FH5, Series 24, Week 4

The Trial? Perhaps.

I started with the treasure hunt for the usual reason – you never know when the game might go mental because you left this till last. You had to drive your Alfa Romeo Quadrifoglio to the cloverleaf junction on the motorway. Easy money – or so you might think. When I smashed the treasure chest, my car got stuck to the remains, and I struggled to extricate myself. Much wheel spin and reversing and then much wheel spin and going forwards.

I also triggered the weekly by driving the Alfa Romeo Quadrifoglio. Not too tedious, but a drag race? Is this a taster for the next series, which is rumoured to be drag racing. I would say, “Please don’t”, but I fear that tomorrow we’re going to be disappointed by the horrible truth.

The Eventlab tiles were functioning again. It’s a pity the brains of the creators weren’t. The first one looked like a figure-8 track, but was an hourglass with a very pinched waist. The other event ended in this baffling spaghetti-like mess which I had to cheese my way out of. And we’re meant to be getting Eventlab 2.0. Gods!

The practised the trailblazer, finding the answer is not to go right through the trees, but left past the power pylon. I did just make it to the end by an absolute whisker, and the SWS was one-third good. I one-shotted the speed zones and PB’ed one of them, and got SWSs that were two-thirds good for both of them. The Ferrari F40 Competizione has suddenly become my go-to car.

The Eliminator. Done. Still hate it.

Photo challenge. Another rubbish reward for a rubbish task.

Horizon Tour. Started well enough. I was passing the drivatars round the Mangrove Scramble till the game disconnected me. I restarted the event, but this time in a Mazda MX-5. I came second in the first two races and first in the final one, but that was a win under dubious circumstances. I was better through the corners than the player who was leading the race, and could’ve taken the lead, but held off as there was nothing to be gained from doing that. I thought they missed a checkpoint at the final corner, but they merely ghosted and still came second. The other two players seemed to be in stock cars.

Retro Style was a series of Street Scene races in the Abarth 595 D500. The first and third races went like this: ¡Go! The drivatars that are behind me promptly pass me. This doesn’t look good until the race reaches a technical section, and I pass the drivatars, leaving them far behind. The second race was a toned-down variation of this. The reward was a Maserati Levante. No thanks.

I used the Lamborghini Aventador for Hyper Italia because it was about the only car which had any scope for decent upgrades. The only scope the rest had was for a paint job that would probably send them into S2 class. Anyway, the Aventador turned out to be an excellent choice.

It was off to the HW theme park where I got a two-thirds good SWS for the PR stunt which I did in the F40 Competizione.

And I used the car for Cliff Racers. In the Nexus Speed Circuit, the drivatars got DNF’ed. I admit that some of my driving in the races was questionable, but at least my efforts got me an emote because these things are the pinnacle of the reward system.

And speaking of pinnacles, I did the Sierra Nueva PR stunt in the Lancia Stratos, which I had to upgrade to A800 for it to hit the right speed. The SWS was utter rubbish.

The final seasonal, Peak Performance, had me in the Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale, which fared well enough, but I will never abide Sierra Nueva and dread to think what this twisty, turny layout foretells for FH6.

And that’s Series 24 essentially done. Good cars, but last week was so painful that I really did limit my time in the game to the dailies.

I haven’t done the Trial and don’t know whether I’ll bother because the car is a shrug, and I have all the exclusives for this season.