FH5, Cars new and not so new
As the 2023 Ford Ranger Raptor has finally been unlocked, I thought I’d see whether it might be a replacement for the 2019 Raptor. Out of the box the tuning is 1/9 (pitiful). I tuned the tyres and went for a jaunt in the Titan. The car was decent, but the tyres weren’t great as the vehicle tended to slide round corners.
I upgraded the Raptor to the top of A class and tried the Titan again. Again, it was all right, bit of a barge, but I don’t think I’ll use it in place of the 2019 Raptor which has always put in a sound performance in seasonals.
Series 33, Prometheus speculates
JakeXVX had one of his speculation videos about Series 33 the other day, which got me thinking about it.
First, I’m inclined not to get too hopeful about this one. The mention of road racing has the kiddies immediately jumping to cars like the Bolide (unlikely, I think). I doubt whether this will be a series focused on (extreme) track toys since there’s a very wide range of cars that might feature in road races. I still hope the Maserati MC20 might make an appearance (I saw a nice yellow one today). Hint, hint, PGG.
Second, assuming that there will be an Apex Car Pack, I’d like to see, say, two GT3(/extreme track toys) and two GT4(/track toys) cars. In reality, I can see the car pack containing, for example, a super saloon, a super hot hatch, a track toy, and something retro (but there are other underwhelming combinations). One of the first three will be an EV, and that or one of the others may be a manufacturer marketing car, which is also likely to be the lame car. The retro car will probably turn out to be rather good. But I won’t be surprised if one of the cars is copied and pasted from FM, where it’s free and FH5 players end up footing the bill for FM.
Third, there might be a few exclusives making a reappearance for the first time in ages; or the various reward cars might the usual sort of thing that makes our garages look like digital landfill.
Elemental Rp1
I’ve finally got round to trying this car properly. I believe I said that it was decent out of the box, and it is, but it also has issues. I decided to race it round the HW Goliath, but barely won after spending most of the race being annoyed by the Do(ugh)nut Media Supervan 3. I then made a whole bunch of circuit races specifically for the Elemental because it seems to suffer from Superlight Syndrome, viz. a track toy that even in S2 class isn’t that fast and struggles against other cars in the same class.
Most of the time I’d eventually take the lead, but only after a lap or two. Lookout Circuit was a pain. Lead, yes; distance, no, but I’ve seen this before round that circuit. The Goliath was the same, with the drivatars being immediately behind me at the finish line. The Colossus proved to be no different and probably the most parlous of all the races because there were times when I had a whole bunch of drivatars behind me, and I mean bunch, where there was a six-way battle for the lead. The general pattern seemed to be corners good, straights bad.
I like the Elemental Rp1. Good car to drive and amazing amounts of grip without aero even at the top of S1 class. There were some corners where I stayed in 7th and didn’t even bother lifting off. But even against drivatars in Elementals, the car hasn’t got much top end. Any long-ish straights and any lead I had tended to vanish, forcing me to defend the insides of corners to deter the drivatars.
I like the car because it’s decent to drive, but can’t recommend it because it isn’t competitive even against the drivatars. It’s possible that it might be all right with the right sort of tune on it.
Appendix
Prometheus was the Titan who gave fire to mankind (and various other skills). The name mans “forethinker, forethought”, hence the subtitle above. The eagle got to eat his liver on a daily basis because he was discreet with secrets. His brother was Epimetheus “afterthought”, whose catchphrase was probably “I wish I’d thought of that”. He’s probably also the patron saint of staircase wits.
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