GP4: 1995 Ligier JS41 Mugen-Honda by David Marques & fongu - released

 

I'm please to share with you another season package of the 1995 Ligier JS41. Once more, this was created in partnership with David Marques, and will be released on both GP4 and Formula 1 Challenge 99-02. As with my other recent releases, this car also comes with a full seasons worth of liveries and body shape changes. 

The 1995 Ligier was driven by Oliver Panis in one seat, and then Aguri Suzuki and Martin Brundle shared the other seat. At the start of the season, Flavio Briatore and Tom Walkinshaw (both at Benetton at the time) owned the Ligier team, with the former taking the Renault engine deal with him to the Benetton team. During the season, Flavio sold his shares to TWR. The team would eventually finish the season in fifth place, with Brundle scoring an excellent podium finish at a rain soaked Belgian GP, and Panis went one better at the season finale in Australia, albeit two laps down where only eight cars were still running at the end. 

In many ways, this is a 1995 Benetton chassis. Whilst Ligier did receive some of the Benetton updates, the French outfit also took its own independent development path. There are differences on the top of the monocoque in terms of the various bulges that are unique to each car, and the top of the rollover hoop is more acute on the Ligier. Ligier start out the season with a sidepod very similar to the 1994 Benetton, in fact, that's exactly where I took it from. Ligier did take on the rear wing endplate double winglet arrangement that Benetton did, but then developed its own winglet system mid-season. They also went their own way for the front wing. Both the winglets and front-wing developments were taken from my 1996 Ligier. There are also low downforce variants for this car too. Thanks to David Marques for making the unique Ligier dashboard object that differs from the Benetton one. So this car isn't simply just taking a Benetton and painting it blue, but at the same time, I appreciate it did not take too long to make the changes. 

I'm very grateful for the excellent paint work completed by David Marques. I'm also grateful for Quickslick for some logo help and testing too. 

Keep your eyes peeled for the F1C '99-02 community for the release of this car: https://wookey.forumotion.com/t1265-f1-1995-season

Happy Racing

GP4: ICYMI March 2025

For the first time in 2025, I wanted to update you on some of the new downloads and updates available for Geoff Crammond's classic game. 

It amazes me that over 20 years after the release of the game that there are new tools and editors to improve the game are being made available. 

I'm also in awe of those who have the time and commitment and devotion to make a whole track. 

Also in this update is a slight update to an existing mod and some new sounds to enjoy in GP4. 

Before we get going with the recent updates, you can check out, separately, all the 2025 downloads available here: 2025 Downloads

Individual Meshes & Textures - updated and improved
There's actually been multiple updates since this was first released. By injecting a dll into the game, it allows previously impossible options that are now available to editors. Plus, with the old csmprocess file, it is possible to enable these things via CSM.  Individual internal cockpits, a proper internal cockpit visor, individual collision meshes and a fix for the 3D rims reversed tread bug are all now possible with this tool.
by Öggo  | Info

GP4 Mesh Tools for Blender - updated
This little update fixes a bug that introduced some weird graphical glitches when updating pit props. Thanks to Öggo for working with me to diagnose and fix the issue.
by Öggo  | Info

GPF (Menu Fonts) Editor
This lovely new tool not only helps you edit the font files in the menus for GP4, but it also opens up the possibility to have high resolution fonts too.
by Öggo  | Info

Helmet Visor Colours
Another helpful fix is an age annoying uneditable item in GP4. Originally, the Arrows drivers had orange tinted visors and one of the Minardi drivers had a green tint. This was great for 2001, but it was annoying it continues to be seen in mods. Now this can not only be remedied, but all visors are now customisable per driver.
by Öggo  | Info

1998 Trackpack
Following on from created lovely high resolution trackpacks for 1996 and 1997, we now have the same treatment for the 1998 tracks. Lovely work in giving some of these older tracks a new lease of life.
by Naitch7 | Info

1987 non-CSM mod updated
Thanks to Jose Gomes on doing some edits to the existing non-CSM version of the 1987 mod:  - change to FULL HD views and positions - change cockpit and steering wheel - fix mirrors - fix crash model of gp4 cars - update sound and commentaries  At the moment there is no CSM version of this mod, but hopefully that will be done soon.
by jcgrj | Info

1999 Williams FW21
It's fantastic to get new cars being added to the GP4 community. This beautiful Williams comes with 4 shape variations and a full season's worth of textures. The 1999 grid is starting to fill up with some fantastic quality cars.
by Hega (Quickslick, kedy89)  | Info

2023 Lusail International Circuit, Qatar
Built on the dat file by prblanco, drt01 has carefully done the 3D work and created a fantastic atmosphere to this track that has now become a regular on the F1 calendar.
by drt01 |  info

Le Mans Petite Sarthe - 2024 version
Due to the limitations in GP4, we have to settle for a shortened version of the famous track used for the Le Mans 24 hour race. Thanks to Davide for updating the track to 2024 standards, ideal for the IMSA vs WEC mod I worked on last year.
by drt01 | info

Adelaide International Raceway
This is a real race track from Viking75, and it was largely used for touring cars and junior single seater races.
by Viking75 |  info

San Carlos, Venezuela (Fictional track)
This fast track has the horizon from San Carlos in Venezuela.
by Viking75 |  info

Pasadena Raceway (Fictional track)
Viking says "I am exploring the limits of GP4 builder's possibilities. I built a 19 km circuit, with 3924 sectors. It cannot go beyond 4000 sectors. I added a lot of heavy objects to see if it still worked and it does. The lap time is 4mn 25, very long. The circuit is very winding but with very wide turns. Thank you to F1 virtual for the building at the pit entrance."
Viking75 |  info

1979 Ferrari 312T4 Engine Sound
Jose Gomes continues his good collection of engine sound updates with this one from the end of the 1970s. This Ferrari sound fits really well specifically with the 1979 mod, and other similar era seasons.
by jcgrj |  info

F1 WGP Pit radio sounds
This is a fun add-on with sounds from the classic F1 WGP game. These sounds can be implemented via GPxPatch
by RegularJohn | info

And some news from me...

1994 Tyrrell 022 Yamaha
This is not a new download, but I was asked if I could share the 1994 Tyrrell separately from the mod. Here it is as a stand alone download, the Australian GP version.
by fongu | Info

and there's a new page on this blog: Fictional Cars

Well, all that's left to say is happy racing. 

GP4: 1995 Benetton B195 by David Marques & Fongu

I'm really excited to share with you this new car package, created in partnership with David Marques, for the 1995 season. It's a brand new Benetton B195 Renault that took Michael Schumacher to his second World Championship, in dominant fashion, and brought home the Constructors' Championship to Enstone for the first time. 

After a tumultuous 1994 season, Benetton proved they were a Championship winning team, without the cloud of scandal and cheating hanging over them. For a number of years, Schumacher had shown signs of his generational talent, and it was on full display during a 1995 season when he did not always have the best car. In a genius move, Briatore had bought the Ligier team in 1994, which secured him the lucrative Renault engine contracts, which he duly put in the Benetton. 

Johnny Herbert  had a less happy time, as he and Flavio simply did not get on. However, the season still produced two wins for the Brit, but neither he, nor Alesi or Berger when they tested the car post season, were able to exploit the pace out of the Benetton that Schumacher was. 

1995 Benetton B195 by David Marques and fongu

Similar to the 1994 Benetton that I created a year prior, I was able to use the Codemasters F1 2020 as a template to make this car, ensuring I had good accuracy and detail to emulate. I was able to create this car using my own skills and modelling preferences that I have acquired over the years. Having such a good reference really does help speed things up when modelling, but be sure to know that no parts of the Codemasters car is on this car, this is 100% my car shape. Similar to the 1995 Ferrari which I made a few years back (also with David Marques), I've tried to keep this car simple rather than spending too much time on the finer details, as I would do for the 1994 cars, however it still holds up in terms of quality. 

Included are a number of shape changes as you progress through the season. The early season car started with a bendy edges to the front wing, the additional part of the rear of the airbox, and rectangular barge boards. The front wing became a more conventional flat shape for the later part of the season, along with a conventional smooth engine cover, whilst the bargeboards developed in shape, something they would keep for 1996 and 1997. There are also low downforce configurations for both the front and rear wings and hopefully all of these changes are captured in the release poster for the car above. 

Whilst I did a very early draft of the livery, the main credits for the textures goes to David Marques in providing the textures and logos for the whole season. He was able to fix my terrible attempt at mapping and has done a great job in making the car look as great as it does. 

1995 Benetton B195 by David Marques and fongu

Now before you get too excited about the rate at which I've been releasing cars of late, it's worth saying that the car took over a month to build, and I did about a year ago. The development of the car lay dormant for a long time until David Marques helped me to progress this project. It's probably of no surprise to you that the next car is not too far away, that being the 1995 Ligier, which on the outside, really resembles the B195. There are subtle differences and they did go in some different development paths, but more on that when that car is released. But to try and temper your expectations, after that release, don't expect the same rate of releases of more 1990s cars. 

As with the 1997 Jordan released recently, this is a joint F1C '99-02 community and GP4 release. You can see how this car looks in that game, as well as downloading this car for F1C's 1995 mod here: https://wookey.forumotion.com/t1265-f1-1995-season

Whilst I admire and envy the editability that F1 Challenge game, I do think, albeit I am quite biased, that the cars do look better in GP4 overall. In parts, I wish GP4 had a similarly deep repository of mods. But I'm glad, as always, that my work benefits not just the one game, but is being ported and used in other games.

1995 Benetton B195 by David Marques and fongu

Back in the world of Grand Prix 4, at the moment, you will receive the car as a stand-alone package, but I do intend to include it as a 1995 mod update in the near future. I want to at least use a more up to date helmet shape for this Benetton and upgrade the helmet textures for Schumi and Johnny. Anyway, until then, enjoy this car. 

Happy racing!