FH5, Series 26, Week 1

I did some extra things. Doh!

I started with the Mazda RX-7 Spirit, doing rivals in Llanuras to complete the treasure hunt. My rival had a time of 3 hours, which, I knew, was going to be tricky to beat. Off I went, but there was something odd about the car, which had weird gears and a tendency to slide into the corners. When I checked the tuning, I found it was still set up for drifting from the previous time I used it. I retuned it without rebuilding it and managed to complete Llanuras.

The weekly forced us into the 1973 Porsche 911, which understeers and slides at the slightest nudge. I managed to do the drift zone event in two goes. Fortunately, the drivatars weren’t being pains in the races.

Eventlab (1). 3am Rush. This was Emerald Circuit at midnight with fog. It might’ve been worse such as a race on a custom-built track against annoying drivatars.

Eventlab(2) was Scinaty Part 2. I appreciate the effort that went into this one, but am glad there wasn’t an actual race. The SWS was one-third very good.

I went to Mulegé to take a photo. We had to use an effect. I took the snap from the usual direction (i.e., behind) and the game registered my achievement, granting me an aware fit for a five-year-old.

As we’re on a new series, it was time for Rivals. The Tsuru sounded a bit weird and was sort of drivable. The EV Meyers Manx was quiet and bland like an off-road butler, although I was glad I was spared that high-pitched whine that some EVs have.

I one-shotted all the PR stunts in my 1993 Nissan Skyline GT-R, and all the SWSs were one-third good.

Oddly enough, I was online long enough to do a Horizon Arcade, although I confused the tile with the Eliminator, got an Audi RS7, and crashed into a tree when I got challenged.

I managed to win the Horizon Open in my Abarth 124 Spider because in the race round Playa Azul, my one opponent suddenly veered off the course, giving me the win. In the second race, Plaza Circuit, there were two other players. One was in another 124 Spider (B700), and the other was in a 695 Biposto (B658). I expected the player in the 124 to win because my car (stock?) was only B683, but the player in the 695 dominated the race. In Gran Pantano, the other 124 driver won, but I was only able to stay within visual range of the 695. I got a Chevrolet Colorado ZR2. (And speaking of American tanks, I saw an actual Ford F-150 Raptor a couple of days ago; it was sodding enormous.)

As a second aside, I ended up doing a Horizon Tour because I thought that was what we had to do. I used my RWD A800 Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale. The only other human player gave up, leaving me to thrash the drivatars into submission.

For Wild Nightlife, I picked my A800 Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale. Problem solved, although the 2015 Ford Falcon isn’t quite as special as it was in FH4.

Thus far, things had been going relatively well. The moment I saw that the other seasonal was D500 buggies, I knew things were going to go down the toilet faster than medieval diarrhoea. I know of old that seasonals in buggies mean all engine and no trousers, and Dune Buggies was no exception, being a catalogue of repeated frustrations.

I started with the black VW Beetle, which was all right to a point, but would randomly roll round some corners. The races had to include the one which I loathe the most – the Festival Cross Country, which has that brief section through the river where the drivatars kick water in your face and plough through it as if it’s air. I had to rewind so many times at that point until the Forza gods arbitrarily let me keep first place.

It was Costera which was the most colossal pain. Normally, I’m all right with this course, but there were three brown VW Beetles which kept sprinting ahead of everyone else in a two-lap race. I restarted and restarted and restarted, getting close to this impossibly fast, grippy group, but never able to catch them. The sharp turn on the beach was excruciating because I was in a RWD car (neither of the buggies in D class any any good with AWD) which kept rotating or – if I slowed down – getting passed by the drivatars. I eventually switched to the brown Beetle which was so oddly fast, but finally managed to win the race with it, again after many, many attempts. Yes, I was livid.

I couldn’t be bothered retuning my Skyline for the HW drift zone. The car was underpowered for the job, but somehow managed it and got an SWS which was one-third good.

Something Different was B700 daily drivers. And what would those be, game? I picked the BMW X6 because it was hazard races, but I have no idea which sort. As it turned out, it was speed ramps, which made my choice of car quite effective. I also tuned the tyres for road racing, which probably helped.

And then it was off to Sierra Nueva with a heavy heart. I did the speed trap uphill again and got a rubbish SWS.

For Rally Retro-spective (C600 retro rally) I more or less randomly chose the Mazda 323. Unlike some of the recent seasonals in Sierra Nueva, these races were relatively pain free, and the 323 earned itself a saucer of milk.

The Trial. I’m thinking about it. I don’t really want the car.

Super Speed Car Pack

These cars were live when I started the game. I had a little play with the three worthy inclusions at lunchtime. The Elemental seemed quite decent stock, but had a very long first gear. The KTM X-Bow GT2 had an even longer first gear, and I was expecting a good deal more oomph than it had.

I spent a bit more time with the 2022 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS after I’d done the rest of the Festival playlist. It gets a 6/9 for tuning. I tried it stock in Descansar Dorado. The performance was good, but the gears were a little funny under heavy braking. I did some tuning for Dunas Blancas, but would say that the gears need to be tunable. A jaunt down Copper Canyon suggested that better tyres wouldn’t be a bad idea. My initial impression of the car is that I have a worthy successor to the older Cayman GT4.

However (Part 1), you can replace the sexy, stock aero with Forza aero, which like the 2021 911 GT3, actually improves the SHALB numbers. Why, game, why? Both cars have wings that suit them. Oh well, at least the stock aero can be tuned.

However (Part 2), one forum member has complained that the car has its steering wheel on the right-hand side. Well, my dear sir, if you’re going to complain about that, then why not complain about all the British cars (e.g. Aston Martin and McLaren) with their steering wheels on the wrong side or the Continental makes with speedos in mph instead of kmh (e.g. the new KTM X-Bow GT2)?