Occasional Tales

Treasure hunt. Nevera. Easy money. The weekly in the CC8S was mostly straightforward apart from the showoff skill which I got, er, somehow. I had to stop racing to find out whether I’d completed this especially vexatious task. The Eventlab tiles weren’t just broken again, but really broken. Normally I can restart the game and they be fine. Well, probably fine once I’m outside, but it took a reboot to get the tiles functioning. Grrr. Eventlab (1). Sunset Palms Raceway . Apart from a lack of elevation changes, this was a good GP circuit with its sweeping curves and well-designed technical sections. Eventlab (2). Calvo’s Karting . Oh dear. If the game had karts, this might be quite fun, but this was an irritating tangle in the stadium. It was also another event where you won the car (the Mustang Boss 302) you needed for another event. Eventlab (3). Cordillera Rally . Oh dear (part 2), someone didn’t proofread the name of the event. Two l’s, one r. Not bad, but suffered from my lack of fam

I’ve finally got to level 1,000 in Horizon Open and have the gold badge to prove it. (Also, as an aside, I’ve finally reached prestige 7.) It’s unlikely that outside of the Festival Playlist I’ll ever voluntarily bother with Horizon Open again. This session (which I undertook solely to get the gold badge once and for all) has been no better than the last occasion I played Open racing for a prolonged period. The cheater-exploiters, shovers, rammers, and Chinese e-sports players are all there waiting to ruin the experience, free to bugger up your race one way or another without let or hindrance or fear of any penalties. And then there’s tyre smoke. By all means have some for a touch of realism, but not enough to blind the player and give them enough lung cancer for seven generations. However, the biggest problem, I think, is the overall lack of adequate constraints. Apart from the race type and PI, the Cult of Anything Goes reigns unchallenged, which creates an utterly uneven playing fie

I started this series last night, which meant that today’s MS outrage… sorry, general MS outage didn’t inconvenience me quite as much as it might’ve if I’d waited till today to deal with the Festival playlist. In accordance with long established traditions, I began with the treasure hunt, driving over some bumpy terrain north of Playa Azul to randomly complete the challenge. The weekly was in the Honda S2000 CR. It included the Volcán Sprint , which was also in the Up to Grade seasonal. Did no one at PGG notice this reduplication? I one-shotted the Coast View speed trap from the north, just picking up enough speed without taking too long of a run-up. As I predicted, I was too slow to be able to complete Océano Azul from the north, but had no problems starting from the main Festival site. The two SWSs were one-third good. One-shotted Punta Allen from the south and got a rubbish SWS. I dealt with the HA and the picture beside the statue. The latter got me yet another ridiculous outf

1993 Autozam AZ-1 Tuning 1/9. 150% XP bonus. Like the GR Yaris, the body kit increases the range of tyre widths that can be installed on the car. Even so, the tyres are rather narrow, and the car tends to lose the back end round corners. Up the Volcán Sprint I struggled to maintain effective control. Aero needs to be set higher, but that probably won’t entire fix the problem. The lightness of the car would also seem to contribute to this issue. The acceleration is very good, and the Autozam (which is apparently a Mazda) redlines at 10,000rpm. Not bad. A 3/5 stars, I think. 1997 Mitsubishi Montero Again, 1/9 for tuning. A good range of perks. I started with the Titan and spanked the drivatars, although wonder whether the spring settings were a bit too soft. I then tried a dirt build, but forgot about ride height. I eventually grip rolled round San Juan after a lot of two-wheeled moments, but in that race and Teotihuacán (lowered the ride height for this one), I got pestered by that B

We start with a copy-and-paste from FH4, the 2017 AM Vanquish Zagato as the main series car. The Deberti Mustang is the 80% car. So far, a good start as I don’t mind the belated return of the Vanquish Zagato. In summer we’re getting yet another version of the Lamborghini Aventador (yawn) and the good ol’ Ferrari Dyno… Er, Dino /diːnəʊ/, Jake (there you go, mate, phonemic transcription at no extra cost). In autumn the season rewards are something called a 1976 VW SP-2 (never heard of it; sounds like a VW Beetle and probably has the same engine) and the Emory 356 (will this also be my third one?) I notice the prominent presence of Do(ugh)nut Media items. Curious considering that it seems to have been falling apart recently with various members of the team departing. Is Coffee and Cars meant to have been the third part of the Do(ugh)nut Media story? I believe the Mazda MX-5 RF dates from 2022. Well, it’s about time we had a newer MX-5 in the game, considering the most recent model before

This week saw me polish off another notebook which, I see, I started using way back in Series 23. The most annoying thing about the weekly in the Lynk & Co. 03+ was spending CR60,000 on a car that needed little or no more money spent on it. I went with an engine swap, but this sort of thing only makes sense when the car is new. The danger sign was a matter of lather, rinse, repeat until I PB’ed it by a whisker. Best to start near the bonus board, and I suppose I ought to have tried to build my Jesko for dirt or off-road racing, but couldn’t be bothered. A one-third very good SWS. I one-shotted the drift zone and PB’ed it. My reward? A horrendously terrible SWS. The Eventlab tiles were broken again and only worked after I resumed the game after lunch. Eventlab (1) was Old Bridge Rally Stage . I used my A800 Extreme E (practice for the Trial). Not a bad circuit and the use of props was minimal, but effective. Eventlab (2), Gummy Bear Circuit , was generally not terrible, but in cockp

Yes, I’m back from my hols. They seemed all too short as the missus will attest. I painted my Pagani. I went to the drowned church. I found treasure. We had to drive the Saleen S1 for the weekly challenge, a car I’ve done almost nothing with ever. No real problems doing the challenges. I assume I’ll drive the car again when they recycle this weekly. I got the HA in early. Some drifting. Less bungling than of late. I did the usual cheat with the speed trap on the bridge outside Mulegé by barrelling down the hill. The SWS was rubbish. The trailblazer was a colossal pain i’ th’ arse mainly because of the stones at the top are difficult to spot even when I’m using chase cam. I know there’s a path through the trees to the finish, although it’s easy to miss. I ended up in the FE Fairlady (or whatever it is), the off-roader, and got it done by a decent margin. However, this is a PR stunt which wastes time for an SWS that was one-third very good. I got my idiot reward of the week by photograph