GP4: F1 2025 Mod v1.0 (CSM)

It's here and ready - the 2025 CSM mod has just dropped. 

As with my previous 2023/24 season mods, this mod is the base mod with everything working smoothly. So it is a kind of work in progress release, designed with future add-ons in mind. 

The mods that I have released this year have been redesigned to make use of Öggos' InjectDLL and bringing new features to current season mods. Whilst the structure has many similarities to the previous seasons, it has significant changes means this is a completely new mod. 

Much of the content in this mod has been released here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/p/gp4-2025-download-sources.html

All the cars have been brought to us by the RSCT team of Excalibur and Isaint. I have modified Isaint's cars a little, mostly bug fixes to stop the flickering textures and I have repositioned some of the rear wheel hubs to be more realistic. 

I have also taken all these cars and created them for internal cockpit use. This is a new feature, and with the dashes on the wheel instead of the cockpit shape, it makes for a much easier conversion. Because these cockpits use the main texture, track specific liveries work seamlessly without any additional editing.

Also new, to go with the individual cockpits, are steering wheels for each team. They are based on the 2024 versions and both internal and external versions of these wheels are in the game. As it remains a limitation to run one steering wheel for all teams, you simply need to select a driver from the CSM menu to use that team's steering wheel. 

Thanks again to Excalibur for his excellent 3D rims, however I have amended the size of them and created lods, as in previous seasons with Carl_gpgames. 

Thanks once more to Gitanes for his work on performance files, including torque files, physics and magic data files for each track. The magic data, as in previous mods, is a little experimental, it does depend on how you install your tracks and the TSM profile name you use. I have added an option to turn the torque tweak off, this occassionaly makes cars sit in their pitbox for a good while before the mechanics start work - it is not a foolproof fix though. 

Thanks to Mailson_Teles for his lovely loading screens and to jcgrj for the 2024 engine sounds.

I will talk about the new helmets in their own dedicated post, but I'm indebted to Theofilos for creating and sharing his Real Helmets Project. So far only the Arai and Bell helmet variations have been done, a very nice upgrade from before. Thanks to Excalibur for help in the conversion. Instead of waiting for the set to be complete, I have quickly painted some Schuberth and Stilo helmets on Jvinu's shape for the time being. These temporary helmets are not as accurate as the main set. 

To get this mod released, I had to rush to put some generic items in, like high resolution team arts, plain pitcrews and engineers, not in any way accurate. There remains a generic internal visor. To get this mod released, I thought it was better to have something generic, and these can be patched later as people create them. 

As always, thanks to a good number of community members who made this mod possible - some of them long gone from modding sadly, but their work is still being used to this day. 

• Carl_gpgames - CSM structure base, Generic internal cockpit, pitprops, pitmonitor, GPxPatch graphics, background videos, music and GP4 Memory Access and coding help. 
• Öggo - Blender plugins, Car Collision editor, Individual tyres & helmets tweak, Visor colour cap, gpf editor, Injectdll, csm procss and general support and bug fixing.
• 32bobo32 - Pitcrew & Engineer Template, Director & marshal skins. Hi res menu items, no refuel animation, menu fonts, HUD. hi res menu font
• prblanco - various caps
• gplaps - DirectX 8 patch
• crosire - DirectX 9 patch
• gp4wonder / DOSOAL - Sound Hardware Acceleration
• Petrus - GPH Updater
• btone & Ruboy - Def Panel
• Duffer - LCD font editor
• Zaz  - CSM, TSM, Slimtex... and the rest of Zaz Tools
• Rene Smit  - GPxPatch
• Madman271 - GP4Tweaker
• Lo2K  - GP4 Builder
• KerleyF1 - general help, support and testing

Installation Notes

Zaz Tools & GpxPatch

As with all my mods, you will need Zaz Tools and GpxPatch installed. You will also need to install CSM Process (CSM Add-on) for this mod to work too.

Follow this guide to help you install it: Guide to installing Zaz Tools and CSMProcess

Download GPxPatch Download Zaz Tools Download CSM Add-on

2025 CSM F1 Mod

Download and install this mod from the CSM menu

Download Part 1 Download Part 2

Update v1.1

Download update v1.1

Update v1.2

Download update v1.2

Version History

v1.1 released Nov 25

v1.2 released Jan 26

Happy racing!

Non-CSM standalone version

I have released a non-CSM version for those who prefer it.

Link

GP4: F1 2024 Mod v1.0

I'm pleased to share with you the F1 2024 season mod for Grand Prix 4. 

The mod is designed to be updated as new releases come out. As we now have 9 out of the 10 cars created and released, along with standard set of helmets and wheels, there's plenty to be enjoying in this mod. 

It can be a stand alone mod and everything should work fine. However, it's designed to sit inside the 2023 mod as there is a lot of shared content. You can find the 2023 mod and a lot of the background detail here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/2024/08/gp4-f1-2023-mod.html

Much of the individual content released can be found here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/p/gp4-2024-download-sources.html

As for many seasons now, we owe a huge gratitude to the RSCT boys, namely Excalibur and Isaint, who between them, have shared their work on the current season. Whilst we wait for the Williams to be created and released, my 2023 Williams currently fills the gap. I've designed the structure of this mod so that if alternative versions of cars are released, they can be easily dropped into the mod, and a selection added to the menu. You can see an example of that here, with two versions of the Red Bull RB20 in the mod. 
Thanks again to Excalibur for updating us with new rim textures. 

This season, I've diversified my content creation, which means that I cannot give the same dedication to the special helmets, however I did push myself to release the base season pack to be released before the season got under way. I actually created Ollie Bearman's helmet at the time when he stood in for an ill Carlos Sainz, and though I never released it, it is included in this mod. If I manage to do some special helmets this season, you will find them showcased here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/p/gp4-2024-helmets.html

Thanks also to 32bobo32 for his amazing 2024 pitcrew and engineers, including the Ferrari blue variants from the Miami GP. 

Thanks to Gitanes for continuing to work on physics and performance files. At the time of writing, included are track specific performances up to, and including, the British GP. As with the 2023 mod, this comes with magic data updates, but they will only work if selected in the CSM menu, and you have the tracks with the same dat files installed (tracks available seperately, see the bottom of this post).

I've quickly filled in some areas of the mod, generic internal visors, basic internal cockpit textures, team arts and temporary loading screens and weather conditions. 

A fuller list of thanks is in the 2023 mod page above, but my thanks again must go to: 

• Carl_gpgames - thanks for the 2022 mod as a base, cockpits, pit monitors, steering wheels, pit props, collision file, GPxPatch graphics and background videos. 
• prblanco - various patches
• Mailson Teles - sounds
• Petrus - GPH updater
• Öggo - individual helmets tweak, Blender plugin, car collision editor and CAP converter
• gplaps - DirectX 8 patch
• crosire - DirectX 9 patch
• gp4wonder / DOSOAL - Sound Hardware Acceleration
• btone & Ruboy - Def Panel
• Duffer - LCD font editor
• Zaz for CSM, TSM, Slimtex... and the rest of Zaz Tools
• Rene Smit for GPxPatch
• Madman271 for GP4Tweaker
• Lo2K for GP4 Builder

Installation Notes

If you don't have Grand Prix 4, I recommend downloading this installer compiled by Carl_gpgames, available at the top of this page.  https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/p/gp4-mods.html

Install GP4, then the GP4 patch, then GpxPatch and Zaz Tools. 

I recommend whitelisting the drive if you have an anti-virus, as well as the Zaz Tools folder after installation. Also right click on CSM.exe and run in administrator mode and compatibility mode: Windows XP SP2 or SP3. 

** If you already have the 2023 mod or a previous version of the 2024 mod, skip the first download. **

• Download the base CSM mod:

CSM mod - base structure

This forms the foundational structure that will form the core of the mod for you to add the season you want on top of it. It will not work by itself, but will be the first installation you need to do in CSM. 

• Open CSM
• File | Install new carset template | select F1 2023F base mod.cuh

* note that this presents the 2023 carset in CSM, which will not work unless you download the mod as previously mentioned. If you are just interested in the 2024 mod, ignore this one on the CSM menu. 

• Download the 2024 CSM mod (v1.6 updated December 2024)

CSM update - 2024 Mod update 1
CSM update - 2024 Mod update 2 v1.3
CSM update - 2024 Mod update 3 v1.4
CSM update - 2024 Mod update 4 v1.5
CSM update - 2024 Mod update 5 v1.5
CSM update - 2024 Mod update 6 v1.6
CSM update - 2024 Mod update 7 v1.6
CSM update - 2024 Mod update 8 v1.7
CSM update - 2024 Mod update 9 v1.7
CSM update - 2024 Mod update 10 v1.7b
CSM update - 2024 Mod update 11 v1.7d

• Open CSM
• File | Install new carset template | select F1 2024 mod update 2.cuh
• File | Install new carset template | select F1 2024 mod update 3.cuh
• File | Install new carset template | select F1 2024 mod update 4.cuh
• File | Install new carset template | select F1 2024 mod update 5.cuh
• File | Install new carset template | select F1 2024_CMU24_update 6.cuh
• File | Install new carset template | select F1 2024_CMU24_update 7.cuh
• 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
• File | Install new carset template | select F1_2024_CMU24_update11_v1.7d.cmu

This mod does not currently include any tracks, you can find the latest tracks available for GP4 starting here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/p/gp4-track-downloads.html

v1.1 notes: 

https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/2024/08/gp4-f1-2024-mod-update-v11.html

v1.2 notes: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/2024/08/gp4-2023-2024-mod-v12-update.html

v1.3 notes: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/2024/09/gp4-f1-2024-v13-update.html

v1.4 notes: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/2024/10/gp4-f1-2024-v14-update.html

v1.5 notes: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/2024/11/gp4-f1-2024-v15-update.html

v1.6 notes: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/2024/12/gp4-f1-2024-mod-v16.html

v1.7 notes: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/2024/12/gp4-f1-2024-mod-v17-christmas-update.html

v1.7b notes: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/2025/01/gp4-2024-pack.html

v1.7c notes: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/2025/01/gp4-2023-v13-update-2024-mod-v17c-update.html

v1.7d notes: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/2025/02/gp4-2024-mod-v17d-update.html

GP4: F1 2023 Mod

A New Mod for GP4

I have an exciting new mod to share with you, the Formula 1 2023 season mod for CSM. 

It's taken a lot longer than usual for a current season mod to be released to the community, and I held off for a long time to concentrate on other projects. Based off the F1 2022 mod by Carl_gpgames, I've created a slightly simplified base mod and added the 2023 cars to it. 

The plan is that in the not too distant future, the 2024 mod will fit inside this same mod, and all things being well, so will all the 2025 content. That should see us through to the end of this generation of cars. 

Building a mod is a lot of work, and kudos to the many hours other great mod makers have spent on exploring all the many editable areas in GP4 and CSM. The stars of the mod, in my opinion, are the cars, along with their tyres and rims and helmets. With limited time, I wanted to concentrate my time in getting those things right, rather than spending lots of time on additional extras. If I wanted to release the perfect mod, it would never see the light of day because there is always something else to work on, or a new area in GP4 to mod. 

This mod is presented to you as a solid working foundation, upon which further updates and patches can be added to improve the overall quality. That's not to downplay the already excellent content already in this mod, we'll get there in a moment, but I plan on releasing fairly regular updates as content becomes available. 

I hope to invite the community to add to this work, through releasing their work in to the community, or submitting files to me and I can release updates at regular intervals. However, I will hold editorial rights, so I'll try and include as much community content as possible, but not everything can make it in and somethings I may have to say that's not going to be included. 

So that's the ethos behind this mod and my plans for the future, now let's see what's inside this one. 

The cars

We had a good number of cars released for the 2023 season, we were somewhat spoilt for choice. I could have included every car (like in my 2011 mod), but in the end, I went with cars that were the most easily changeable to add livery changes. I want to thank Fábio Rosa from the F1C community for his permission to use some compatible parts, meaning there are car liveries that are exclusive to this mod and not previously released. 

Here's a list of the cars included, along with new skins highlighted:

• Alfa Romeo C43 by Excalibur with Las Vegas rims by 

  Fábio Rosa and fongu
• Alpha Tauri AT04 by fongu, with Las Vegas livery adapted from Fábio Rosa
• Alpine A523 by Excalibur, with additional liveries and rims by Fábio Rosa and fongu
• Aston Martin AMR23 by fongu, with new early season livery added by fongu
• Ferrari SF-23 by fongu, with Monaco & Spanish GP liveries added by fongu
• Haas VF-23 by fongu & Excalibur, with additional liveries by Fábio Rosa and fongu
• McLaren MCL60 by Excalibur, with Las Vegas livery by LittleOnion and fongu
• Mercedes F1 W14 by Excalibur, with Bahrain livery by fongu & excalibur
• Red Bull RB19 (hi res version) by Isaint, with additional liveries and rims by Fábio Rosa and fongu
• Williams FW45 by fongu, with Las Vegas livery by Fábio Rosa and fongu

I spent a lot of time on the 2023 cars. Pretty much every race is different, whether its helmets, or tyre covers, or special liveries, or major sponsorship changes. Sure, not every little change is included, and one or two liveries are yet to be created, but you can enjoy spotting the changes from race to race. 

Helmets

All the helmets that I created, along with timtoffee, are included in this mod. There's a dedicated page on this site to all the helmets here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/p/gp4-2023-helmets.html

Thanks again to Jvinu for his helmet shapes and templates. 

Tyres & Rims

Thanks to Excalibur for creating the 3D Tyres and Rims pack for the season. There were a couple of track specific rim liveries that have been added to this mod by Fábio Rosa and myself. In the 2022 mod, Carl_gpgames and I had resized the tyre width and I did the same again for this mod. 

Special Thanks

Carl_gpgames - I wanted to thank Carl for creating 3 amazing seasons worth of mods and allowing me to carry over a lot of his dedicated hard work into this mod. His pit monitor, internal cockpit, internal and external steering wheels, pit props, collision file, GPxPatch graphics and background videos are all included in this latest mod. I've also included some nostalgic items from previous Geoff Crammond Grand Prix games, thanks to Carl for sharing these. 

32BOBO32 - I also want to thank Samuele for his incredible marshalls, race directors, pit crew and engineers. Sadly, the 2023 set is not completed (even though the 2024 one is), and so this mod is mostly made up of his 2022 and 2024 work. I've also included his high resolution menu items, his no-refueling animation work, menu fonts and the HUD that is in this mod. 

Gitanes - I've decided to go with Gitanes performance files, physics files and torque, rather than following the F1 2022 path. This is simply a time saving decision on my part, but Gitanes has been doing great work in this area of the game for many years.  

prblanco - whilst his work on tracks as part of the F1Virtual group is legendary, he's also done a lot of background work on some of the patches, as well as the performance calculator that Gitanes used. 

Mailson Teles - I have included his Aston Martin Sounds in this mod, as they are best suited to the physics that I have chosen to use. 

rracunis - I have included his internal visors, and McLaren external visors on my helmets. 

Augustogibim - Thanks for the inclusion of his loading screens, driver team arts and grid cars. 

Petrus - Thanks for the GPH Updater which enables high resolution menu items in game. 

Öggo - Thanks for the individual helmets tweak, as well as tools that have transformed how we make mods and content, with the Blender plugin, Car Collision editor and CAP converter. 

Also let's not forget these credits: 

• gplaps - DirectX 8 patch
• crosire - DirectX 9 patch
• gp4wonder / DOSOAL - Sound Hardware Acceleration
• btone & Ruboy - Def Panel
• Duffer - LCD font editor
• Zaz for CSM, TSM, Slimtex... and the rest of Zaz Tools
• Rene Smit for GPxPatch
• Madman271 for GP4Tweaker
• Lo2K for GP4 Builder

Features

If you have played any of my other mods, 1994 v4.2 or IMSA vs WEC, or even the 2022 mod by Carl_gpgames, then you will see a lot of familiar elements in the CSM menu. In many ways, this is one of the more basic mods. 

I've stuck with the traditional load one track specification at a time, in part just to save myself some modding time and get this mod released. 

I've included the Magic Data files by Gitanes as the final option. It's dependent on you having the same tracks as Gitanes made the data set for. Feel free to turn this option off or on for the best results in your game. 

Installation Notes

I assume you already have a patched Grand Prix 4 installed, with GPxPatch and Zaz Tools. If not, have a look at this handy installer at the top of this page: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/p/gp4-mods.html

1. Download the base CSM mod:

CSM mod - base structure

  

This forms the foundational structure that will form the core of the mod for you to add the season you want on top of it. It will not work by itself, but will be the first installation you need to do in CSM. 

• Open CSM
• File | Install new carset template | select F1 2023F base mod.cuh

2. Download all of these 2023 CSM mod update files. 

CSM update - 2023 mod part 1
CSM update - 2023 mod part 2
CSM update - 2023 mod part 3  (v1.4 released February 2025)
CSM update - 2023 mod part 4  (v1.4 released February 2025)
CSM update - 2023 mod part 5  (v1.4 released February 2025)

Install these the same way as you installed the CSM mod. 

This mod does not currently include any tracks, you can find the latest tracks available for GP4 starting here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/p/gp4-track-downloads.html

Time Trial League - 2022 Pre-season Test Report @Fiorano

Welcome to Fiorano in sunny Italy, host of the pre-season test for the 2022 Time Trial League. 

We're using the 2015 release of Fiorano for GP4, beautifully created by the F1Virtual team. 

We have seven participants at this test session, with nine in total having signed up for the season so far. Newcomers, JCaranti and Hinyaldee joined the action alongside returnees, Gildoorf, Prblanco, 32bobo32, Carl_Gpgames and me, Fongu. Check out the link to the league on the menu bar at the top for more entrants. 

The Fiorano track is a tricky little track. You start off with the longest straight on the course, and you break heavily into turn 1, but it opens up on the exit allowing you to pick up speed for the fast S bends, not quite flat out so quite challenging. Then you are back on the brakes in a turn for the tight turn 4, which leads you up hill, over the start/finish straight in this figure of 8 configuration. There's lots of room on the exit kerb. Turn 5 is another tight right hander, that leads you downhill into the tightest hairpin, it's difficult to get the car slowed down. Flat out, with a slight feather in turn 7 before a long sweeping turn 8 that leads you back to the finish line. A fairly short lap, but lots of different kinds of corners, as you'd expect from a dedicated test track. 

Rule Changes

New season means a tweak to the rules. Instead of finishing a lap with 1 lap of fuel remaining this was switched to starting the lap with at least 2 laps of fuel onboard. This sounds a minor change, but it caught out 32bobo32 who started his fastest lap with 1.9 laps of fuel. Thankfully it didn't affect his position, and this is only testing after all. 

There's also a change in the track limit rules this year, with the white lines all around the track defining the boundaries, as it should. Last season the boundaries included kerbs, so this will be quite a shift (certainly in my approach on the wheel). The main test in Fiorano for this is on the exit of turn 7, where there's plenty of kerb to run wide on, but now you have to keep at least one wheel on the white line. 

Setups

For the first time, we have access to everyone's set up data, thanks for Prblanco for compiling and sharing the data. These are the setups used on the fastest, submitted laps. 

We can see there's a fairly equal spread of inputs, with the four 'switched' drivers using the keyboard, whilst the analog drivers are all on wheels. 32bobo32 did do a few laps on the wheel, but still needs more practice as he couldn't match his pace on the keyboard. 

FW/RW are the wing levels, the majority of us running more front wing than rear, with Hinyaldee being the only exception. Gildoorf is running the lowest downforce settings, whilst I'm running the most wing, as I explained above. 

RB/FB are the brake balance settings, are you can see how much further rearward Gildoorf and my setups are. Carl_gpgames is running brakes extremely near the front. 

1G-7G are the gear ratios. Everyone is running seven gears, and the seventh gear ratio is really based on how much rear wing you're running. For me, I went for quite small differences in the lower gear ratio range, as I say, I felt this helped me out of the slower corners (whether it actually transpires that way or not I'm not sure!). 

The top speed is at the end of the start/finish straight, with Gildoorf having a good advantage on that front, with Carl_gpgames and myself some 7 kph slower. 

Fongu's notebook

For me personally, being pre-season, I was looking to shake off the cobwebs and just enjoy driving again. I was on the a keyboard, thinking a mid-downforce setup with a good balance would be a good mix between the high speed corners and the low speed ones. I also tried a very rear-ward brake balance as Gildoorf used to good effect last season to help with those pesky slower corners. I was happy to set a lap under 1 minute with that set up, as I found the limits of the car, learned good lines, good braking points, trying different techniques at different corners. I also experimented a bit with my gear ratios, helping me accelerate quickly out of the slow bends, and that gained me a few tenths. As I discovered last season, I can't simply translate my setup on the keyboard straight to a wheel, so I was interested to see Jcaranti trying out my setup on his early runs. I then went pretty much full downforce, I wanted extra braking and grip in the tight corners, and more speed through the higher speed ones. For me, this gave me much more confidence around the corners and I found around half a second. Overall I was happy to concentrate a bit of time on setup work and understanding how that affects my driving, and ultimately pace on track. 

Results

There was an air of excitement at Fiorano, looking to see if there was any change in the pecking order, trying to catch a glimpse of the new cars and new helmets. But as always with testing, there are those struggling to get run time, whilst others were pounding around fine tuning their cars. It's difficult to know whether the times are truely representative of the competitive order or not, or whether some teams were sandbagging. We'll only truly know when we get to the first competitive round. 

Purple times are fastest of anyone. 

Green times are personal best times. 

For those who uploaded more than one lap, the yellow times means that there was a faster sector time in one of the other laps that were slower overall. 

Quickest in all sectors is Jcaranti, who sets a blistering pace on a wheel, over half a second from the rest of the field. This is surely a warning shot to the rest of the field for the start of the season proper. Congratulations to Jcaranti.

I'm pleased to get a time in the 58's on the keyboard - I wanted to use the test session to understand set up a bit more, and maximising it for my driving style. 

Gildoorf sets the third fastest time, struggling a bit with the final sector. Prblanco, on the wheel, is just slightly behind his fellow compatriot, with only the top four able to set a sub 1 minute lap time. 

32bobo32 was also in the 59.7s with his disqualified lap, but he'll be pleased with with his 1:00.00 lap time. 

Hinyaldee ran with no driver aids on the keyboard (you can't turn off steering aid on the keyboard easily (though it is possible in GP4Tweaker)), a brave decision but a lot of his time was spent controlling the car. Spectacular indeed, but unfortunately not particularly quick. 

Carl_gpgames was able to set a time on the wheel, but with a lack of on track running time is confined to the back of the field. 

Reactions

Prblanco: "Congratulations @JCaranti for the win and the three best sector times!"

Jorge: "Massive admiration to @Fongu understanding his control of driving. Many of the tracks i havent raced nor tested in years and others are brand new to me like Saudi Arabia. Thank you very much for everything."

Fongu: "Congrats @Jcaranti on your impressive preseason pace. I look forward to future duels ad the season commences." 

Hinyaldee: "I need to up my game!"

Prblanco was able to offer some helpful advice to Hinyaldee's interesting driving technique...

Prblanco: "Two things seemed very unusual to me about your laps, first is that you drive without F7 Traction Control with a non-analog control scheme, which seems very difficult to control; second is that you use more rear wing than front wing, which induces understeer. Maybe try playing around with these?"

It's good to see the banter remains strong going into the new season... 

32bobo32: "Why am i fast in S3 😂😂😂?"

Fongu: "New season, new rules, new @32bobo32 habits 🤣!"

Gildoorf: "Amazing S3 @32bobo32, wish I could be that fast, I simply had no idea how to draw the best line at last turn. Rear brake bias make the car bounce so agressively to the left"

We hope Duffer will return, we haven't seen him since the middle of 2021

Duffer: "For me the motor isn't in the car yet 😀"

Personally I was just happy to get a clean lap in, but watching the replay back, it just seems like a leisurely Sunday drive, not really braving the limits, just smooth and serene. It certainly didnt' feel like when I was setting the time, as 32bobo32 shares the same sentiment:

32bobo32: "Very smooth drive! All replays give me a smooth drive feeling, It seems so easy to reach the time... When in cockpit the feeling is the opposite 😂"

Testing Photography

With no official TV available during the test, some car liveries remain a mystery. However there was some leaked images from the test that I can present to you.

Carl_gpgames running a message of support for Ukrainians

Fongu in his new car on his way to the second fastest time

This is reported in Autosprint magazine as a possible picture taken inside PinnaGP factory 🤔

We look forward to the new season starting up in a few weeks time. It's certainly whetted the appetite of some of the competitors. There's still time to sign up if you're interested, full details are available on the GrandPrixGames forum thread: https://www.grandprixgames.org

F1Virtual & Friends Time Trial League 2021 End of Season Awards

As we look forward to a new season of the Time Trial League, I wanted to reflect on the 2021 season. 

In case you missed it, here's a reminder of all the rounds of the 2021 season. fongugp4.blogspot.com

I polled the participants, 

Best track of the year

32bobo32: Sochi... pure delight for eyes!

Gildoorf: Zandvoort. I used to hate this circuit until @Paulo Blanco releases his fabulous version.

Kerley: The best circuit to enjoy racing was Interlagos (my home circuit). But I have two mentions: First Sochi. Great work of the F1 Virtual team! Best non-original GP4 circuit to drive, without a doubt. Second was Portimão. I know it's in the distant beginning of 2021, but I believe it was on this circuit that I learned the most from the tips and encouragement of other drivers and I felt like part of a real race grid.

Prblanco: Silverstone, even without graphics it was the most enjoyable track for me to drive on, the layout is just pure goodness

Fongu: Portimao, a fantastically reproduced track and great fun to drive, lots of different line available on keyboard an wheels, I really enjoyed that round. 

The winner is, based on most mentions is: 

Sochi (by F1virtual)

There are many splendid tracks available for GP4, but the latest from F1Virtual raises the standard once again for track building, a deserved winner. 

Time Trial League - Rd22 - Yas Marina

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. 🙂 🍾🍾🍾

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 😆" 

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.