FH5, Series 24, Week 2

Prefatory note

I’m a smidge late with this one because it was our annual conference (well, for the first time since 2019) at the end of last week and because I was too knackered to start doing the Festival playlist on Friday. I have notes about the 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint which need typing up.

And now for the main feature…

As there was no treasure hunt (thank the gods), I started with the weekly in the Lancia Delta Integrale. Mostly fine, but the danger sign was annoying. There was probably an optimal choice, but no one ever tells you what it is.

In the course of doing the weekly, I also took care of the collectibles (I did the hotel danger sign, which threw me at the boat piñatas), which not only got me a horn (gods!), but also got me the Aventador SVJ (which ought to have been the Ferrari F8 Tributo).

The PR stunts. I one-shotted the speed trap on the north side of the map in the Diablo SV and got a rubbish SWS. I also used it for the speed zone, following the course of the Stadium Circuit since I know it best and how to take the corners. The got me an excellent SWS (about the only one, though). The speed trap in Guanajuato ended up being about maximum engine and minimum everything else, which I detest. D’you know what I also detest? The rubbish SWS I got from this.

The photo challenge got me yet another horn. This one was worse because the name was meaningless gibberish. It must be familiar to the Modern Yoof™.

Shopping Trip was a Street Scene seasonal (gods!!) where your options were the Lamborghini Urus or the Maserati Levante. I chose the former, which I specced up for road racing. It struggled a bit in the first race, but was dominant in the other two. The reward was the ghastly Lamborghini LM 002.

Contemporary Italian was the other Street Scene seasonal (gods!!!) I went for the the Ferrari 430 Scuderia mainly because it was ready to go. At least the conditions were dry, but why is it that the drivatars seem to drive as if they’re a level higher or so than the game claims they are? Not enjoyable in the slightest, and the reward was shite.

The 430 Scuderia immediately got a second outing, this time in Prancing Horses. The Volcán Sprint was a bit painful, but all was well. Another 812 Superfast. I like the 812 Superfast, but it ought to have been the F8 Tributo.

The HW PR stunt was annoying. Trees in the wrong places. Rubbish SWS.

I picked the Cayman GT4 for Surf’s Up. The seasonal had to include the Ram’s Head Speed Sprint with its vexatious left-hand hairpin and the Supervan 3, which I hate because it’s a drivatar cheatmobile. (Don’t get me wrong; the Supervan 3 is a brilliant track toy, but a colossal pain when the drivatars are in it.) The reward was another pointless horn.

And then it was off to Sierra Nueva for another annoying PR stunt. In the end, it was back to the floaty RWD Diablo SV, which is probably the car you’re meant to use. (I don’t believe for one moment that PGG want you to have a choice; they know what car you should use and would probably be surprised to learn that not everyone plays this game on an xbox with a controller.)

Raptoriffic was an excellent example of what Horizon Open racing is like. S1-class, AWD, Italian. I chose the modestly specced Lancia Delta Integrale (about S1 820) because it’s a rally car and this was a dirt racing seasonal. What did the drivatars turn up in? Hypercars, supercars and super GT cars with off-road race tyres. And I spanked the lot of them. Use the right car for the job, kids. The car was a bit slidey and bouncy, but properly suited to this sort of racing. I got clothing as a reward, but unlike Dobby, this doesn’t free me from bondage.

What happened to the Eventlab events? Well, those were persistently broken, not working until this morning when I deleted the Turn10Temp.scratch folder and fired up the game. This is ridiculous. I shouldn’t have to be fixing PGG’s error by delving into obscure parts of the file system which MS hides because it doesn’t really want users having access to them. But as far as Eventlab errors go, this was the worst so far because the folder didn’t contain a single Eventlab file.

Eventlab (1), Stadium City Sprint. I thought this might be a sprint race from the stadium to Guanajuato, but instead, you drove round in circles inside the stadium. Someone needs to take track creators aside and explain the idea of clarity because this was yet another course where I got to a point where I was able to turn the wrong way and had to do a U-turn. The reward was a Ferrari F40 which is a terrible car to drive.

Eventlab (2), Pidore Festival of Speed-V8SC 1. This was a properly done race track which would probably make quite a good circuit if it could be formally incorporated into the game. It had Monaco GP vibes. The wheel spin I got was excellent, but the SWS was only one-third excellent and two-thirds utter rubbish.

I decided to do the Trial in the Ferrari F12tdf, but wonder whether something else might’ve been a better choice. Stock tyres, you see. Things went rather badly for me in that I somehow missed checkpoints in Copper Canyon and Descansar Dorado, although overall, our team won. No, I don’t know how I managed to miss the checkpoints. It had nothing to do with other players or the drivatars, either. It seems to be a combination of oversteer, perhaps misjudging where other cars are, and misjudging where to turn, although in neither case were these corners awkward to tackle. Very irritating even if I didn’t ruin it for everyone else.