FH5, Series 19, Week 3

Two cars to go.

It’s been a busy two-and-a-half weeks for me. Mocks have meant endless invigilating intermingled with mar­k­ing, which have been followed by the first round of speaking exams with the Year 11s. I’ve not had the en­er­gy to post anything here for a few days.

I PB’ed the Dunas jump in Sierra Nueva in my Jesko even though I wasn’t expecting to do so.

For Neon Knights, the seasonal championship in Sierra Nueva, I immediately opted for the Tankpool, which had the launch to plough through the drivatars. The biggest pain was El Bosque because it was difficult to overtake, which allowed one of the drivatars to take an unassailable lead. And what was this all for? A cap. (By this time, I had both cars, and the Aventador J.)

The weekly challenge in the Shelby Mustang GT500 was all right apart from the ultimate burnout skill which I only managed to achieve when I caught the front of the car on a step in Guanajuato and revved the car like mad. I did try the speed zone PR stunt in it, but it didn’t quite have the grip for it.

The Eventlabs were both well presented, although track toys on dirt wasn’t the greatest idea.

The PR stunts. I cracked the speed zone in the Brabham BT62. I managed to PB the danger sign after hitting the props time and time again. My approach was fine, but I had to send the car to the left to get it to land away from the obstacles. The Barranco Trail­blazer is a right pain, but I managed to dodge the trees and PB it in the Hoonigan RS200.

Buggy Nights (B700; Alumi Craft Class 1). Copper Canyon was almost painful because at least one drivatar will pester the player towards the end of the race. Costa Este was a bit touch-and-go, with me taking the lead at the last jump before entering Playa Azul.

By the time I did Home by Midnight (A800; GT cars), I had the Lexus LC500 which I specced up and raced. Not great in A class whatever its merits might be. Yes, I won all three races. I also noted that my closest threat was a drivatar in an LC500.

The treasure hunt was easy enough so long as you were in the AM Vantage and the car didn’t hit any rocks, trees or other obstacles.

The photo challenge was a bit of a pain. The buildings to look for are at the top of the volcano on the west side where the HA blimp spawns. I had to wait for the blasted thing to despawn so that I could get the picture done.

I won the Horizon Open series because in the first race my sole opponent quit, and in the second race I was racing myself. For the third race, which was round Teotihuacán, I was joined by two others. One driver was an honest fellow… Well, he honestly may not have deliberately tried to shove me out of the way. The other driver was a car exploiter who nearly DNF’ed me. Gee, thanks, you irritating little wanker.

I PB’ed the drift zone PR stunt in the Hot Wheels Theme park. Wasn’t intending to, but this was the theme of today’s PR stunts.

The seasonal up there was Warp Speed (S1 900; track toys). I opted for the Cayman GT4 (predictable), but it’s a car I like and see no reason to apologise. Besides, it did an admirable job.

And with that, I have all the cars apart from the final two. I’ve reacquired the ATS GT which leaves some­where slightly in excess of 11 cars still missing because PGG’s awful save system screwed me over. I’m hoping that the next series may restore the F8 Tributo, the AMG GT S and the Noble M600. Singer Porsche? Perhaps. Watch at least one of these be the prize for the Trial.

I have tried all the new cars from Rally Adventure and find them to be mostly more of the same. The Class 10 Alumi Craft buggy is much like the Class 1, which is a good thing, but not a compelling one. The Hoonigan Scumbug was great to drive, but not competitive and struggled to win races. I’m not a fan of trophy trucks nor the Polaris Off-road Bathtub (of which there are now three in the game; I never knew that).

I also created blueprint events for the boss races and the Goliath, switching off the helicopter which, I feel, should never have been switched on. However, every time I tried the blueprints, the game would crash when I finished the race, which further put me off Sierra Nueva. A possible fix is to restart the race (or exit and restart) since they all worked properly on the second attempt.

I thought I’d undone the other damage Rally Adventure did, viz. switching all the HW assists back on, but when I took the 911 GT3 RS 4.0 round the Goliath, the car kept sliding on the last section of magnet track and oscillating. As I said, I thought I’d switched that idiot feature off, but the Cayman also wobbled in today’s race, which sent me back to the menu where, I found, the assists had not been turned off because that can only be done from inside the expansion. Nonetheless, my settings for HW shouldn’t have been changed by Rally Adventure.

And thus I have another week of dailies to finish off with, I suspect, little serious effort put into the game. Rally Adventure has already become a place to visit once a week and a small boost to my progress through the Festival playlist.