1994 - version 4.1

I want to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 

Having released version 4 of the 1994 mod earlier this year, I've continued to chip away at 1994 content and there have been numerous updates since that release. Some of that work has been on hold whilst I was creating some 2022 content for you, but now I'm happy to present to you an updated version of the mod, version 4.1.

What's new? 

New Benetton B194

Shortly after the release of the 1994 Mod, I quickly started work on the 1994 Benetton B194. The car was completed and released earlier this year in July, and the car is now included in the mod. This comes with track specific textures from Spain to the end of the year, not previously released. Track specific shape updates have not yet been done, that will be at a future date. 

As well as the car and new liveries, I've added the external steering wheel and created a new internal cockpit, which are available if you choose to race as one of the Benetton drivers.

New Minardi M193B

Similarly, I completed and released this car (after the mod was released) earlier this year in September. Whilst this car only appears in one race in this mod (the Spanish GP), the car will provide a great base for the M194 when I eventually come to do that. But until then, you can enjoy this car in the mod. Like the Benetton, an external steering wheel has been added.

Updated Ferrari 412T1B

My Ferrari has had a few minor updates since I released the stand alone car in the v4.0 mod. This time, I've gone a little further. The mirrors and rear light are taken from my 1995 Ferrari, and the front wing pylons and all the bodylines have been refined. I've also completely recreated the textures, although they are very similar to the originals. Previously, I created the original textures in PaintShop Pro, and then I lost the original file with all my layers and vectors and with it my motivation, and that's when Kedy and Aus_Doug helped me over the line. 

I wanted to update some parts of the textures to bring them in line with my more recent cars, so it didn't take too long to recreate the whole car's textures. This includes a deeper red colour and a more accurate NT texture. Lots of little changes really, but overall I think it looks a lot better.

New Shoei helmet shape

I'm grateful to ASR Formula and EKO Sim Racing for allowing me to use their Shoei X4 helmet, and whilst I did a few shape additions initially, Oggo got his hands on it and made many impressive updates to bring it in line with his already excellent Arai helmet.

Alesi's helmet is from Oggo's excellent 1993 helmet set, but for all the other 5 drivers who used the Shoei helmets, I've remade these helmets from scratch and included all their track specific helmets in the mod. There are variations where drivers did not run a visor strip, and also a fully reflective version where you cannot see the face through the visor.

Shoei X4 helmet by Oggo, Fongu, EKO Sim Racing, ASR Formula and Alesi_Fan

Pit props

Thanks again to Oggo for opening up a whole new avenue of editing in GP4 and pitprops is one of them. So I've created new front and rear jacks, a new car stand, a new hose, a new lollipop and new wheel guns. With them comes new textures for most teams, not all, as photos are limited. Again, you have to choose a driver to see the different team specific lollipops and front jacks.

External Cockpit Camera angles 

With my cars, I've been trying to bring more and more detail to the cockpits of my 1994 cars. However you couldn't really see them in game, and my make-shift importing the dashboard into the internal cockpit isn't the ideal soluton. So I've updated one of the external camera angles on each car that serves as a driver's eye view. I based the view off some YouTube videos where cameras were attached to helmets. With that, I've started to do some more external steering wheels. These will probably be updated with better quality ones at a later date.

CSM updates

Thanks to all those who have either spotted bugs in the v4.0 release, or have offered recommendations for updates. In the CSM menu, I've removed the fogging option, and replaced it with an option to not run the new DirectX file from crossire, thanks to the community for the feedback on this one. There are also a number of fixes to various codes, track specific designations and some graphics. 

Steering Wheel Font

This is not really worth mentioning, but I have amended the steering wheel font colour, which will only be visible in qualifying and practice modes. Duffer has made a great little tool to edit this for the first time. I only really did this update because I can, not for any realism reasons.

GPxPatch Cinfo

I'm not entirely sure who the original author of the pre-race grid graphics via GPxPatch was initially, but I added a few Grand Prix in HD in the initial v4.0 release. I've now completed the pre-race grids for all races and amended it to now shows on all cameras. The data is based off real life qualifying grids, so it doesn't reflect the qualifying times in your game, nor does it necessarily reflect the drivers racing in game. But I still think it's a nice touch to have. 

GP4: 2022 McLaren MCL36 - Abu Dhabi Livery

Not content with one special livery this season, McLaren ended the season with this beauty.

2022 McLaren MCL36 Abu Dhabi livery by fongu

McLaren, in conjunction with their sponsors, hired Lebanese artist Anna Tangles (Anna Maria Aoun) to apply her signature artistic style towards the Abu Dhabi GP livery. Her art has a beautiful flow and elegance and works well on an F1 car. She's been helped by the Driven by Change programme, and the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP special livery was by another artist who is also a benefactor of that programme. 

The livery had its own special launch event and looked great at the Abu Dhabi weekend. 

Having tried various techniques whilst painting various helmets for the past couple of years, I decided for this one to crop some photos onto the livery and then paint on top of it. I was tempted to amend the photos, crop them, warp them etc but I decided I wanted to do it from scratch. It's really a simple pattern, though each shape is different and it was just a matter of perseverance. I'm really pleased with the end result and I hope you like it too. 

2022 McLaren MCL36 Abu Dhabi livery by fongu

The livery has been added to the car pack and you can download and play it now. 

GP4: 2022 Helmets pack complete!

Here it is, the final update to the 2022 pack. 

As is now customary, over half of the grid raced with special helmet designs in Abu Dhabi, especially those who are not returning to the grid next season. I've created 13 more helmets. For one last time this season, let's get into it.

Alex Albon  2022 Abu Dhabi GP helmet

Alex Albon has replaced the white regions of his standard helmet with a chrome effect. The helmet itself is a simplified version of his standard helmet. In most pictures, there was a slight red tinge to the chromed reflections, so I've added a bit of red hint to some areas. The helmet also features Latifi's name, in honour of his last race. 

Fernando Alonso 2022 Abu Dhabi GP helmet

It was a bit of a surprise that old rival Fernando Alonso was so sentinmental at Vettel's last race. He decided against fighting him in the first few laps of the race whilst also running this tribute helmet. He will replace the German at Aston Martin next year. The helmet is still largely title sponsor BWT influenced, but the German flag strip across the front is simple and iconic. 

Pierre Gasly  2022 Abu Dhabi GP helmet

Pierre Gasly is not only ending his time with Alpha Tauri but also the Red Bull family, and so this helmet is half his old Red Bull helmet and this season's Alpha Tauri helmet. There are messages of thanks in various languages. 

Lewis Hamilton 2022 Abu Dhabi GP helmet

Lewis Hamilton ran another variation of his helmet with the rainbow flag at the Abu Dhabi GP. 

Nicholas Latifi 2022 Abu Dhabi GP helmet

It's not really a new helmet for Latifi, but with a message to Seb, and the new Williams visor since Interlagos made this a quick job. 

Charles Leclerc 2022 Abu Dhabi GP helmet

Charles Leclerc has also gone chrome, with silver and red chrome. But this helmet is a tribute to all those working at Gestione Sportiva and trackside, with all their names printed on the Italian flag across the front, top and rear of his helmet. There were some angles where the names weren't clear in the pictures and blueprints I had, so there may be some alternative names on there. 

Kevin Magnussen  2022 Abu Dhabi GP helmet

Kevin Magnussen has a lightly altered helmet from the one that he ran since the Monaco GP, but for the Abu Dhabi GP, he's also gone with a full on chrome effect, and the K on the side of his helmet is now white instead of red. 

Lando Norris 2022 Abu Dhabi GP helmet

Lando also ran a new lid with a glittery green/purplish tones. Not much was made of the helmet online that I could see, but it looks nice anyway. 

Daniel Ricciardo 2022 Abu Dhabi GP helmet

Daniel Ricciardo was another driver who would not have a full time drive on the 2023 grid. His final helmet with McLaren is given to sponsor OKX and has been cyberpunked. The livery is based on his standard livery by Ornamental Conifer, and MDM Designs has done a lovely job putting all that together in this shiny number. 

Carlos Sainz 2022 Abu Dhabi GP helmet

As last year, Carlos ran a glittery version of his standard helmet at the Yas Marina circuit. 

Mick Schumacher 2022 Abu Dhabi GP helmet

Mick Schumacher doesn't currently have another F1 drive lined up for 2023, but instead of running his own helmet design, he dedicate his final helmet to Seb's design, which Seb stole off Mick's dad to be fair. Mick's regular design is embossed into the helmet, similar to his Japanese helmet. He'll be missed.

Sebastian Vettel  2022 Abu Dhabi GP helmet

Seb Vettel went from pantomine villian at Red Bull, to a bit of an embarressing flop at Ferrari towards the end, to being the most likeable, kind and mature driver on the grid in his Aston Martin days. Everyone was overflowing with their tributes to his last drive and his helmet was about giving back. Dubbed 'the Final Lap', he let fans buy places on his helmet, with the proceeds going to environmental projects. A great driver leaves the grid. 

Zhou Guanyu 2022 Abu Dhabi GP helmet

Whilst it was probably fitting to leave Seb's helmet last, I've decided to mostly stick to alphabetical order for this post, so that leaves Zhou's helmet, which is actually the final helmet I painted for the 2022 season and so it's fitting it belongs here. Inspired by vintage Chinese ornamental floral patterns, the patterns already exist on his standard helmet at the top and around the bottom, but this helmet extends that design all the way around the helmet. Very nice design from KV Designs. The pattern was painted from scratch, so it took a bit of time, but I like the result.

GP4 1994 Mod features on Trevor Sports

Around a year ago, I came across a YouTube channel called Trevor Sports. It triggered all my boyhood nostalgia, reminding me of Saturday afternoons as a kid watching TV in the UK. Grandstand was the show on the BBC, featuring various sports including F1 qualifying coverage. Presenters Steve Rider and Des Lynam were household names, with Murray Walker and James Hunt, and laterly Jonathan Palmer were on commentary. The BBC coverage was beamed all around the world to other English speaking nations that makes these names familiar to many.

Trevor has recreated that style and personalities on various games and started a classic season on good old GP4. The age old quesion of what would have happened had Senna not passed away in Imola is about to be simulated. How would the Championship have played out? 

Trevor has already recorded and released the first four races, but for round 5 in Spain, the series now features my updates in the 1994 Mod v4.0, and I'm grateful to be included in the credits at the end. 

When I first watched the series, it provided me with a real motivation to get the 1994 mod in a position to be released, which I was able to do on GP4's 20th anniversary earlier this year. Since then I've released two more cars and I've got a few more updates finished and some nearly finished and I hope to be able to get an updated mod to you before Christmas.

But until then, sit back and enjoy a bit of nostalgia, listen to the fantastic and familiar commentary as you watch the beautiful 1994 cars do in GP4 battle for the 1994 championship.

You can catch the whole season on the playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTQArm2RA7c&list=PLnFerNuEE98KYEaAl2SM0nBC_nezboonr&index=5

To read more about the 1994 mod, you can read about it here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/

GP4: 2022 Alfa Romeo C42

As we begin the final weekend of the 2022 season today, I'm delighted to be able to have finished another 2022 car and share it with you GP4 fans. This is the Alfa Romeo C42. 

2022 Alfa Romeo C42 by Fongu

The car is built from the Hinwil based of the team formerly known as Sauber and is powered by the Ferrari power train. The competitiveness dropped of by mid-season, with Zhou suffering a massive crash in Silverstone, landing sideways between two barriers. Thankfully he was extracted and not seriously injured. Going into the final race of the season, they lead the battle for 6th in the Constructors’ Championship. 

There are so many great sources around today to help me model the cars accurately compared to when I first started making cars for GP4, and I've tried to keep these cars as simple as I can so that it runs well on lower end machines. On that, I'm grateful once more to Carl_gpgames for making lods for this car. Even things like tiny logos are much easier to find nowadays, which all helds speed up production of these cars.

This car comes with two special liveries as seen in Baku and Monza. 

2022 Alfa Romeo C42 Azerbaijan GP livery by Fongu

This livery, run at the Azerbaijan GP was to celebrate the launch of the Tonale road car, an electic SUV. The added green is to make the car into a giant Italian flag with the hue of colours the colours tweak to match the green in the Montreal Tonale launch as well as a nod to it's green initiatives going forward and the deeper Alfa red. The Tonale has distinctive headlights, forming a 'UUU' shape and that's the reason that's on the livery in white on the engine cover and darker green on the sidepods. 

2022 Alfa Romeo C42 Italian GP livery by Fongu

Alfa Romeo, since it linked up with Sauber, has been using various old Alfa Romeo logos in it's time in F1. Just search for Alfa Romeo logo history and you'll see how the emblem has evolved over the years. The nose and engine cover logo on the standard livery is based on the 1922 font. In the Italian GP at Monza, the nose logo was replaced with the logo used in the 1940s and 50s. 

On the right side engine cover only, they have replaced the text with their emblem. Alfa Romeo, originally founded in Milan, has many nods to its history.  The cross is St. George's cross, associated with medieval Milanese soldiers during the time of the crusades, clearly backing the 'Christian' side. What I didn't know until I did a bit of research was that the serpent, Biscione, is eating a guy, the emblem being associated with the Visconti family of the 11th Century and linked with Milan. The guy getting eaten is in relation once more to the crusades, presumably a muslim, but it's still a bit open for debate. The crown relates to the family becoming Dukes in the 15th Century. The serpent itself is new, but clearly inspired from the past, so I had to paint it from scratch. It's a fascinating history if you wanted to read more into it. 

Thanks once more to Carl_gpgames for the screenshots and all that's left to do is share the pack with you, enjoy. 

GP4: 2022 Mexican and Sao Paulo helmets

Hey there race fans. Today I present to you various helmets from the last two races in Mexico and Sao Paulo (I still can't stop calling it the Brazilian GP). There are 10 new designs to show you and one variant added to the 2022 helmet pack. 

Sebastian Vettel - Mexican GP

Sebastian Vettel 2022 Mexican GP helmet

It was a real loss to that the world now that we are without Dietrich Mateschitz. He has done so much good without flaunting it or seeking business wealth, and that is no more evident than his contributions to F1. He did it for the love of it, and for sure F1 would be in much more dire circumstances without him. Seb dedicated this whole helmet to his memory, and based the design on his first helmet when he was signed as a Red Bull junior back in 1998, complete with Red Bull logos and the text replaced with 'Danke Didi'. As most juniors had essentially the same design back in the day, this helmet in a green Aston did bring back memories of Klien in a green Jaguar. 

Max Verstappen - Mexican & Sao Paulo GP

Max Verstappen 2022 World Champion helmet

Having clinched his second Championship early, Max has decided to wear a gold based helmet for the rest of the season. In Mexico, the helmet was gold-plated, whilst in Brazil it was chrome gold. Basically the Brazilian version was super shiny and both versions of the helmet are included in this pack, with the differences in the alpha channel.The Mexico edition features real 22-karat gold leaf, the real one not mine! 

Lando Norris - Mexican GP

Lando Norris 2022 Mexican GP helmet

Norris basically got someone to vandalise his helmet with spray paint. That person was artist Jimmy Pierce.

Sergio Perez - Mexican GP

Sergio Perez 2022 Mexican GP helmet

Checo says this is the most Mexican helmet he's ever done with this luchador-style helmet with el Día de los Muertos inspired skull at the front, and various Papel Picado designs. A lovely livery from MDM Designs. 

A message about linkvertise and adfly

If you've been downloading my content for any period of time, you'll know that I've been using adfly for a number of years, which was relatively harmless if you run adblockers, whilst browser add-ons to bypass it were readily available. It did generate a small revenue for me, all of $10 over 12 years 😅. 

However adfly has now been absorbed by Linkvertise. Now the German firm in and of itself seems fine, but some of the ads and executable files it forces you to install I am not happy with. There are ways around it, but it's still relatively new and not straightforward to bypass. 

I would recommend that you do not use linkvertise links and do not run their executables. 

Because I've been adding links all over various forums and on hundreds of posts on this blog, I don't have the time to remove every instance of it, but I will slowly try and remove as many as I can in due course. 

Sorry for any inconvenience, but let me reiterate, please don't run the programs Linkvertise ask you to install.

I am committed to continue to release my content for free. If you appreciate my work and want to donate to me, there is a link at the top of my blog to do so.  

GP4: 2022 Alpine A522 v1.1 by fongu

Thanks to some feedback from some of you guys, I've done a quick update on the blue livery on the Alpine. There were some comments about it being too light, so I've taken that onboard and decided on the same blue colour as the car from the Codemasters F1 game. I had upped the highlights effect on the original car, but I've toned that back down for this livery to the normal amount I would normally use. I've also updated the Plug Power logo to match the mid-late season version on the front fin. 

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Added 8th November

Fixed the front suspension where one of the Genii logos was missing

*****

Sorry that there's no new screenshots, but the links are the same as before. 

GP4: 2022 Alpine A522 by fongu

I've taken a little break from creating helmets to bring you something I've spent a bit of time working on recently. This is the fourth car I've been able to release for the 2022 season and will be featured in the 2022 mod for GP4.

2022 Alpine A522 by fongu

Yes, here's the Alpine, and by popular demand, it comes along with the all pink livery as seen in the first two races of the season. The standard blue livery has reduced paintwork, as with many other teams, this was done in an effort to save weight. Personally, the launch liveries of both variations were truly terrible, but the iterations that arrived in Bahrain and later raced were much better. 

At the time of writing, Alpine are locked in a battle for 4th in the Constructors Title fight with McLaren, with the French team favourites to secure the position. The team were involved in some controversy when first, in advanced negotiations to secure Alonso to an extended contract, were caught out when he was announced to drive for Aston Martin in 2023. Alpine, in response, then announced that junior driver, Oscar Piastri would drive for them in 2023, only for the driver to announce he would not be doing so. Indeed he would soon be confirmed to drive for McLaren in the following season.

2022 Alpine A522 by fongu

This car is made for GP4 and my thanks goes to Carl_gpgames for once again creating lods for me. 

Here's a few more screens, courtesy of Carl_gpgames.

2022 Alpine A522 by fongu

2022 Alpine A522 by fongu

GP4: 2022 US GP Helmets (part 2)

It was really no surprise that there were so many speical helmets at the US GP in Austin, Texas, with 10 drivers that I could find running a different lid. I've already released two, and now I'm pleased to show you the rest of them that I have recreated.

Charles Leclerc

Charles Leclerc 2022 US GP helmet

Leclerc has a barbeque themed helmet, that's similar to his Monaco GP helmet with the red top and white bottom. 

Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo 2022 US GP helmet

Ricciardo's helmet is inspired by Will Ferrell's film, 'Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby'. A nice special design, by JMD helmets. 

Esteban Ocon

Esteban Ocon 2022 US GP helmet

Esteban Ocon came with this simple yet instantly recognisable Spiderman design. According to Esteban, the US is the land of superheroes. It got better when Alpine recreated the Spiderman meme with the helmet.

Lance Stroll

Lance Stroll 2022 US GP helmet

Lance Stroll wore this leather saddle based design, with the Aston Martin wings having the appearance of leather stitched onto a camel leather base. I like how the colour of the stitching highlights the strip along the top. A nice fun helmet. 

Sebastian Vettel

Sebastian Vettel 2022 US GP helmet

Well, this helmet by MDM Designs wins the busiest helmet of the year, with a hippy based vibe to it, and peace and love worked in seamlessly in glittery gold. As you can imagine, this took a while to make, but I'm pleased with how it turned out. 

Nicholas Latifi

Nicholas Latifi 2022 US GP helmet

Most blogs and helmet spotters missed Goatifi's special helmet, and to be fair, I only spotted it by accident. It's an amalgamation of his previous two special helmets, the maple syrup one he ran in Montreal and the red version of his helmet he's run since Hungary. 

Zhou Guanyu

Zhou Guanyu 2022 US GP helmet

Zhou's helmet is denim jeans inspired, complete with leather belt and buckle. I really enjoyed making this one, doing the stitching and leather effects to go on top of the denim base. A nice design from KV helmet designs.

Mick Schumacher

Mick Schumacher 2022 US GP helmet

Mick Schumacher created this helmet inspired by his family's ranch with images of his sister, Gina-Marie as a surprise for her. She's an accomplished reining horse rider with several international accomplishments to her name. The images were put onto a sunset backdrop, with the front and top showing a clear night sky, like the ones you see in parts of Texas that are awe inspiring. 

Special thanks to 32bobo32 for helping me find the pictures of Gina-Marie. It's a shame the wing shape has changed and that's exactly where Gina's picture is, but I've tried to make it seamless enough.

As ever, these helmets are painted on Jvinu's templates and shapes, and are ACSPRH compatible.

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