FH5, Series 22, Week 1

I started with the treasure hunt because you never know when it might be buggy. Snap of my Ford Focus, and it was all done. Some nice person sent me a Ford Focus as a gift. Why? Why would you do that? Delete the car if you don’t want it, but don’t go annoying other people.

The weekly. Some rubbish old VW Golf which I hadn’t previously bothered with… I mean, I was saving it for a special occasion. Not as painful as I feared it might be, but not a car I’ll ever drive again unless I have to.

The first daily of the season is only worth mentioning because it forces players to use the clunky test track that isn’t actually a test track.

Rivals. Emira (aside: advertising for the Racing Car Pack?) for one and the AMG GT Black Series for the other. Both pretty decent cars straight out of the box. I feel I could’ve been a bit faster in Copper Canyon, but didn’t want to do anything stupid.

Another playlist in which we’re expected to do an HA. Suddenly, I’m online, There are other players in Mexico, there are HAs. Unbelievable. Did a drift one in which I seemed to do the heavy lifting. Never mind. Event done. Points, please.

The PR stunts were different. Instead of being forced to use S2-class cars, we had to use S1-class retro sports cars. I was suspicious. I used the WP Supra for the speed trap, which worked, but pondered what I might use for the speed zone. When my eye lighted on the Forsberg Nissan Gold Leader, I knew that these were the cars you were supposed to use for all the PR stunts (i.e., clown cars). I got particularly clownish with the Nissan – RWD, no aero, 390kmh through the speed zone. “Sketchy” is a shadow of an adjective for it. At least I got some good SWSs out of these.

Once again, the Eventlab tiles were blank when the new series arrived. Fix this, someone. Gods! The Granjas Circuit was all right for an unfamiliar event. The reward was some clothing because who doesn’t like playing at dressing-up? The Granithaupt Bergpass was twisty. I managed not to fall off it. I got a horn. Great (to be read sarcastically).

The 2020 Supra was a decent choice for Have-a-Go Hero. I haven’t done the Cathedral Circuit in a while and have forgotten the sequence of gears. The reward was a Honda S2000 CR. I like the car, but I don’t need another. Should’ve been the AMG GT S.

It was obvious that the game wanted you to use the Pagani Huayra R (if you bought it) for Take it to the Limit. That was a massive pain because of the drivatars rubber-banding as if elasticity was about to vanish from existence. I like fast cars, but I’m no fan of extreme track toys and hypercars. And what was the reward? A 1971 Nissan Skyline GT-R. I have one already. I don’t want another. I like the GT-Rs from the 1990s onwards (1993 good; 1997 not so good; more recent ones, fine). And I got a rubbish wheel spin as well.

The HW PR stunt was also different. Back to the bad old days of being told to use a car in a particular class except this ended up being easy money. (Pity that didn’t carry over to Sierra Nueva; see below.) The Lexus LC500 was up to the job.

For Twenty Twenty Vision I picked the Emira. Again, it was obvious that you were meant to use one of the new cars such as that or the AMG GT Black Series, but I haven’t done anything much with the latter apart from some tuning. However, the Emira was a decent choice for which I was rewarded with clothing. Yeah, the effort was really worth it.

The danger sign in Sierra Nueva was another painful experience. The LC500 got nowhere near the required distance, and after consulting the forums, it seemed that an overpowered Lexus SC300 with no handling was the way to go. I was right. At least I got a decent SWS.

On the Trail. C600 Toyota. C600. Gods! My 1992 Supra was ready to go, but the whole thing was an annoying and frustrating grind as C600 cars tend to be. The reward was a Renault 5 Turbo, another car I like, but I already have two. It should’ve been a 2018 Audi RS4 Avant.

I haven’t driven the AMG GT Black Series in earnest, but even out of the box, it’s decent. I was expecting problems driving the car in Copper Canyon, but as I said above, I could probably have done it faster.

Still nothing about the Barbie cars, but those, it now seems, will be part of Series 23. I suspect that the presence of the cars in the game one series too soon is something to do with the release date of the film coinciding with the start of the next series. Who knows? Once again, PGG are masters of silence. Just tell us what the deal is, kids.

I raced the Huayra R round the HW Goliath, where it excelled, but had to use chase cam because not only is the view from the cockpit a thin slit, but the A-pillar on the left-hand side utterly blocks the view. Ironically, though, I was driving the car down Copper Canyon in cockpit view and managed to PB the middle speed zone.

I also tried the Saleen Sportruck in the Titan. Decent, but nothing outstanding.

As for the Do(ugh)nut Media Story, I haven’t bothered so far. I might try one of the storylines this evening, or I might leave them till tomorrow, but grinding through the seasonals and doing the PR stunts tends to kill my enthusiasm for further grinding.