FH5, Series 37, Week 3

The treasure hunt seems to have been rather contrary from what I’ve been hearing. I headed to the jumping-off point for Eventlab Island before going down to the beach and driving north to Playa Azul. At some random point, the task was done.

For the weekly challenge we had to drive the BMW X5M. What did we have to race it in? A Street Scene race. Well done, PGG, another car that encourages impressionable young players to drive the wrong sort of vehicle in the wrong sort of event. Or does it? I suppose that since SUVs are mostly urban vehicles driven by gangsters, gangsters’ wives(/yummy mummies), gangsters’ molls, and gangsters’ henchmen (or for “gangsters” read “shifty builders” and “shady plumbers”; “people from Cheshire[/Alderley Edge/Chelsea]”), this is an ideal vehicle to drive in a Street Scene race.

I managed to one-shot all the PR stunts in the Taycan CT. I half expected the danger sign to go wrong, but managed to land the car without it flipping or slamming into a tree. One-third very good SWS. I used the FH4 trick of holding the car in 1st gear for the speed trap and then changing to 2nd on the corner. Two-thirds very good SWS. The drift zone was untidily done and the game punished me with a rubbish SWS.

My suspicion with respect to the photo this week is that no one is using the Test Track. No big surprise as I’ve never seen the point of it. #ForcedEngagement.

Eventlab (1). Snow Mountain Pass Rally. This was a pain i’th’ arse. 1-2-3-2-1 kind of thing with an overpowered car. And the reward was another Volvo Polestar. Yawn.

Eventab (2). Neon Nights Devil’s Rush. Part of the course had a motorsport look (was this meant to be based on the full Nordschleife?) There were also places where it was possible to leave the track and get stuck because the props were just a little too tall to drive back onto. The SWS was rubbish.

For Little Rally I ended up in the 2010 VW Golf R. It lumbered its way into first round San Juan and had no oomph. When I checked the car after the race, I found I’d tuned it for off-road racing (previous seasonal, I think). I revised the tune, which was better, but the tyres weren’t the best for mixed surfaces.

Generation Alpha was another seasonal in, er… The simple answer seems to have been super saloons from the 2010s. I opted for the BMW M2 (2016) again. What a dull old git I am. And finally one of the new sprint races was in a seasonal. Pity it was Cloverleaf where the drivatars rubber band in the final sector. And the reward was another Xpeng. I’m not sure I’ve ever driven one, but am sure the villagers were vociferous in their demands for the car to be included in the game and that it wasn’t just a marketing exercise.

I got my clean racing skills in Horizon Open doing Gran Pantano. Most Open fanboys probably said to themselves, “What’s a clean racing skill?”

For the Trial I went with the BMW 1M. Emerald Circuit was very wet, but that didn’t cause me too many problems and I came 2nd. Team win, but only by 50pts. I thought Descansar Dorado might be a right pain, but the sharp right-hander at the end of the long straight wasn’t the nuisance that it can often be. I managed a 4th, but I build for handling not for speed.

I didn’t realise that the HW PR stunt was cars worth CR200,000 or less and (the part I overlooked) S1 900. I had to slightly adjust the WP Porsche Taycan to get it into the right class, but it had no problems with the speed trap.

The seasonal, Sports Utility Hazard, was more of those ridiculous, random hazard races. The Porsche Macan was my weapon of choice. It worked well enough even through the final sector of the awful Canyon Loop Hazard Sprint where the drivatars often catch up. Another 2020 Shelby Mustang. Third one? Probably.

The RA PR stunt was a repeat screening. I used the WP Taycan again and as on the last occasion, I started my run-up in the riverbed. One-shotted and a one-third very good SWS.

And finally, a Huddersfield woman wearing no knickers was rescued from a tree by firemen… Sorry, I mean, and finally, Apex Dailies. The 2004 Honda Civic Tyre R was ready to go and did a decent job in all three races. Second week we’ve had to drive The Narrows. Actually, it popped into my tiny little mind that as Sierra Nueva is all sprint races, we don’t really need more of them on the main map.

I’ve had a very brief play with the new Fiesta ST. No thoughts yet.