FH5 Series 27, Week 3

As I discovered when I did the treasure hunt, the car had to specifically be a hot hatch, and I could do the jump in either direction. It was easier to jump down onto the slipway. But then I got multiple messages about solving the treasure hunt even after I’d been to the front garden of Lugar Tranquilo and claimed my treasure chest.

The photo of the week was straightforward. Speaking of photos, I found there was a new car I hadn’t photographed. I thought I had the lot.

The Eventlab tiles were broken again. It’s been awhile, but there was no text and clicking on them got the usual message about the content being unavailable. Worse than that, the folder where the Turn 10 Temp Scratch folder used to be seems to have vanished in W11.

But when I got home this afternoon, the Eventlab events were live. Marchenhaft Bergpass was a decent circuit, but shame about the awful surface. Got a Mustang RTR Spec 5 out of it, so can’t complain. Tokyo Bay Drift was also good, with its NFS feel and one-third good SWS.

For the PR stunts we were forced into a couple of “Mustangs”. This was when I started getting annoyed because it meant wasting money on a couple of cars that I basically ignore. The good – I one-shotted the PR stunts. The bad – the SWSs were almost utter shite. This was also about the point at which the game went CTD on me.

The shite continued with the weekly in the 2009 Corvette. I went up a level from Descansar Dorado. It looked like I was going to get CR100,000. I got CR2,000 instead.

I used the Mustang RTR Spec 5 for Can you a Ford it, which was Street Scene racing. The car seemed to be all right, although was a little ropey in the Festival Gatecrash. The reward was a 1973 Ford Escort, which I might’ve been pleased to get as a reward in 1973… No, in 1973 I would’ve wanted a Ford Capri.

It was back to the world of “Which cars?” with Indy-pendence Day. I wanted to try an RWD BAC Mono, but the car went dying bluebottle on me when I was testing it, and I thought it wiser to switch to AWD. I managed to outpace the drivatars round the oval track, expecting to pass all but, say, the lead one. And what did I get? Some chubby American agricultural barge which I’ve deleted from my garage. It’s the sort of bloated farm barge that makes a 1973 Escort look good.

I managed to get the Eliminator done. Eventually. I’d already been hearing stories of a slow connection which is being attributed to some American holiday (that one about the English religious fanatics turning up in 1610 and pretending no one was living in the Americas; or something like that). I bungled my way to about 27th by driving up the volcano, then down, and then finding a car drop on the Horizon Festival Circuit. I think the prize was horn. Well, something that would appeal to a moron.

I did Horizon Open in the Cadillac CTS-5 V (or whatever it’s called). Utter humiliation, and a cheater in a McLaren F1 GT which is an S2-class car. Well, job done.

It was back to the “Mustangs” for the PR stunt in the HW theme park. The key to the speed zone was a good, long run-up.

The seasonal was Canyonero. B700 pickups. I should probably have chosen the International Scout, but picked the MB G65 AMG instead. It was actually all right until some cheating drivatar in a 1972 Chevrolet turned up for the final race and kept flying past me with impunity through the section with the boost pads. I abandoned the race and restarted it because FH5 locks you in with High Skilled drivatars. You can’t merely increase the level of difficulty and then restore it. At least the reward was the 2017 Camaro.

Another PR stunt in the “Mustang” in Sierra Nueva. I managed to one-shot the task and got an SWS that was one-third good.

More B700 pickups in Renegade Master. This time I used the International Scout, which made a solid start until that 1972 Chevrolet started cheating again. Perhaps I ought to have driven the CJ5 to win a CJ5. Irony racing.

The Trial was a pedestrian affair. 2018 Mustang specced up for dirt racing. Seemed to be all right, but perhaps carried a bit too much weight. 4th in Bajío and 5th in Fuera del Camino and team victories in both. In the latter race, I watched the two clowns in front of me constantly sliding into walls round corners, which confirmed that I am actually a better driver. Not the fastest, but simply more competent.

But at the end of all this, I’m feeling indifferent towards Horizon 5 after another dollop of annoyance and frustration in the Festival playlist. But Línea Costera with its guaranteed, turn-one mayhem is another stone in my shoe. I still think the sprint races are fine, but the start of this one and the sharp left-hand turn early in Vista del Mar end up being irritating crash-fests.

And thus this might be a week of dailies only, but I’ve also been doing some rather pointless experiments with tunes and may focus on some tinkering under the bonnet this week.