FH5, Series 39, Week 4

The treasure hunt was easy money. I haven’t done that danger sign in ages, but by and large I only do the PR stunts that are included in the Festival playlist.

I followed this with the weekly challenge in the Toyota Supra RZ. Yet another bloody night race. Portentous voiceover to black screen: In an age of darkness… Screen caption: The 1990s…

I one-shotted the speed trap in my 1996 Chevrolet Impala, but had been practising ahead of the new season. A one-third good SWS. I one-shotted the speed zone as well for a rubbish SWS, and I one-shotted the trailblazer for a second one-third good SWS.

I did Horizon Tour next and ended up in retro rally cars. I initially chose the GT70, but found it was tuned for road racing, and switched to the 1970s Escort rally car. 3rd place from the back row round Mangrove and watched the usually iffy cornering from my teammates. I was on the front row of the human grid for River Scramble and won the race probably because of the questionable cornering behind me. I had a mid pack start round Teotihuacán and came 3rd after an appalling bad corner on the final dirt section that I just can’t explain.

Eventlab (1). Storm Drain. This seemed to be channelling the spirit of GTA5. Not a bad circuit, but I felt it was a little visually monotonous in grey. Perhaps better done in chase cam. I drove the Dodge Magnum, which seemed to be a good choice. Rubbish SWS.

Eventlab (2). Mesa Circuit. I chose the Lancia Delta HF Integrale. Another good circuit race with the judicious use of props.

The photo had me in that Toyota MR2, which I’ve never previously driven. I got some stupid phrase. Now I feel stupid. This sort of thing is so infectious.

I did actually do the 90s Icons seasonal. As I said, I’d never driven that MR2, although I did the races in the 1994 Toyota Celica, which probably wasn’t the cleverest thing to do. The car was built for dirt racing, but I retuned it for road racing. I should probably have gone with a suitable Supra because the Celica was chunky and lacked adequate handling on tarmac.

As for On the Lookout, I didn’t bother with the actual seasonal, but did the three races in my yellow Ferrari F50 (S1 871) for something to do. Not the most handling car RWD, but was mostly all right. Best round Tierra Próspera, where I won by 11 seconds.

I used the Peugeot 205 Rallye for the HW PR stunt. The rubbish SWS was utterly eclipsed by the wheel spin I got afterwards for going up a level.

I one-shotted the RA PR stunt for a well-deserved SWS that was one-third very good and one-third good.

And lastly, the Trial. First problem was trying to activate the event as the connection was being all funny. I missed one start because of this and then had to keep reconnecting to the event, which actually worked. I was in my reliable 1995 Nismo GT-R LM. Guanajuato Sur looked to be a 5th for me and a team loss, but as I was racing back into Guanajuato, I managed to pass the two drivatars ahead of me and the player in 1st place to win the race myself. I wonder whether the player in 1st was trying to slow the drivatars, but our apparent loss became a palpable win. I was mid pack for Festival Gatecrash and came 3rd. About a second separated the first three places, and we absolutely spanked the drivatars.

Series 40

I was expecting the new Mustang from FM8, but instead we really got the Porsche 911 Anniversary Update. The 911 Turbo S was a favourite of mine from Most Wanted (2005), but the car’s not been updated in the game since 2014. But I can say something similar about the GT3 RS, which hasn’t been updated in five years. It was fresh when it was in FH4, but it’s not fresh any longer. It was a special reward in FH4, but I think I ended up with about five or six of them in FH4 at one point, and it stopped being a special reward. The 911 Rallye (Dakar; #LicensingIssues?) doesn’t really belong here, but might be an interesting alternative to the FE 911.

I like the 911, but some variety for Series 40 wouldn’t have hurt such as, say, the Ginetta GT4 car from FM8 and other modern (extreme) track toys. The 911 GT3 R seems to be a stray from Apex Allstars.

What rescues this is that the Porsches are not DLC, but I’ll guess there probably won’t be any more car packs. The question is how many more new exclusives will there be before we start getting recycled playlists.

What’s with all the Halo props? New Halo game coming, or is this advertising to try and lure FH5 players to Halo. What’s the current state of Halo? I recall it being another bugfest from the MS game stable, but as I’m not a player, I’ve no idea whether it’s got better or whether it’s quietly withered like FM8 to a few persistent players. If the props are used properly [Is this a pun? –ed.], we could have some quite good Eventlab maps, although I’m not sure how relevant Halo is to Mexico or quite what the point of this addition at this stage in the life of FH5.

The other news is that there will be no more live streams for FH5 for the time being. Ever? They’ll probably be back for FH6 which, it’d be a safe guess, is now PGG’s real focus.

Finally, a second month without a squeak out of JakeXVX on YouTube, which is almost certainly benefiting other YouTubers such as Ericship111. Jake’s good for an overview of what’s in each playlist, but apart from the new cars and a glimpse of some of the weekly challenges, I have no idea.