FH5, Series 27, Week 1

As there was no treasure hunt this week (Omnes [but insincerely]: Shame!), I started with the weekly in the 2018 Mustang. For the danger sign task I went to the top of the volcano because every time I tried the motorway or Festival site jumps, the car went arse over tit (as we say in the vernacular). We had to have a Street Scene race as well, didn’t we? (Scream.)

I managed to do the HA without any fuss or bother. Yes, dear reader, I was actually online in free roam. It didn’t last.

The first Eventlab was Crop Circle Stadium Rally, which was sort of like a drift zone, which seemed to be rather irritating until…

Eventlab (2), which necessitated a trip to Eventlab Island for some race which was on a decent enough circuit, with the annoying dial being set to maximum. And just to dump a turd into my bowl of irritation soup, the SWS was bloody rubbish.

Never mind, the photo made it all… worse, forcing me to start a Street Scene race (scream!) to take a picture of my Camaro ZL1 1LE, and rewarding me with a T-shirt – and I’m sure it wasn’t even in my size.

It was also the week for Rivals. I had no problems with the Saleen S7 LM round Bahía de Plano. The Lucid Air was a chubby barge in Línea Costera, one of the new sprint races. Overpowered car and overweight.

The speed trap was a pain until I realised that the car for the job was the Twin Mill, which is ludicrously over-engined, but only S1 900. Job done and I got an SWS which was two-thirds good. I somehow one-shotted the drift zone, but ineptly. The SWS was two-thirds good. For the speed zone I started with the MS RT Fiesta, but it was just a smidge too slow, and switched to the Rahal Letterman Fiesta. I can’t recall the SWS, but it may be better that I don’t.

I managed to survive the Eliminator long enough to cross that little tedium off this week’s bucket list.

Oregon in 60 Seconds was yet another seasonal that had players in some set of ill-defined cars from films. I had no idea, but recalled from the forums that Cashless had recommended the 1979 Camaro Z28, which was a good suggestion because in C-class, even with RWD, the car was a sound performer.

I picked the 2008 Dodge Viper for Dodge This! The car was – as I expected – a good choice, and my exertions won me a Hummer. I’m sure if Henry VIII was alive today, he’d have a Hummer because he couldn’t fit into anything smaller.

I was back in the Twin Mill for the HW PR stunt and got a mediocre SWS.

I almost used the 2015 Corvette (RWD) for Chevy Metal, but chickened out and went for the Corvette C8 (I did have the Z06 by this stage, but I’m lazy when it comes to cars for seasonals; if I can drive a car off the peg, that’s what I’ll do), which was another very good choice. We got to do the water slide circuit again (he said with a tired sigh).

The Sierra Nueva PR stunt was a drift zone just near the Festival site. It was another drift zone that I completed incompetently, but this time was rewarded with an SWS that was one-third excellent and one-third very good.

For What’s It Cosworth, I went back to the Colin McRae Ford Escort, which again proved its worth in a series of satisfying wins.

By the time I got to the Trial this evening, the online connection in free roam was in a bit of a mood, and it took me several attempts (including one in which I drove the full length of Vista del Mar) before I was able to join a session. I came 3rd in Vista del Mar, being unable to quite catch the two drivatars in the lead. We won that race. I won Marigold, but we lost. I ought to have won Cathedral Circuit, but got street furnitured by the bollards (the most painfullest crash of all) through the chicane after the start-finish line and ended up 2nd. Somehow we won, but that might’ve been because a player in a Mustang Mach E, who’d ended up nose-first in a wall, quit.

I actually like the new sprint races in the game, although my practice yesterday was constantly marred by the drivatars being dicks. Pole position drivatar shot away, while his friends all rammed into me on the sharp corners round Vista del Mar before I’d catch the drivatar in the lead, but sit behind the oily swot with no chance of taking the lead except when the Forza gods randomly decided that I ought to be allowed to win.

I also had a pootle in the new Corvette Z06 (tuning 2/9; pathetic) and quickly decided to slap in a proper gearbox and a diff. This helped, and overall, I like the feel of this car even without any other upgrades.