Occasional Tales

Two treasure hunts this week. I went fast in a Lancia Delta and got clean racing skills in a Jaguar Project 7. The weekly was in the Ferrari 512S. Again, no upgrades required. Eventlab (1). SS£-FCG – Outlaw Canyon . Nicely built map, but little more than a twisted circle. Annoying. Eventlab (2). Rally Finland . Apart from the checkpoint bug at the end, this was a good idea. A one-third good SWS. Completing this got me the GTA Spano, a car which I’ve barely ever driven in Horizon 4. You get the idea. Eventlab (3). The Round Table 1960s [TA]. I tried with the Mini Traveller. Attractively built circuit, but too bumpy, which made it rather like one of those HW races with the speed bumps – but worse. Eventlab (4). Desert Raceway . I picked the Dodge Viper SR10 ACR (or whatever it’s called; the 2008 model) for a 2nd-and-3rd-gear race. I just managed to avoid an accident at the crossover on the first lap. Having a sharp corner about 50m from the start is a dumb idea. Don’t. Too many of those

The treasure hunt clue has to be one of the least informative we’ve ever had. The picture pointed to the Lamborghini Huracán doing some sort of drifting, but the words suggested driving round Mexico. I did the Goliath, but nothing happened. I tried to drift in a circle, but nothing happened. I had to watch Stevio’s video to find out that you were supposed to get a burnout skill by (one means) doing a doughnut. I used the other means, my usual means of getting higher-level burnouts – driving into a wall. I normally start the Festival playlist at lunchtime and get two or three things done, but this was all I achieved, and the rest had to wait till I got home in the afternoon. The weekly in the Porsche 906 followed the same pattern as previous weeks. The stock car was able to deal with all the tasks. The drive up to Gran Caldera was bugged because in spite of fast travelling up the volcano, driving up the tortuous course of the Volcán Sprint , and driving to eventual pain up the side of t

Another week of annoyances and irritations from PR stunts that seem to require a specific car built in a specific way (probably too much engine and too little handling because that’s so much fun) to the wrong cars in the wrong sorts of races to cheating drivatars in the HW seasonal. Like last week, the weekly challenge was doable without upgrading the car. Like last week you either have the money or the FPs (or both) to acquire the Type C Jag or you don’t and may struggle because you’d have to do 20 HA’s to get 1,200 FPs, and if your connectivity is rubbish (fortunately, because mine was good today, I was able to do the daily), you might have no chance at all. The photo challenge got me a stupid phrase. What am I? A dim-witted 12-year-old? Eventlab (1). Baja Motorsports Park GP 3L . Overly technical, but at least the cars were only A800. This is the sort of circuit which might attract S2-class cars. Turn the Stupidity dial to maximum, Doris! Eventlab (2). Kiyosumi Circuit . Off to Even

Treasure hunt (1) was to drive a BMW 4.8km. The treasure was at the airfield, which led to the weekly photo. The ridiculous neon lights are back, making the place and the races look like a 90s disco. Treasure hunt (2) ended up being two races in a Pontiac Firebird, not three as I initially thought. The treasure was in the Street Scene site (too much alliteration? Well, this week I’m going all Anglo-Saxon [ That makes you sound like a sad, old perv . –ed.]) CR250,000 this time. Eventlab (1). Seoul City 2.0 . Not a bad layout, but there seemed to be a pit lane just before the final turn that looked like a shortcut. Guess what I did. I had to drop the level of difficulty because the drivatars were being impossible. I managed one overtake for about ten seconds before said drivatar sailed by. The reward was a Regal GNX. Don’t stop me because I know I’m right, but American Automotive was the series before last. Eventlab (2). Los Jardines International Open . S2 extreme track toys. I appreci

And the answer is… Someone on the forums recommended a tune by aeqnx (share code 424 935 909) for the 1992 Honda NSX for the HW speed zone. AWD and a lot of power (max. speed about 391kmh). I used it to cheese the speed zone, bumping off a wall or two in the process, but the build had enough speed to complete the job. Out of curiosity, I rebuilt the NSX to my specs (bodykit, AWD; max. speed 302kmh) to see how my times compared with the target time. To begin with, I was hitting 243kmh (6kmh short of the target) on average in both directions. I switched to cockpit view (because that’s how I normally play FH4 and 5) and did the speed zone in the direction of the loop, passing the target speed with no real bother. Was cockpit view the answer all along? It gave me a better view of the walls, a better sense of the line to take, and a better sense of speed, whereas chase cam seems to encourage manic speed, which undermines strategy.