FH5, Series 32, Week 3

Treasure hunt. I drove an ugly car. I won 100FPs. Should I buy the AM Vulcan? I have one already. I don’t drive it that often (ditto FH4). On the other hand I do have a lot of FPs. It’s the reason why I don’t bother with HA’s unless I’m forced to.

I used the 2000 Silvia for the weekly. I did the Basedrop (?) danger sign for that task. I flipped the car, but the ref said, “No foul”, and I almost did the same again, tipping the car onto one side like a Mancunian drunk on a Saturday night.

I had to delay the photo because there was an HA in the way, but eventually got the clothing I so richly deserved. I could barely contain my squeals of delight in spite of a restraining order.

The collectibles this week were tedious, but to be found in and around the golf course.

The only thing about this week’s Eventlab, Sneezin’ Dragon Circuit, was that the PI was C600 on a tiddly little circuit. I liked the design elements well enough, but couldn’t see the point of this sausage course.

I one-shotted the PR stunt in the M-Sport Fiesta and got a one-third very excellent SWS.

I did the Horizon Open in the Koenigsegg CC8S, but let the game choose the race when I ought to have gone through the menu. And so I found myself doing dirt racing in a road-specced car. Nonetheless, I managed a 3rd in Baja California, and I stole 2nd by absolutely thousandths of a second round Teotihuacán. I even managed a 2nd in the annoying Montaña Trail, although the winner was well ahead of me. This put me in 2nd overall. This time I got a very excellent wheel spin to which I added a two-thirds very excellent SWS for being a VIP. In other words I made CR1 million from wheel spins this week. I know. I’m swimming in lolly and have nothing to spend it on.

I chanced using my RWD Schuppan for Old School Cool. It was all right, but there were occasional issues trying to keep the car under control. The Schuppan was all right round the HW Goliath, but I’m not sure I’ll be trying RWD cars in Street Scene races too often.

I went with the Audi Sport Quattro for Play the Game since it had the best PWR of all the cars that were eligible for this seasonal. I was a little reluctant to use a rally car in off-road racing. It performed well enough, but needed better tyres rather than wider ones.

I was also unsure about using the Porsche 959 Rally Raid for In Rain, Wind or Shine. I must admit that after negotiating Montaña in the CC8S without too many issues, I made a mess of it in this car. I think the tyres were the problem.

I used the 2016 Cayman GT4 in Decade in the Making. Sound choice as usual and no real issues.

I PB’ed the HW PR stunt and got a one-third good SWS for my efforts.

Fire and Ice was one of those HW seasonals where I don’t know what’s supposed to be good. I chose the FE Ford Racing Puma because it was S1 900. Whether it was built for the vaguely named hazard racing, I don’t know, but it was all right. It did get pestered by a Mustang. This was annoying because it was one of those FD Mustangs that’s in among the Fords. This is a car that ought to be undrivable in HW hazard races, and yet it slid nowhere even on ice or snow. It wasn’t the only FD car that turned up in this week’s seasonals, sticking to the road like a GT3 or 4 car.

It took me a few attempts in the Jesko to do the annoying jump in Sierra Nueva. The other car that was being mentioned on the forums was the Rimac. This is an extremely annoying jump with its little bounce ahead of the ramp.

I picked the MB SL65 AMG for Touring through Dirt (bit of an odd name for a road-racing seasonal). Was is a good choice? Once again I’m not sure it was, but I’m not sure any super GT car is much good in Sierra Nueva.

It was back to the BMW M2 (the original one) for the Trial. It was an odd trial. I came 1st in Las Afueras, but it was a solid team loss with all the rest of them scoring zero. Their driving, from what I could see, was atrocious as they went too fast into corners or ran into walls. I came 2nd in Tunnel Run. In spite of two of the drivatars flying off into the distance, the one in 2nd suddenly started driving like a complete plonker. It was another team loss even though most of the other players quit during the race. The only remaining human DNF’ed. And so on to Cruce de Valle. Two of us left. At the start of the race, the other player sat there doing nothing. He seems eventually to have started, and made some progress before quitting. I won the race. At this point I expected to be informed that I’d lost, but instead, I’d won. I can’t think why as my belief is that blue team has to win two races. I could only guess that the game treated me and my results as team blue and as I’d won two races, I’d won the Trial regardless of the number of points my team had scored overall.

The reward cars this week were all a shrug. Much a case of “I have one of those, I don’t drive it and don’t want another”. Or “I don’t have one of those and desire it not.”

I got another rainbow Pagani Zonda Cinque given to me just recently. I got a second one not long after the car was added to the game, but I disposed of it. This one had barely been driven at all and hadn’t upgraded. I’ve taken to passing most of the gifted cars I get on to “new” players, but am hoping that this particular mechanic will be absent from FH6. I can’t begin to guess what PGG were thinking when they came up with this, but it’s never been anything but a terrible idea.

The Ginetta G10 RM. It’s official – he’s a dirty boy

Irony moment. After trying the Ginetta on dirt, PGG sends everyone a message telling us all to race the car on dirt. (Why, then, is it a track toy?)

Irritating moment. The Ginetta G55 GT4 is in Forza Motorsport. Might it turn up in FH5 next month? It’d be nice if it did, but I doubt it. Come on, PGG, prove me wrong.