You cannot play the game straight after installing it on Win 7 or higher, you have to do this dance (from my notes):
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1. Make a FULL install of the game. Do not install in \Program Files (x86), e.g. install in a folder C:\Games...
2. Install the Patch 9.6.
3. Replace GP4.exe with the Decrypted GP4.exe 1.02.
4. Install the latest GpxPatch.
5. Set both GPxPatch.exe and GP4.exe in Windows Compatibility Mode for XP SP2 and set 'Run as Admnin'.
6. Start GP4.exe with GPxPatch.
7. The game asks to calibrate grafics and sound. Accept. After the process go in the Options > Advanced Grafics.
8. Set resolution to the highest compatible with your system and set everything to Max value, don't change Bump.
9.
Run 'Test' and check if the FPS bar is at maximum (60 FPS) after the test, if no, then repeat Test. Once the the FPS bar is at max, then set it manually to 30 FPS. Click OK to apply the changes and quit grafic options. Quit GP4 by accepting 'save the changes'.
10.
Open the file f1graphics.cfg in the main GP4 folder and change the following settings:
1 ; f1graphics.cfg controls all settings (default 0) note:- make this 1
1920 ; [RELEASE] Game 3D Horizontal Resolution
1080 ; [RELEASE] Game 3D Vertical Resolution
You can now play the game with a resolution of 1920x1080 with best grafics at 30 FPS.
After these 10 steps you are ready to simply play the standard game by starting the GP4.exe with no extra mods or changes, or you start it within GPxPatch which will apply all changes and improvements made by GPxPatch.
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If you want to skip all this, try to install in VMWare and Windows XP...
XenonS