Time Trial League - Rd3 - Portimao

Round 3 of the GP4 F1 Virtual and friends Hot Lap league is at the beautiful and faithfully recreated Portimao track in the Algarve in Portugal by F1 Virtual. 

A simply explanation of the rules is that we all start with 10 laps of fuel in a free practice session, with only 1 car on track, and only basic setup changes allowed (wing levels, gear ratios and brake balance). All the rest of the settings are 'out the box' GP4 settings. There is also strict track limits enforced, driving within the white lines, though kerbs are allowed, you must keep at least one wheel on track at all times. 

The track, as well as undulating, has a great flow, a nice collection of corners, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time pounding round on both keyboard and steering wheel. On this track, more than many other GP4 tracks, I felt I could explore different lines even on the keyboard to try and get good times. There's always a complaint that GP4 on the keyboard feels a bit too much it was on rails, but here you could manipulate that line at various parts of the track a bit more. There's lots of freedom on this fairly wide track on the wheel too. 

My approach to hot lapping

I did just over 100 laps around here, around 60 on the keyboard and slightly less on the wheel. The first thing is to decide on a setup. On the keyboard, my personal experience found the higher the downforce setting the better, though I ran with around 17 level wings, I probably should have gone higher. I could make gains with a low downforce setting in sector 1 and 3, but I couldn't make it work around sector 2. On the wheel, I could run less downforce, but I ran out of time experimenting. I was using around 15 level of wing downforce, though I was getting good sector times with around level 12 setting, I just ran out of time putting the whole lap together. To be honest, I'm pretty bad at setting up a car, I'd rather just get in and drive with what I have, so the basic setup changes suits me quite well, otherwise I'd have to hire an engineer! 

My best time on the keyboard was 1.21.970 - though I think I could beat that if I spent all my time using the keyboard, and using more wing. 

The best time on the wheel in the end was 1.21.302 - again there is more time there, especially with more time playing with less wing. 

I found turn 1 quite a challenge, on the keyboard, you have to try and not go too fast so that you can make the corner but you want the momentum into turns 2 and 3. On the wheel, I was quite cautious in the end. 

In turn 4 on the keyboard, in order to get around it full throttle, I had to initiate a slight slide and drift my way around it without losing too much acceleration/time. 

I found on the wheel, you would lost a bit of braking performance if you were on the kerbs whilst hitting the brakes. 

Turns 10/11 offered different lines, on the keyboard, I kept quite tight on entry to get me around the corner, but on the wheel I had a wide entry, which lost time on the way in, but I could straighten the car and get so much more speed on exit and gain lots of time with that line. 

Turn 14 was also difficult, trying to ease off the steering lock as quickly as possible to gain as much speed to the finish line as you can - the higher downforce settings really benefiting here. 

So, that's my highlights and tips, let's see how I get on against my rivals. 

Standings after Round 2

1. 20pts - Fongu
2. 12pts - Gildoorf
3. 08pts - 32bobo32
4. 05pts - Carl_gpgames
5. 03pts - Prblanco
6. 02pts - Duffer
7. 02pts - Kerleyf1

The Video

The video contains my wheel lap, which is the much quicker one. I'm not confident enough to run with traction control off yet, so I have auto-gears, traction control, but no steering help or other driver aids. 

Thanks again to Carl_gpgames who has put together the video again. Apologies I don't have the time to do screenshots, but I'll try and time-stamp interesting points. It's worth noting that only Carl and I have submitted laps on the steering wheel, whilst the others are racing on keyboards. 

0:12 - The quickest at the end of the straight is Prblanco at around 323kph, followed by me and Duffer at 319kph. It means the others are running more downforce. Kerley and I are using the kerb on the left to widen the first turn, you can carry more speed with less turning angle, maximising the aero and tyre grip. 

0:14 - Top speed might allow you to enter the first corner before anyone else, but Gildoorf is carrying nearly 10kph more than anyone else through turn 1. He's got the highest downforce settings and the most bravery out of the lot of us. 

0:17 - Using the brake markers as a reference, it's me and Duffer leading the way into the braking zone for the hairpin. 

I found on the keyboard in GP4, it's a really unnatural way of driving, but you are putting steering lock in as you are on the brakes, so that when you come off the brakes, the CC-line slingshots you around the turn. You can see that no-one has a straight steering wheel in the braking zone, and I carry that technique over onto the wheel, a habit I can't shake just yet. 

Another thing to note with braking technique is that you want to be hard on the brakes, but you want to ease off the brakes when you turn in and stop/reduce any brake locking. You can see Carl only has his brake pedal half way down for a fair amount of the braking zone, whilst the keyboard drivers are pumping their brake buttons to simulate the same effect. Kerley is the only one who isn't doing this yet, and you can see how Kerley misses the apex. Carl does too, I think he could have stayed harder on the brakes for a tiny bit longer. 

0:23 - Under the shadow of the bridge before the left hander, and it's Kerley in the lead, me in 2nd, 32bobo32 in third and it's too tight to call between Duffer and Prblanco. Look how close I am to overshooting the exit kerb, though I carry the most speed out of turn 4. 

0:30 - Sector 1 times are in and it's super tight:

1. 22.857 - Fongu
2. 23.055 - Duffer
3. 23.064 - 32bobo32
4. 23.077 - Prblanco
5. 23.127 - Carl_gpgames
6. 23.131 - Gildoorf
7. 23.344 - KerleyF1

0:34 - Gildoorf and Kerley are the ones to be a little wide and miss the apex of the corner this time. I use all my steering lock to really nail a tight line through that hairpin and using all the kerb on the exit. 

0.42 - A slight tap on the brakes/lift off through turn 7, a slight pump on the gas before lining up to brake into turn 8. Using the white line on the left, and I have quite a lead, with Gildoorf now in second, and 32bobo32 just a nose cone ahead of Duffer. It's really important to maintain good speed and get a good exit from turn 8, so for me, hitting the apex is not that important here. Over the crest and you lose a moment of acceleration. 

0:54 - Let's compare the different lines into turns 10 and 11. As I said above, I stay to the left and keeping as straight a line as I can on the brakes, get all my turning done fast, and then straighten up through turn 11 getting lots of speed out. 32bobo32 tries a similar line on the keyboard to me. Gildoorf  stays right.and lets the CCline work for you and pull you into the apex, something I did on my keyboard version of the lap. It's a shorter distance, and Gildoorf briefly leads into turn 11, and the others close in on me, but I'm playing the long game here. 

1:01 - Through the second sector split just after the turn and it's Gildoorf who is ahead, setting by far the best middle sector of anyone, again making the most of his high downforce setup and that line through turns 10 and 11. But notice that I am about 10kph faster than him and reeling him in quickly. All the others set almost identical 2nd sector times. Here are the 2nd sector times (not overall order)

1. 31.172 - Gildoorf
2. 31.331 - Fongu
3. 31.561 - Duffer
4. 31.595 - 32bobo32
5. 31.605 - Prblanco
6. 31.622 - Carl_gpgames
7. 31.653 - KerleyF1

1:03 - The braking for the hairpin for turn 13 is kind of blind, there's no real reference other than two white lines to the right of the track. The running order is me retaking the lead from Gildoorf, with Duffer, 32bobo32 and Prblanco too close to call in our tow and Carl and Kerley not too far behind them. Kerley runs really wide around the hairpin as he locks his brakes and slides wide, he needs to brake a tiny bit earlier and pump the brakes on corner entry. 

1:16 - On my warm-up laps, I was running wide out of this turn, using all the run off on the outside of the track to get maximum acceleration to start off my lap, but I had to keep it within track limits for the hotlap. Using the exit kerb as a reference, I am out of turn 14 first followed by Gildoorf, 32bobo32, Duffer, Carl, Prblanco and Kerley. I found the amount of wing you ran made a massive difference around this turn, as you carry more speed for longer, even if you don't get the headline top speed at the end of the straight. 

1:26 - Just a drag race to the finish line, I'm taking a bit of cheeky inside kerb around turn 15, and I only just have the highest top speed at the finish line, with Carl, Prblanco and Duffer within a few kph. I set the pace for the final sector, with Gildoorf and Carl a couple of tenths behind, and the rest again too close to call. 

The final times are really close, especially comparing the gaps in performance from previous rounds, this was very competitive event. I win my third round in a row, and as is becoming standard now, my keyboard time would have put me behind Gildoorf, but just ahead of the rest of the pack. The full lap times are:

1. 1:21.302 - Fongu
2. 1:21.672 - Gildoorf
3. 1:22.051 - Duffer
4. 1:22.126 - Carl_gpgames
5. 1:22.188 - 32bobo32
6. 1:22.280 - Prblanco
7. 1:22.546 - KerleyF1

It's a familiar top two, but it's Duffer who just takes the final podium slot with very strong sector times.  Carl is also improving with an impressive 4th placed finish, in part thanks to a monster final sector. 32bobo32 puts in another solid drive, but slides down to 5th, and Prblanco is nipping at his heels just a tenth behind. Kerley has also really improved, and if he can learn the braking technique, it will help him hit his apexes, and he too will be right in the mix. Great job guys. 

Standings after Round 3

The points scoring system is the one used in the 90s' and early 00's awarding points for the top 6 (10,6,4,3,2,1). It does mean winning gives you a massive advantage, so after 3 rounds, I've earned enough points for a rest if I want it! But seriously, I am starting to get busy with real life again, so I may not be able to submit a lap at all events, whilst I may only have time to put in a keyboard lap at others, we'll see. I'm just glad to be taking part, I'm glad to enjoy driving GP4 and to me, it's just a bonus to be at the right end of the championship. 

1. 30pts - Fongu
2. 18pts - Gildoorf
3. 10pts - 32bobo32
4. 08pts - Carl_gpgames
5. 06pts - Duffer
6. 04pts - Prblanco
7. 02pts - KerleyF1

We only have a week to prepare for the next round at Barcelona. We will be using the F1 Virtual track released back in 2013, which is based on the 2011 season. 

GP4: Charles Leclerc 2021 Portuguese GP Helmet

I was thinking about doing Charles Leclerc's Emilia Romagnia GP helmet, but I was a little put off because I didn't quite have enough angles in photos that I need to recreate the graffiti style writing. Well as I was looking, I saw that he had a new design for the Portuguese GP which is quite a lot simpler, so I thought I would start with that and I may come back to the Emilia Romagna helmet at a later date.

It's a very clean design, using the colours of the flag of Monaco. I think some helmets these days suffer from being a bit too complicated. Being a kid of the 1990s I always enjoyed the distinctive helmets and being able to doodle them quite quickly. It's not quite the case these days. 

It's nice that Charles still carries tributes to Jules Bianchi and his father, but I'm not so sure what Pastor is for on the visor, I've seen rumours its in honour of Pastor Maldonado, but if anyone knows, please leave a comment! 

I'm taking a risk here in releasing this before the actual Grand Prix, knowing my luck, something will happen and he won't wear it. 

As always, my thanks goes to Jvinu for his Bell helmet shape and his template. 

Download | (mirror link)

GP4: George Russell Helmet - 2021 'Galaxy' Bahrain GP

The final track specific helmet from the 2021 Bahrain GP is  George Russell's 'galaxy' helmet. 

My thanks goes once more to Jvinu and his excellent Bell helmet shape and template. And again I based the contours off Jsoria's excellent version of Russell's standard helmet. 

For this race, the blue is replaced with a galaxy style image, which bears more reflection than the red parts. The trim is now a sparkly yellow/gold as opposed to the normal white colour. I'm quite pleased with how this turned out. Again, this has been created specifically for GP4, particularly the alpha (reflection) layer, though it is compatible with non-winged versions in other games. 

Download | (mirror link)

GP4: Lewis Hamilton Helmet - 2021 Bahrain GP

 Here's another race specific helmet, it's Lewis Hamilton's race winning Bahrain GP helmet.

The helmet is once again painted on Jvinu's Bell helmet, using his template. I also loosely based the contours off Jsoria's 2021 helmet too, so thanks to both of these great artists. 

The motivation for this was the sparkling white/silver parts, once again playing with alpha channels to maximise that effect in GP4. Also the helmet Lewis used had a more bluish purple than his regular helmet, and that also has some sparkle effect in. 

Download | (mirror link)

I will get back to car modding soon. 

GP4: Antonio Giovinazzi Helmet - 2021 Emilia Romagna GP

Sorry there's not much from me lately, I've been having some issues with various wireless mice dying on me lately on my laptop so I've not been able to do much modding as I had hoped. But I did manage to throw this together, it's Antonio Giovinazzi's helmet he wore for the 2021 Emilia Romagna (Made in Italy) GP. 

I didn't realise until I started painting the top of the lid that I realised it's got three cars racing along, so the second version was very much making them look like cars when viewed from the top. Thankfully most the stripes are the same on both sides of the helmet, albeit different colours. 

I also realised I haven't been using the templates created by Jvinu which went along with his shapes, this painted on the Bell helmet, so my thanks goes out to this enduring work. 

Anyway, I hope you like it.

Download link | mirror link

Time Trial League - Rd 2 - Imola

We're at Round 2 of the F1 Virtual and friends Hot Lap league, hopefully following the F1 2021 calendar. 

At the end of round 1, the standings are: 

1. Fongu
2. Gildoorf
3. 32bobo32
4. Prblanco
5. Carl_gpgames
6. Kerleyf1

For Round 2, we welcome Duffer to the Emilia Romagna GP at Imola. 

In terms of layout, there was a track released back in 2011 by KTC, but it did not have the revised Variante Alta chicane. A couple of us started doing some hotlaps, with the cc-line hampering the progress of those on a keyboard. I did some comparative laps on keyboard and using a steering wheel, and the difference was a couple of seconds. All credit to Prblanco for quickly creating a more accurate layout with a cc-line that is very similar to the original GP4 version. Immediately, the laptimes between the wheel and the keyboard got quite close, with me finding around half a second advantage on the wheel. 

I'll be referring to corner names rather than turn numbers. Just for comparison, I set a lap on the keyboard of 1.21.3 I can't remember exactly, as the save file was lost. On the wheel I set a lap time of 1.20.782. The advantage comes in Tosa, Variante Alta and to a degree Rivazza too, where on a wheel, you can put more steering lock and control your line a bit better. I've not used a steering wheel for very long, so there is no subtly on my throttle control, it's really just full power or full brake, I may as well be using buttons. So I would love to be running without traction control and manual gears, but I haven't learned how to get the speed out of that yet, so for me, I'm still running with those two driver aids on (as I would do on the keyboard). 

The times were close. Last time around, it was close at the front, with Gildoorf leading out of the final corner but was out dragged to the line with my low downforce setting. Yes, my friend, I will mention at every opportunity! 😂. 32bobo32 was also very close, so we'll see if the form will carry on onto Imola. Thanks to Carl_gpgames for putting together this video, another great job, and it's great to analyse our driving styles.

Let's watch the lap together and try and break down the key moments. 

Well, it's across the line and away we go and it's clear those who are running a lower downforce setup, with 32bobo32 hitting around 325kph just before the braking point, Carl hitting 320, and the rest around 315. Actually Gildoorf is way down with 309kph. 

Into the Tamburello chicane, and my aim was to use as much kerb in turn 1, and not use much kerb in turn 2. That's because as you're accelerating whilst turning right, it can make the rear end snap. The rules of our hotlaps is only simple setup changes, so no suspension changes allowed to try manage it.

So you can see, I don't take much kerb at all, whilst Gildoorf and 32bobo32 use it liberally. Coming out of turn 3, and you can see that I carry the most speed out, but 32bobo32 maintains his advantage, with Gildoorf also in the mix. Not too far behind, Carl and Kerley are neck and neck and Duffer and Prblanco are close together too. 

Coming into the tricky Villeneuve chicane, and it's Carl and Kerley with great top end speed. Gildoorf, Kerley and Duffer carry the most speed at the apex of the right hander - the field is tight together. Coming into hairpin at Tosa and the first sector split, 32bobo32 maintains his advantage from me, Gildoorf and Duffer slightly behind, Carl and Kerley within touching distance, but Prblanco a little behind at this stage of the lap. 

Into Tosa, and you want to brake late, but it's slightly uphill, so you're you don't want to brake too hard. You want to carry as much speed on the exit as you can. Notice the steering lock on of Carl and I using our the steering wheels. It will scrub off speed, but you can use it to your advantage. Notice as we come out of Tosa, how I gently ease off the steering lock, trying to maximise my acceleration out of the corner, compared to Carl, whose closed in on the frontrunners in the turn, but he releases his steering a bit more aggressively. Coming into Piratella, and 32bobo32 and gildoorf are neck and neck, with me slightly further behind now and Carl in my imaginary slipstream. 

Piratella, a high speed left hander which is downhill and opens up nicely on the exit. I managed to carry a lot of speed out of that, and close myself up into Acque Minerali. Here, you've got to be brave and not brake into the first part, but not outbreak yourself into the second right hander. It's 32bobo32 who blinks first on the brakes, with his lower downforce setting, and Gildoorf and myself both taking the the lead off him. Look at the speed difference between the top three as they head over the crest. Duffer, Kerley, and Prblanco also nail Acque Minerali well. 

Into the new Variante Alta, and there's no exit kerb like there is on the 2021 track, so you have to be careful on the exit. In the 2001 track on the game, you could throw it over the kerbs and straighten out on the exit kerb, but on this version you have to be super accurate to get around there quickly and get a good exit. Sector 2 times are in and its oh so close! I take the lead, by a slender 0.02 seconds from Gilfoorf, 32bobo32 just behind. Karl is ahead of Duffer by 2 tenths, who is ahead of Kerley by 2 tenths, who is ahead of Prblanco by a little over 2 tenths. 

Only Rivazza and some straights to go. I'm first heading into the first left hander, but I actually out braked myself and I'm carrying too much speed in. Look at me putting maximum steering lock on, like a pilot trying to pull up on his joystick. Gildoorf takes advantage and nips into the lead with one corner to go. 32bobo32 is a little scruffy in Rivazza but Carl also nails the two left handers. 

However, I've managed to carry more speed out of the first part of Rivazza and carry that through the second left hander, and I sneek back in front coming out the final turn. Just a relatively short blast to the finish line now, and Gildoorf is lacking in top end speed, allowing 32bobo32 and Carl to close in. Over the line and the results are in:

Once again, it was decided at the final turn, and I managed to eek out 2 tenths to the finish line. But Gildoorf did a truly astounding time on the keyboard, as I said above, I couldn't get near that kind of time on the keyboard in my attempts. Still, my keyboard time would have been good enough for second, but look how close it was at the end between 32bobo32 and Carl. It was an impressive first half of the lap, but maybe it was the higher downforce cars that made the difference overall in the second half of the track. Carl did a great time, a very clean lap compared to his Bahrain effort, making up 3 tenths on 32bobo32 in the final sector. He will be a contender on tracks to come. Again, towards the final group of cars, it's close between debutante Duffer, who just edges out Kerley, who also improved his skills compared to Bahrain, and Prblanco closing in on those two at the end. But then, he did create the changes to this track, so I'm sure that means something... just not points. 

The points system is classic 1990s, with points awarded for the top 6. The nature of the scoring system means the difference between winning and second is huge in terms of points, even if the lap times are incredibly close. The top 3 are the same top 3 as Bahrain, so no changes there, but Carl moves up into 4th with a great performance at Imola. Duffer earns his first points, and Kerley also adds to his tally. 

1. 20pts - Fongu
2. 12pts - Gildoorf
3. 08pts - 32bobo32
4. 05pts - Carl_gpgames
5. 03pts - Prblanco
6. 02pts - Duffer
7. 02pts - KerleyF1

Over to the Algarve for the third round of this little league, I'm really looking forward to spending lots of time at the great F1Virtual track.