GP4: fongu revisits 2020... and here's why

Recently I've been revisiting 2020. I know, I know, who in their right mind would want to revisit that year, we've all expunged it from our memories, I'm sure. But why am I going back to it? 

Well the F1 season was quite interesting, a bit different from the norm. Sure Lewis romped off to an easy championship, his last to date, but there were plenty of other things going on too. From remote controlled trophy celebrations, to the introduction of weird names for Grand Prix, to the crazy low grip asphalt at the Turkish GP that left the cars incredibly dirty in the rain, to that massive crash at Mugello and Grosjean's lucky escape in Bahrain. There was Perez's first win, Russell's debut in the Mercedes, Hulkenberg's great substitute drives and many other great stories. 

So I'm only revisiting 2020 in an F1 perspective, specifically modding 2020 content in GP4. I enjoy the mod, because the F1 calendar that year was interesting, a change from the same old tracks in the same old order. Mugello, the Nurburgring, the Algarve track, Istanbul and the outer track in Bahrain. It was also a 17 race calender, perfect for GP4! 

Back in 2020 and early 2021, I had released the Ferrari SF1000 and I had also released the 2021 Aston Martin livery on the 2020 Racing Point RP20. So I've gone back and given these existing cars in my back catalogue and added some new liveries. I've also backdated my Williams and Mercedes, as well as tackling the Red Bull car too. So there's basically half the 2020 grid updated here with new(ish) cars. 

Here's the details.

2020 Ferrari SF1000 - Tuscan GP livery

2020 Ferrari SF1000 - Tuscan GP livery by fongu

I decided to make the Tuscan GP livery on my version of the Ferrari and I wanted it to be more burgundy. Back then, I was a bit aggressive in my alpha channel editing and I've since toned that down and have been a bit more nuanced in creating them. I'm quite happy with the overall result and I'm very happy to share it with you. 

But the cars didn't look quite right, the 1000th GP for Ferrari deserves a better tribute. They needed the helmets to go with it. And boy did I regret that decision, because these were some difficult helmets to recreate. But I'm happy with the result, let's dive in to a bit more detail. 

Charles Leclerc's 2020 Tuscan GP helmet by fongu

Charles Leclerc's helmet, designed by Adrien Paviot, had a special livery for his Bell helmet. The helmet features the World Champions with paintings of each appearing on his helmet. Ascari, Hawthorn, Fangio, Phil Hill and John Surtees from the original era. Then there was Lauda and Scheckter from the 70s, through to Schumacher and Raikkonen from the early noughties. Then there's also the portrait of the man himself, Enzo Ferrari, in his trademark sunglasses appearing prominently on the top. 

Sebastian Vettel's 2020 Tuscan GP helmet by fongu

This helmet is more of a tribute than an accurate recreation of Seb's Arai helmet for the Tuscan GP. The helmet is split in two, the vintage side and the modern side, beautifully done by Jens Munser Designs. There's not a whole lot of photos around of this one, and there's a lack of replicas and models of it. I love the vintage side, with the creamy white strip on the top, the 'tea-stained' blueprint paper, and various technical scribbles and a blueprint of the Ferrari 325. Like I say, this is my version of it, rather than an accurate replica of JMD's one. I love the split, the original Ferrari logo, and JMD's hand written logo instead of his printed one. Then there's the modern side, with a more vibrant German flag, the glittery highlights, and of course the wireframe of my SF1000. The car is simply my car above with a screenshot taken from Zmodeler. 

As ever, thanks to Jvinu for his helmet shapes, templates and his original 2020 helmets guiding the contours of my version. Of course, this means the helmets are compatible with ASCPRH v1. 

2020 Racing Point RP20

2020 Racing Point RP20 by fongu

Racing Point took a massive risk in 2020. It was the (theoretical) final year of the current rule set, and similar to the 2025 season, most teams simply went for an evolution of their 2019 cars, concentrating their efforts on the new rules. But Racing Point went completely different, and instead went and made a copy of the Championship winning car. The 'pink Mercedes' plan worked for the large part, the team ran competitively, even running 1-2 during the Turkish GP, with Perez taking his first victory in Bahrain. 

I actually quite liked this version of the pink livery, the BWT lettering boldly emblazened across the engine cover and sidepods seamlessly. But due to the mapping of the car, I had to do some adjustments to the logos to make the result look right on the track. In fact, I hand drew the BWT logos, as well as on the front and rear wings. 

I've included Hulkenberg's number 27 car in this pack for his two stand-in races for the team, once for Perez, the other for Stroll. 

2020 Red Bull RB16

2020 Red Bull RB20 by fongu

This car is based off the work by Hega and Excalibur's 2021 RB16B and it's basically been restored to its 2020 version. I'm glad their liveries don't change much, year on year, so the textures are largely interchangeable. The textures on this car are made from scratch, but it helped alot to have a reference. I like the high rake on the car, the most aggressive in the field, contrasting with the pretty horizontal Mercedes and Racing Points cars.

Whilst the car was not as competitive as its successor, which won the championship, the signs of growing competitiveness were there, with Max taking two victories. Sadly, Albon struggled, but not without glimpses of his talent on show, it just wasn't particularly consistent nor frequent enough. Thankfully, it did not kill his F1 career.

2020 Williams FW43

2020 Williams FW43 by fongu

2020 was an important one for the Williams team, because the Williams family sold the team to Dorilton Capital, clearing their debts, and ushering in some needed new management and fresh capital. After three consecutive seasons of finishing last in the Constructors' Championship, 2021 saw the team start to become more competitive, and despite a dip in performance in 2022, the team have continued to progress since. 

I went back and looked at my 2021 Williams and I pleasantly remembered some of the really nice details I put into that car. However, that car did start its life as the 2020 FW43 and I found an older version that I could adapt for a fully fledged 2020 car. 

Although I did not bother with the launch livery, this car comes with three liveries. There is the early season livery, plus a version with 'thank you NHS' (the British National Health Service), and then the late season livery which was used from the Eifel GP (yep, another stupid name for a GP) at the Nürburgring. It also includes Aitken's livery when they raced around the outer Sakhir track so I guess that makes it four liveries. 

2020 Mercedes AMG F1 W11 EQ Performance

2020 Mercedes-AMG F1 W11 EQ Performance by fongu

The all conquering Mercedes team would dominate the 2020 season, but it would be their last, as the 2021 season will see a titanic battle for the Championship with Red Bull. This is the introduction to the first black Mercedes, thanks to the influence of Hamilton and their response to the hot topic agendas going on at that time. 

In terms of the GP4 car, this is largely based on my 2021 car, although some of the work was initially done by Isaint. The repetitive Mercedes badges across the engine cover, with five different sizes, took a lot of patience and perseverance but I'm really pleased with the overall result. There is also the number 63 car of George Russell included as well. 

GP4: 1993 JJ Lehto helmet

When you think of early-mid 1990s helmets, you're probably thinking of simple designs, designed to be seen on a small screen, immediately identifiable with bold colours and basic shapes. They were perfect material for little boy drawings, memorable, distinct, simple, iconic. 

For JJ Lehto, his main helmet design followed this trend for 1991 and 1992, with a white and blue base with red lines. 

For 1993, Uffedesigns (who is still doing the odd helmet for modern day F1 drivers), added a bold five leaf design to the top of his helmet, graduating from green to yellow to orange. This varied in colour at different rounds of the early season, and is troublesome for anyone trying to recreate it in sim racing, because it invariably goes over seams and it's incredibly hard not only to get the design lined up, but getting the gradient colours to match over the seams is very, very difficult. 

By the British GP, the design on the top went to a simple chequered pattern, that ran through to the back of the helmet and this design would carry through to his 1994 season at Benetton and Sauber. 

However, Lehto ran a special helmet design for the 1993 Monaco GP, featuring a sunrise strip at the front and an even more elaborate five leaf design across the top, that also penetrating the side and rear design. The base is a repeated blue square pattern, with some white strips added along the bottom. It was so unusual for that era to have such a bold design. A tweaked version of this helmet was used at the Le Mans 24 hour race, I think in 1996 in a Gulf liveried McLaren F1. 

I've long been a fan of Öggo's 1993 helmet set, the exquisite helmet shapes, the detail and personalisation of each drivers helmet on a track specific level, was an inspiration to the update I did for 1994. It was an honour to be asked to be involved by recreating Lehto's 1993 Monaco GP helmet. Öggo had done a great job in creating the standard leaf top used at the early races. It took a lot of persuading, and as is usual when we make requests of one another, that it can take months, if not years, or even a decade in the case of the 1993 Tyrrell, that we fulfil each other's requests. He had made a little bit of a start, and in two batches, one in the autumn of 2024 and another couple of sessions early in 2025, I'm proud to say it was finally complete. 

I started by doing the blue base, which is a repeated pattern. It wasn't easy getting the level of blue to show through without it being over exposed. The red lines actually have a slight orange outline to make it stand out more. The leaves were hand drawn as best I can with a pen tool and simple trial and error to make it line up across two textures. Then it was getting the gradients in, adding a slight white glow to the inner edges to give it that layered spray-paint effect. In the end, I really enjoyed the challenge and how it turned out, and it really pops in the all black Sauber Mercedes car. 

1993 JJ Lehto Monaco GP helmet by fongu & Öggo 

I want to thank Quickslick for some help with photos, and to Öggo for his logos, this beautiful render and hastling me,  I mean inspiring me to do this project, not to mention the great Arai helmet shape and template upon which its painted on. 

You can download the recently released 1993 helmet pack that now includes Arai, Shoei and three types of Bell helmet, which includes my sole contribution of this beautiful helmet. It's really worth your time to have a look at this beautiful set, recreated with love and care and attention of detail synonymous with Öggo's work. 

I know there is a 1993 mod update being worked on, of which I have a little involvement with, which will include these new helmets as well as some other nice updates. I hope it won't be too long before the work on that is done and shared with this fantastic community. 

GP4: 2023 v1.3 update & 2024 mod V1.7c update

Happy New Year, GP4 racing fans.

Here is a quick update to both the 2023 and 2024 mods. 

Sadly the physics and torque files by Gitanes were not correctly loading, so this patch will fix that for 2023 and 2024. 

Also with Oggo's new GPF editor, 32bobo32 has created some new hi res menu fonts and they have been added to both mods, they look really fantastic. 

There was an issue with the 2023 Aston Martin Texture early season on Stroll's car and that's been fixed for this update. 

On 2024, side, thanks to Paulo Derpich for updating the Alpine cockpit for COTA. 

Installation Notes

2023 mod:

This update requires 2023 F1 mod previously released on this blog here: 
https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/2024/08/gp4-f1-2023-mod.html

• Download the 2023 CSM mod update below

CSM update - 2023 Mod update 3 v1.3

• Open CSM
• File | Install new carset template | select F1 2023F CMU23_update3_v1.3.cmu

2024 mod:

This update requires 2024 F1 mod previously released on this blog here: 
https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/2024/08/gp4-f1-2024-mod-v10.html

• Download both the 2024 CSM mod updates below

CSM update - 2024 CMU24 update 11 v1.7c

• Open CSM
• File | Install new carset template | select F1_2024_CMU24_update11_v1.7c.cmu

GP4: 2024 Pack

As 2024 draws to a close, I wanted to thank you for all the support and appreciation for this blog and my content. 

Looking back, I can't quite believe the amount I've been able to achieve.

The 30th Anniversary of the 1994 mod, in memory of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger, has received a lot of positive feedback, even from outside the GP4 community, with my cars having been converted into F1 2014 and Automobilista (with permission). It is an ongoing project, and I hope to do more on this mod soon. 

I also worked on, with Meteoro405, the IMSA vs WEC carset, which included the 2023/24 IMSA mod, 2023 WEC/Le Mans mod, 2024 WEC/Le Mans mod and a mod that combines them all together. This mod started off by doing a few cars for fun, being inspired by Meteoro405's IMSA Random mod, and the revival of endurance racing. In the end, it was a very complete mod, and it was something different from the usual F1 mods and I enjoyed the project immensely. I enjoyed some of the colloborations and content from the wider modding community to complete this mod. I'm also grateful that drt01 updated his 'petite Sarthe' Le Mans track to 2024 standards. 

Later in the summer, I released my 2023 mod, with the mod structured to include the 2024 mod at a later date. The 2023 mod included lots of new additional content and liveries, and at the time I thought it was a pretty comprehensive mod. The 2024 mod, in comparison, started life as a small add-on, but the updates kept on coming, and its certainly kept me very busy over the past few months. I'm really proud of what has been achieved. 

Below are some repackaged downloads. 

The original 2024 mod update v1.7 release missed the Sauber Las Vegas livery, so here is v1.7b reloaded, simply install this over the existing update. For the latest files for the 2024 mod, check this page out..

By popular demand, I share with you my 2024 helmet set separately. There's more details on each helmet included on the annual helmet page here.

I also share all my 2024 cars in one pack too. Again, the details on the cars are on the Christmas update post.

Not only has it been a busy year of modding for me, on top of that, I've been trying to keep this blog up to date, seeking to preserve as much as I can from GP4 community modding history, and trying to keep things as simple as possible for new-comers to this classic game. 

Feel free to show your appreciation with a no-obligation donation using the donate link at the top of the page. 

Wishing you a very happy New Year and keep racing.