GP4: F1 2024 mod v1.7 Christmas update - 2024 cars by fongu

I've got a special release this Christmas, and it comes in the form of the 2024 F1 mod update. 

I know, the last update was only yesterday and it seemed pretty complete, and it is. But this is Christmas, and I'm in a generous mood!

At the beginning of the season, I released the Red Bull RB20, but I've only released a handful of other 2024 cars since then, the McLaren and then the Sauber. 

For this festive season, I want to share with you every car I've made for 2024... and that is every car on the 2024 grid, with a heap of special liveries and track specific logo updates. I couldn't have done it alone, my thanks to GM25, Excalibur (Ferrari) and Paulo Derpich (updates to McLaren and Red Bull) for helping along in this process. 

I'm very appreciative of all the GP4 authors, and in no way do I want to replace any of the existing works already in the mod. But you can run none of my cars, you can run only my cars, or you can mix and match; this mod enables you to select each car author in the CSM menu, giving you hundreds of variations you can try, much like in my 2011 mod. 

Here's a quick preview of what you will get in this update:

Alpine A524

2024 Alpine A524 by fongu for GP4

Alpine ran a number of liveries over the course of the season, tweaking it as the season progressed. The team ran either the pink variant or the blue variant for most Grand Prix. At the final three races of the season, Alpine went 'all pink' with a plain livery. The team also ran two special liveries at the Belgian GP and the USA GP. Both were promotions for the Deadpool vs Wolverine film and the Indiana Jones game. As the livery and logo placements were tweaked through the year, I've attempted to create as many variants as I can. 

Aston Martin AMR24

2024 Aston Martin AMR24 by fongu for GP4

Aston Martin largely ran the same livery and sponsor combinations for most the season, with different partners being featured on the halo at each race (I've not captured all of these minor changes). The team ran additional Aramco colours on their wings at the USA GP, and the last couple of races saw the team run a white rollover hoop. 

2024 Ferrari SF24

2024 Ferrari SF24 by fongu & Excalibur for GP4

Ferrari reintroduced yellow into the main livery to match the endurance racing team, which was a really nice touch. The team gained HP sponsorship from the Miami GP onwards, with a special 'blue' livery ran at the US race. Both Carlos and Leclerc ran slightly different colour halos and car number outlines. The Peroni logo being replaced by Tifosi or Italia in the Middle East races, a nice reminder when the teams in the 1990s were creative with their non-tobacco sponsorship. The Italian GP saw the team celebrate carbon-fibre, and the driver numbers were made black to reflect it. 

This car was created by Excalibur, it's actually his RSCT template car, and I've simply painted on his template and releasing  it now with his blessing. 

Haas VF-24

2024 Haas VF-24 by fongu for GP4

Haas were one of the teams running minimal livery, the car being almost entirely unpainted carbon fibre. For the race in Austin, the team ran a special eagle inspired livery, whilst at the Las Vegas GP, there were more subtle changes made to the car. The team struck a partnership with Toyota Gazoo Racing towards the later half of the year and those liveries have been created for this mod. 

Mercedes F1 W15 E Performance

2024 Mercedes F1 W15 E Performance by fongu for GP4

The Mercedes have flicked between all silver or all black in recent years, and this year saw them run both. The red from the Ineos branding remains a constant, with the blue from Petronas becoming more prominent as the season progressed. The only proper special livery was at the Singapore GP where the silver and blue parts of the livery swapped to celebrate Petronas.

Red Bull RB20

2024 Red Bull RB20 by fongu for GP4

Whilst the opening rounds suggested the season may be a foregone conclusion, the team struggled to make the car competitive at every race. It meant that planned special liveries were cancelled except for the British GP where they ran a 'red camo' livery. Thanks again goes to Paulo Derpich for creating some of the other race variants. 

Sauber C44

2024 Sauber C44 by fongu for GP4

I already released the Sauber in the previous mod update. In this update, I've made the Stake logos a little larger and closer to real life. I've also created the flaming Las Vegas GP livery. As it was a night race, I've decided to emphasise how bright the green looks on occasion. 

RB VCARB 01

2024 VCARB by fongu for GP4

VCARB returned to the brighter blue as seen on the later Toro Rosso cars before they were briefly known as Alpha Tauri. The team ran three special liveries during the season, the first at the Miami GP known as the 'bubblegum' livery. At the Singapore GP, they celebrated denim, with ripped jeans look and a massive zip, (reminding some of the 1999 BAR). Having done a number of denim helmets in recent years, getting the effect and stitching wasn't too difficult. And at the Las Vegas GP, the team went all 'glitter' with another bright design. At the Saudi Arabian GP, the team honoured the female team-members with their names featured on the side of the car. 

Williams FW46

2024 Williams FW46 by fongu for GP4

The 2024 Williams continued to run a couple of shades of blue, but with an added touch of heritage with the red and white stripes for their main livery. The team featured the Duracell bunny on the rollover hoop at the Monaco GP, whilst for the British GP they ran a massive Union Flag (technically it's only called the Union Jack when it's on the seas) with team member names written on it. After Logan Sargeant was dropped, the team were bold to call up Franco Colapinto as his replacement and that brought a number of South American backers to the car. This lead to the return of the yellow engine cover, a nod to the late 1980's/early 1990s liveries. 

McLaren MCL38

2024 McLaren MCL38 by fongu for GP4

There's nothing new from me on the McLaren in this update, but Paulo Derpich has complated the late season sponsor merry-go-round and the Mastercard logos becoming more and more prominent with every race. Thanks to him for his hard work making sure every race is accurately represented. Thankfully for me, there's no new special liveries since my release of this car, but for completeness, I wanted to show them off again here. Congratulations to the McLaren team for securing the Constructors' Championship for the first time since 1998. 

Phew, that concludes one of my most ambitious projects I've ever taken on for a current F1 season, along with the entire grid of helmets and a selection of special lids already released, I'm glad to share the complete pack with you on this special day, I hope you enjoy racing these cars with their various liveries through the season. 

Installation Notes

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 8 v1.7
CSM update - 2024 CMU24 update 9 v1.7
CSM update - 2024 CMU24 update 10 v1.7b

• Open CSM
• File | Install new carset template | select F1_2024_CMU24_update8_v1.7.cmu
• File | Install new carset template | select F1_2024_CMU24_update9_v1.7.cmu
• File | Install new carset template | select F1_2024_CMU24_update10_v1.7b.cmu

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Below are some screenshots of the cars in GP4 at the Singapore GP, which featured a number of special liveries. 

GP4: 2023 Ferrari SF-23 Las Vegas livery, F2 helmets and more...

2023 Ferrari SF-23 Las Vegas livery

First up, I'm please to share with you this updated livery used by the Ferrari team at the Las Vegas GP. This livery is inspired by the simple red and white liveries from the 1970s, and it apparently took some agreement from their sponsors and partners to display monotone white versions of their logos. The team enjoyed one of their most competitive weekends of the season at the inaugural event on the Las Vegas strip.

This GP4 version comes with a textures for both Leclerc and Sainz, and includes their new driver suits. I hope you like it, here's some more screenshots (apologies that I've not updated their helmets yet).

GP4: 2023 Ferrari SF-23 by fongu download

I'm pleased to share with you the only car other than a Red Bull which has won a Grand Prix in 2023 to date, the Ferrari SF-23. This is my version for Grand Prix 4 of the 2023 challenger from the Scuderia which Carlos Sainz earned pole position and won the Singapore GP. 

The car comes in early season specification when it was still pursuing the concept that had been so successful in 2022. Sadly, the improvements to the car did not produce the competitiveness that was hoped for, and the team's tactical acumen seemed little improved as the team endured a largely difficult 2023 campaign. 

Still the car has 4 pole positions and 5 podium finishes to date and Carlos Sainz is the man on form as I write this article. At the Italian Grand Prix, the team ran a special livery, taking inspiration from the Le Mans winning 499P's livery with the yellow stripes. That livery is included in this release, which look great with the special helmets which are also available here. 

There's not much left to say other than enjoy this car. Here's the download link and some more screenshots. 

GP4: 2011 Ferrari 150º Italia - download

 

I proudly present to you my scratch made version of the 2011 Ferrari 150º Italia. This was a car I started from when the car was originally launched, way back in 2011. Ferrari brought some updates to the Spanish GP in Barcelona, and I updated my car shape to match. The project was a slow one, and eventually the Codemasters cars were being released and converted to GP4. I was pleased that when measuring my car up against the Codemasters car, there was good correlation of shapes, angles and proportions. 

At the time, I was winding down my GP4 activities, whilst completing some of the 1996 car shapes. In fact this was the first contemporary F1 car I had at attempted since 2008 (I did start a 2009 car, but that project was never finished). I took my time over this car, as many authors released their version of the car. The car was mapped but at the time I really only wanted to concentrate on shaping cars, so I released it prior to my hiatus to see if anyone would paint it. 

It's been nearly 11 years now, so I thought I'd come back to it. I did add some 3D bodylines and bolts similar to the method I've been using on my current contemporary cars and has under 35,000 polygons, which, again, is a similar standard to my 2022 models. 

Anyway, I hope you like it. 

After a strong end to the 2010 season, where Alonso predicted and delivered on a strong end to the season, Ferrari were hoping to build on a strong debut season with the Spaniard. Well it didn't, it managed only one victory at Silverstone and that was more because of a temporary ban on off-throttle blown diffusers before the ban was rescinded. That rule majorly hampered Red Bull, and Alonso made the most of it. The season didn't get off to a great start because the name F150 was disputed by Ford who have an iconic pick-up truck of the same name. Ferrari claimed it to be short hand for Ferrari 150º Italia and that was that. The car was a podium contender at best, and Alonso managed fourth place overall and Massa a distant sixth in the Drivers' Championship. 

The car is available to download with tweaker settings included in the read me. 

But what mod can you play it in? 

I hope to have more news for you on that front soon, but until then, here's the download link to this car.

GP4: 2022 Ferrari F1-75 by Fongu

2022 Ferrari F1-75 by Fongu

Today, I present to you my third 2022 car release, the Ferrari F1-75. The car began the year as the car to beat, with Charles Leclerc taking a commanding hold on the Championship. However, the Scuderia's fortunes began to turn and various mistakes, along with a resurgent Red Bull, meant the team lost its grip on the Championship. 

At Monza, the team ran a special Modena yellow livery, that in conjunction with the car's chassis designation, F1-75, is to commemorate 75 years of Ferrari. I'm happy to include the livery in this release of the car.

2022 Ferrari F1-75 by Fongu

My thanks goes to Carl_gpgames once more for creating lods for me and doing some testing. As with my other 2022 cars, the car is designed with the lower end PC in mind, so it has less high details, but without losing out on overall accuracy. I hope you enjoy this release. 

GP4: Final batch of 2021 helmets

A Happy New Year to all of you.

I never envisioned at the beginning of 2021 that I would end up doing as many helmets as I did. I'm grateful that there are other authors who have released fantastic content to supplement it. Having been a mere novice at Photoshop before, I'm growing in confidence in what I can do, and that's in part pushing myself to produce more and more complicated helmets. Some have come off better than others, I must admit, but this final batch are amongst my best work this season, that's the way that it should be I guess. I've added 9 new helmets for you in this batch of releases.

Valterri Bottas

2021 Valterri Bottas Abu Dhabi Helmet

First up, we have Valterri Botta's helmet for his final race at Mercedes. I've actually enjoyed recreating all of his designs this year, all done by his girlfriend. This one features a messages of thanks in different languages, some career highlights, a number of photos from his achievements with the team, as well as a fitting tribute to Niki Lauda on the back, and a nod to teammate Lewis Hamilton. The top is full of stock art, which I was able to track down was by Anastasia Vintovkina. I even had to mix two fonts together to make up the Danke Mercedes text. 

(mirror)

Charles Leclerc

2021 Charles Leclerc Abu Dhabi GP helmet

This is another busy helmet. I started off by creating a glittery background, and there was just about enough photos for me to recreate the design, with messages of love, the prancing horse of Ferrari and his own name repeated on the top. It was a pleasant enough helmet to make and I think it looks really nice in game. 

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Lando Norris

2021 Lando Norris US GP helmet

Two Lando Norris helmets for you. This one is back from the US GP. It looks simple, but with the moon and rust backgrounds, I struggled at the time at the seams. It's not perfect still, but close enough not to notice it. I'm quite pleased with the final result and to get it done, as this was plaguing me sitting in my to do list for a while. 

2021 Lando Norris Abu Dhabi GP Helmet

I was expecting this helmet, which shines and reflects in different ways and in different colours, to be near impossible. But I found a close match to the pattern that Norris used, and I managed to quite quickly put his design together again, I managed to use some of the techniques I've learned this year to put this together. It looks great in GP4, working well with the alpha channels that adds another element to this helmet. In the end, it didn't take as long as I feared, and I'm pleased with the result. 

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George Russell

2021 George Russell Abu Dhabi GP Helmet

George Russell, in his final race with Williams, had a plain helmet, along with a new visor strip promoting the new King's Man film, where the team members were able to sign messages directly onto it. Because I did a similar task with Norris's British GP helmet earlier this year, I knew just how to go about this one. All the messages are true to the real lid, although there's a few I had to get creative on placement. The blue also twinkles a bit in the lights. Again, not as bad as I feared, again I'm pleased with the result. 

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Mick Schumacher

2021 Mick Schumacher US GP helmet

Two helmets for Mick Schumacher. Like Lando's US helmet, it was hanging over me for the last few races. I attempted to recreate it directly from photos, but there was no good picture of the right side. In the end, after much searching, I found the correct wood stained Texan flag. I also found a close match to the floral embossing. It was just then finding a good match to the rust background, there's three different layers going on there, and I managed to recreate the helmet entirely. From fearing I couldn't do it, I'm really glad I can tick this off, as it was a challenge, but I'm glad it's done and representative of the real thing. 

2021 Mick Schumacher Abu Dhabi GP helmet

Mick went all blue for the final race, with each star representing one member of the Haas staff. The placing of the stars was probably the most complicated thing about this helmet, a fairly easy recreation compared to some of the others in this batch of releases. 
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Max Verstappen

I wanted to commemorate Max's first World Championship by making up his helmet. He's driven absolutely brilliantly all year, and he's made less obvious mistakes to Lewis, and though I felt he was over aggressive at times, it doesn't take away from the achievement of beating a 7-times World Champion in probably the marginally better car, to his first World Championship. 

2021 Max Verstappen US GP Helmet

I had his template for his helmet mocked up from his previous liveries, so it wasn't too much trouble to recolour it to his regular design, and add one a few parts. In the US GP, the team ran with Acura branding instead of Honda, so that's all that's different with this helmet really. 

2021 Max Verstappen Abu Dhabi GP Helmet

Max had a thank you Honda logo put onto the back of his helmet for this weekend. He ran it in practice and qualifying, but ran his regular lid in the race. Anyway, I felt it justified it's own helmet, and as I say it's my tribute to his Championship success. 

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