14.
32bobo32 is clearly behind Prblanco in the braking zone, but by the exit of the corner, he is clearly ahead. He too is slightly wide, but is able to carry the speed and momentum through the curve. These turns should really suit the wheel, but Carl has to tap on the brakes near the exit, when he probably could have been a bit braver.
Into the final turn, and I'm a little too aggressive taking the traction control off too early, the correction taking me right onto the limit of the kerb, and that costs me time, losing any advantage I had around the middle of the bend. 32bobo32 has really found a big advantage over Prblanco through 14 and 15, and storms through turn 16 looking for a podium finish. Carl is neat and tidy, not far behind, whilst Kerley is performing all sorts of theatrics as he dances on the exit kerb.
1
Gildoorf
00:27.448
+0.000
2
Fongu
00:27.550
+0.102
3
32bobo32
00:27.736
+0.288
4
Carl_gpgames
00:28.423
+0.975
5
Prblanco
00:28.426
+0.978
6
KerleyF1
00:29.443
+1.995
There's not been more than a tenth of a second between the top two in each sector, but it's Gildoorf who is setting all the purple times. 32bobo32 puts in an excellent third sector as we've noted, just a shade behind the leading duo. Carl and Prblanco are separated by just 0.003 seconds in this sector, a whole sector lost to the leaders in this sector alone and Kerley is a further second behind.
1
Gildoorf
01:34.050
+0.000
2
Fongu
01:34.277
+0.227
3
32bobo32
01:36.309
+2.259
4
Prblanco
01:36.887
+2.837
5
Carl_gpgames
01:37.414
+3.364
6
KerleyF1
01:39.360
+5.310
Congratulations to Gildoorf for an impressive victory, I was able to keep him honest all the way around, but he fully deserves the win. Well done. The leading pair are over 2 seconds a lap quicker than the next competitor. Having said that, it looks like we were all pressed for time and we put a bit more than the others into it, as is the common theme in all the comments!
Fongu: "just put half an hour into this, and one set up change. Pretty happy about this lap, was just getting into it"
Gildoorf: "Very glad to be back on top. Close fight for the whole lap, I'm surprised with purple for all sectors. π"
Carl: "Congratulations @Gildoorf to a very dominant victory and welcome back on the top step! πΎπΎπΎ"
A welcome return to the podium for 32bobo32, a fine final sector securing the four points ahead of Prblanco. Carl also finished the lap quite strong, you have to feel if there were a few more corners, he may even have finished up in fourth.
32bobo32: "Today Blood donation..." "...Yesterday night I collapsed from sleep on the sofaπ₯±π€π€π€π€"
Just 8 timed laps for Prblanco.
Prblanco: "guess I got lucky in lap 6 π "
Carl: "that's it for me, the kids don't let me"
After a few good rounds, Kerley struggled here in Dubai, but then he only did a couple of laps.
Kerley: "I'm almost asleep on top of the computer ... This is the one of two laps."
Carl: "If you have a close look you can spot the rust on @Duffers' Mclaren π π€£"
There's no changes to play for in the championship, but here's how it looks after 21 rounds.
1
Fongu
170
2
Gildoorf
128
3
Prblanco
82
4
32bobo32
64
5
Carl_gpgames
51
6
KerleyF1
28
7
Duffer
20
Only one round left, it's been a very busy second half of the year, but there's one last chase for victory around the Yas Marina track.