FH5, Series 34, Week 4

The treasure hunt returns. As my Sagaris, well, one of them, couldn’t hit the required speed, I switched to the Cerbera. Job done and I went and got my treasure.

The weekly was in the BMW M1. As others have observed, we had to race it first and then upgrade it. It’s fairly iffy stock. Anyway, there were no major issues with the weekly, but it was annoying to upgrade it after the race. Chance I’ll drive it again? Remote.

The sole Eventlab this week was Waterfall GP. It’s the sort of circuit which needs practice beforehand. I thought some of the turns were a little too tight, Again, scaling. Two laps were quite enough.

Once again, I did some practice last week for the PR stunts. The BMW M3 GTR was good for the job, although it took me two attempts to take the jump because of the unusual amount of traffic just ahead of the left-hander ahead of the danger sign. A one-third very excellent and one-third very good SWS. I one-shotted both drift zones, but ineptly and got a one-third very good SWS out of Panorámica and a two-thirds very good SWS from Las Curvas.

Pop up, up and down was dirt racing in mostly the wrong sort of cars. I went for the obvious dirt racer in this category, the Lancia Stratos, although I really ought to have added aero. There were too many non rally cars, which made this seasonal rather ludicrous when it ought to have been road racing.

I used the 2004 Honda Civic Type R for Night Riders. Overall, a good car, its weakness being sharp corners and hairpins, where it struggled. I may have been driving the car in the wrong way, but the build was limited.

Another picture, another item of sartorial elegance.

Somehow I ended up doing the S1 900 Beetle races again in Horizon Tour. 2nd round the Baja Scramble. 3rd round San Juan because one of the other players, whom I’d overtaken, was absolutely desperate to win and I let him back past. Las Selva, 1st, but an odd win. I’d been in 3rd when the player ahead of me slowed down, and then the player in 1st did the same. My best guess is lag because they both finished the race.

The Trial. This seemed to start quite well. I’d decided to use the 1965 Giulia Sprint. I came 3rd in Riviera, with all three podium spots going to players, and we got a team win. I came 2nd round Los Jardines, but also observed some terrible cornering skills from the player in front of me. I briefly took 1st, but let them have it back because, it seemed, they were a little peeved. Team loss. And then it was off to Playa Azul, where I started in last place and again watched some hopeless cornering from my teammates. I just managed a 4th, passing a drivatar ahead of the finish, but we lost.

So, I tried again. Started from the back in Riviera and managed to finish 5th along with a team win. Yet more dismal cornering (although I admit that I was so busy watching the driver ahead of me hit a barrier that I did the same in the same place). In Los Jardines I started on the front row of the human grid and managed to take the lead by turn three after skirting my way past everyone else. I won the race by 12 seconds (unprecedented), and we won the Trial.

I used the 2001 Audi RS4 Avant to do the HW PR stunt. Another example of inept drifting, but the car wasn’t really built for the job. A one-third very good SWS.

And then more of that idiotic hazard racing in Hammering the Gas. I stuck with the Audi, but didn’t bother checking the tune, which was for road racing. I survived on snow, adjusted the car, and then did that speed bumps race. Be nice if the game said, “Speed bumps” because my car was now specced up for dirt racing, although softer suspension helps. The final race was that cross-country one, but one of the drivatars in a Bentley Turbo R ran off for a time. Irritating.

I one-shotted the RA PR stunt in the Ford GT70 and got a rubbish SWS.

And then I raced the GT70 to win a GT70 in Easy G-Teasy. By now I was getting annoyed at the game and was glad to see the end of the playlist for the moment.

Series 35

Another Ioniq? I assume this is more marketing. I’m hoping that this isn’t pointing to the content of Series 35, but I fear that it might be. Highly requested car? Don’t know. The SLR McLaren, mentioned several times, fits in with the series theme, but the voting on the forums points to something dull and domestic. However, in spite of the baffling popularity of the Fiat Uno, I assume the car isn’t classed as modern.

We’ll find out on Tuesday (only the Americans find out on Mondays; that way they think they’ve heard it before everyone else) how disappointed we’re going to be.