FH5, Barbie cars

So much for the Barbie cars. “Have a couple of Barbie cars,” says PGG at random one day. I had thought we might have to do some themed Eventlab event, but the cars are gifts to remind Horizon-5-playing parents to take their target demographic children to see the film. “Barbie is much better than your stupid car game.” How so? “Because dressing up is a core game play mechanic with Barbie.”

I drove round in the battery-powered Corvette for a bit. Ticked that box. (Later. I watched AR12 Nick’s video on YouTube about the car, which gains next to nothing from being upgraded; it’s a bit like cosmetic upgrades in the game, the wings and spoilers that can’t be tuned, but which you’d add if you were a photographer, but have no point in races.)

I took the Hummer EV (the Barbie one) up the volcano after tuning it. 318kmh, it claimed. I got about 100m from the danger sign that faces the main Horizon Festival site and the Hummer ground to a halt. I had to crab my way to the top so that I could do the Titan.

And off I went. It immediately became clear that the stock GMC Hummer EV is a chunky, slidey boy. At the bottom of the volcano, I can normally take the turn towards the river flat at a decent speed and not have to worry about the treeline on the right-hand side. Not in the Hummer EV. In spite of tuning pushing the theoretical top speed to 318kmh, it lumbered across the route apart from the final jump where it just kept going.

Anyway, I saw that the next daily is that trailblazer, La Marimba or whatever it’s called. I know roughly how to do it, but thought it’d be a good idea to review the route. But even without trying, the Hummer managed to PB it by a smidge because of the path that I took.

Since then I’ve managed to utterly smash the three star target. There is a fairly straightforward path to follow, with some tree dodging. You go through the start gate and head for the crossroads where it seems best to stay to the right and follow the dirt track until reach the point where it turns sharp right. There you go through the trees to the next dirt track, but at the next sharp right, you go straight ahead, passing through the trees again. I haven’t decided whether it’s better to dodge the pond in the field beyond that point (stay left) or plough through it. Either way, it’s best to head for the gate. Cross through the next water hazard, but keep the mangrove tree on the far side to your right and stay on the left-hand side of the sand, generally avoiding the water. There might be a little extra time to be gained from keeping the tree near the finish to your left, but I normally go round the outside of it.

Even in the Baja Boneshaker (B700) I managed to three star this one by a decent margin.