FH5, Series 30, Week 1

I thought this series was meant to be a celebration of the Chinese New Year, but it’s really started as drift week. No, the Chinese are not drifty boys unless you want to define “drifting” as their inability to stay in lane.

I bumbled my way through the treasure hunt in the Austin-Healey. The treasure was in the cave south-east of Ek’ Balam (as I realised when I got there).

The weekly started the drift theme with hi-jinks in the No. 777 Corvette (which if you need it, can be got from the Trial). At least there was nothing beyond irritating.

Three Eventlabs again. The first was Utopia Garden Recension (by DJS). Actually, the creator is no recommendation. It was all right, but the pyramid structure was so washed-out that it was hard to see it against the sand. The SWS was absolute rubbish. The second Eventlab was Turbine Raceway, which was yet again, another twisted circle. I got a good wheel spin out of this one from going up a level. The third Eventlab was Butterfly Tunnel Run, which had decent aesthetics and wasn’t a terrible circuit apart from the unexpected jump just ahead of the finish line.

Lots of Rivals events this week. The Baja Scramble was a nuisance because it took several restarts before I got the outsized Bone Shaker round the course. I did get a picture of it, which registered. I did the Stadium Circuit in the new Lynk without any problems. The Hyundai Ioniq was the first of the EVs. Can’t drive them as I need to have gears to take corners. Got the Cyberster round Tierra Próspera without any issues, but was probably quite cautious round corners.

I had no problem scoring the necessary Brownie points in Cara Este, but my lack of practice at drifting showed through in Polytunnels (rubbish SWS, too), and the badly done Camino de Montaña with its one-third good SWS.

I drove the Chevrolet Bel Air in A Rod for your own Race since it was already specced up. Had to be Street Scene, didn’t it? But apart from some annoying drivatars in the first race, the other two were fine.

The El Camino (yes, I know that’s a double definite article) was a good choice for Utility Thrills if you like very fast cars with sod-all handling, a combination which was to be repeated in Sierra Nueva. The alternative was a car that was all tyres and not much else.

The online element of the game continues to be steady, hence I had no problems completing an HA for FPs which I was forced to spend on that red suit in the Forzathon Shop to complete the daily (“Attire yourself as a complete plonker.”)

I managed to find a level 9 car in the Eliminator and then get a level 10 car (the Centenario). I then got challenged by a player in a weirdly fast Brocky that managed to dodge trees in a way that I didn’t. Anyway, the job was done.

Onto the Trial where I opted for the 1970 (?) Corvette. 6th round Mulegé after getting punted by a drivatar, but I’d been in last place off the grid. I managed a 5th in Bahía de Plano in spite of the Tristan drivatar zooming past me on the approach to the finish line on lap 2 and trying the same stunt on lap three. Team victories in both races.

I one-shotted the HW PR stunt in the XPeng, which wafted along, borne up by squadrons of invisible sylphs. Well, you don’t think it flew all the way by itself, did you?

For In the Loop, I picked the McLaren 570S. All went well. The Waterslide Circuit was back on the menu again. Why, oh why, oh why, oh why? But then again, I’m not the target demographic.

The Sierra Nueva PR stunt was the desert jump. Answer: a long run-up.

The seasonal, Ohh, the Audacity,  saw me in the 2015 Audi RS6 Avant, which like the El Camino, had wide tyres, but not tyres for racing, and was still quite a chunky barge. Possibly, I would’ve been better off in one of the other Avants. The cornering was painful, and the conditions didn’t help.

However, by the end of this session, I had my 800 unique cars. I bought the pig Porsche (the 917/20), which was my one missing Porsche (the 550, too? Not sure) the other day. It’s a bit odd to get a seasonal reward car week one.

I did buy the Chinese car pack, but apart from taking snaps of them, I’ve done nothing further with them. The Santana is far too shiny. It should be matt black, dented, a bit rusty in places, and reek of cigarette smoke.