FH5, Series 17, Week 4
And other news besides.
The weekly was the 1997 Honda Civic Type R. I was hoping to do all the events without having to upgrade and tune the car beyond the first time, but you had to do a Hard Charger skill. Engine swap time, which sent the car into S2 class where it doesn’t belong.
The daily was to do a drift zone in a Honda. I went for the usual one on the north-east side of the map and got my five stars in two runs.
Eventlabs (1) & (2) were once again quality products, although the touge route was a bit aimless, and in places it seemed that you could probably skip bits.
One PR stunt was that annoying Boardwalk jump. I eventually managed to PB it in the Jesko after trying the Hoonigan RS200 which bounced too much. I dislike having to utterly PB PR stunts as this one had me jumping quite a bit further than my original record. I one-shotted the drift zone.
In Fly the Coupé (Street Scene; scream!) I started with the the B700 Honda S2000 CR and restarted the first race over and over before switching to the S2000 which had the power to actually get through the drivatars. For Totally Toyota I chose the 1992 Supra which was already in C class. I didn’t have high expectations, but the car actually worked well.
I also used the Supra for the Treasure Hunt first thing.
The Horizon Promo was easy because I knew exactly where to go.
I PB’ed the HW PR stunt in the Jesko, and the Mosler GT3 seemed to be a good choice for the seasonal championship.
I also did the Trial for the first time ever. Over the past few years I’ve heard so many horror stories about it that I’ve avoided it, but the reward this week was the Honda NSX-R GT, which was one of the cars that I lost because of FH5’s appallingly unreliable save system. I predicted that the cheaters would be doing the race, and I was right because an FJ40 may be a decent off-roader, but it’s not that good. I lagged behind some of the drivatars in the first race, but in the second, got ahead of all of them. Trial done and no third race needed.
Second expansion
After the picture a couple of days ago, it was clear the second expansion was going to be some sort of ral… off-road-themed add-on. Yes, I know it’s called “Rally Adventure” but it ought to be called “Baja Adventure” (copyright issues?) I don’t mind off-roading, but I prefer dirt racing, and the new vehicles were mostly a disappointment. One rally car and some never-heard-of-you vehicles that all look the same. The map only looks pretty because it was obviously being run on a top-spec machine, but it did seem to be more of the same monotonous, arid landscape that dominates the main map.
I’m guessing that the start of the expansion will be a grind like Hot Wheels in which we’ll have to do every race and then do rivals in every race. And there are going to be a lot of races. This will also be one more thing on the Festival playlist, which is fine because it gives me extra points, but it drags out the playlist.
I like the idea of a co-driver and pace notes, but I wonder how long they’ll last before the novelty wears off and I switch them off because I no longer need Alex to say to me, “Left hand down a bit.” (In the Hot Wheels expansion, I got rid of the artificial horizon and the HW driving assist pretty much immediately.)
No map reveal as of yet, but it seems a little childish for that to have been left as a “nice” surprise; or there is a nice surprise that has not yet been revealed (but I doubt it).
Overall at this point in time, I’m fairly neutral about this. Not excited, but not completely disappointed, either. We’ll see at the end of March whether I change my mind.
Series 18 preview
This series will see the return of several of the Extreme E cars that vanished from my garage. No, I never drove most of them, but I resent their loss. The stunt park is back in the stadium, but is much a case of same actress, different-coloured hair. And as part of the Ken Block tribute, we’re getting the 1965 Hoonigan Mustang again?! Or was the reference to it being a recent gift?
The new and recycled cars don’t exactly make my pee-pee tingly, and I don’t see the point of extending the night since this is a racing game in which most events happen during the hours of daylight. If you want eternal night, you can do Street Scene; or stick a paper bag over your head and drive round the map as it’s the same thing.
There’s also a new radio station with music that I couldn’t care less about, featuring artists I’ve never heard of. More lollies for the American market?
Comments