FH5, Series 30, Week 2

The treasure hunt was a matter of doing three drifts in a Jag and going to the stadium to get a reward. It was convenient because the first daily of the week was a snap of a car on some viewing platform that got me yet another pointless emote.

The weekly was driving the Lexus LFA. I had to lower the aero to get the car to 320kmh without upgrading it further, and as I discovered, I had to create a custom race for the Stadium Circuit because the only two S2-class races were both restricted to Porsches.

Eventlab (1). Dystopia Ruins. Very artistic design from DJS, but terrible idea. I used the Extreme E again because I was expecting a race, but got an obstacle course in which I was thumping into every rock and wall there was. An annoying task for a one-third excellent SWS.

Eventlab (2). Autodromo Int. B Cecilia. This was a proper circuit all for a rubbish reward.

Eventlab (3). JCO Project Race 2. Another trip to Eventlab Island. This was another well-constructed circuit with a GTA V theme. Night race. Grrr! The reward was a 1972 Ford Falcon.

Again, three Eventlabs on top of which we then had to deal with three seasonals.

I managed to one-shot all three speed zones in the Cyan Racing Lynk and Co. car and was rewarded with the usual one-third (very) good SWSs. What did I also get? Another 1972 Ford Falcon. Oh do stop, game.

I chose the CJ5 Renegade for Heavy-Duty Dash, but suspect that the Nissan Safari was a better choice because the Renegade was a bit too light and floaty. The reward was another Deberti Prerunner.

I thought the 1995 Nismo GT-R LM might be a good choice of car for To Infiniti and Beyond. It is good, but the conditions were against it. It was all for some FD Nissan 240, although quite how one of these symbolises the Chinese New Year (which, coincidentally, is today), I don’t know.

In spite of the mostly terrible conditions in Last Chance Saloon, I stuck with my RWD Ford Sierra Cosworth, although I think that some AWD car would’ve been a better choice. I managed to win Reservorio, which is a sprint race I particularly detest, without anything going horribly wrong.

For the HW PR stunt the TVR Cerbera got the deed done from the circle side. Annoyingly, I was 1kmh too slow on my first attempt, and the approach in the opposite direction didn’t seem to offer any advantages. A one-third excellent SWS.

The Record Breakers seasonal was another one for which the choice of cars is a random, unfamiliar assortment. I ended up in the stock Jaguar XJ220 (tuning 1/9, tyres only). It turned out to be a good choice, although we had to endure the usual collection of unfun sprint races.

It was back in the TVR Cerbera (upgraded for dirt racing) for the Sierra Nueva PR stunt. I found (although I think I’d forgotten this) that it was best to follow the tyre tracks eastwards across the dunes to hit the right speed.

Racing Reapers was a mixed bag – so to speak. Looking back on this seasonal, I suspect that we were meant to use the Polestar for the first two races, and possibly even the third, but I used the 242 Turbo Evolution for all three, rebuilding it for dirt racing in the third race. It wasn’t really the best choice for road racing, but it was definitely the car to use on dirt. I wasn’t best pleased with more racing in the dark.

The Trial. Oh dear. My Lexus SC300 was ready to go, but as I learnt from some testing, was very fast, but had no handling, and I switched to my RC-F after which things went badly. I accidentally knocked another player out of a checkpoint in Granjas, which we lost by quite a margin, and quit the event after I missed a checkpoint myself in the next race. I went off and built my Lexus SC300 for a second attempt at the Trial at some time in the future.

Part of the problem with Street Scene races is that I rarely do them outside of seasonals, hence I don’t know the course. Another part of the problem is that I’ve been facing the window for the past couple of weeks and using the monitor of my new laptop, When it’s dark on screen, it’s almost impossible to see anything, and the diminutive size of the laptop and the distance in sits from me, don’t help. I might attempt the Trial again early next week when conditions for gaming are more conducive to driving blindly in the dark. But in truth, I don’t need another Lexus LFA on top of the two that I already own.