FH5, Series 41, Week 1

The igloos for the treasure hunt are in the south east corner of the stadium, and the treasure itself is awkwardly placed on the railway line that runs along Copper Canyon.

I had to do Nissan Eazy because that was the only way to get the 2024 Nissan Z Nismo for the weekly challenge. I used my 2000 Nissan Silvia Spec-R, which struggled to escape from the drivatars in any of the races, even Estadio. Normally, it’s a decent B-class car, but the drivatars were having none of it. Annoying little buggers.

The 2024 Nissan Z Nismo is the Z we ought to have had. Tuning 1/9 (pathetic). Good range of perks, but nothing outstanding. Too many gears stock. I built it to mid-S1 class. Launch on a keyboard is a pain, but once it gets going, it carves its way through the field. I can’t see the point of the Z with this in the game. Overall, it’s a decent modern sports car.

Things didn’t go so well with the PR stunts. I used the Holden Torana. I underestimated the run-up for the danger sign and got an utterly rubbish SWS. I actually managed to one-shot the speed zone and got an SWS which was one-third very good, one-third excellent, and one-third well beyond excellent, which compensated for the crap that got chucked at me. The trailblazer took a couple of goes. If you look at the map, you can see an unmarked trail through the trees, which leads to the road. I made the mistake (?) of trying to cut the final couple of turns and only just managed to hit the target time. Possibly I needed to aim the car in the right direction. Mediocre SWS.

Eventlab (1). Em Linden Circuit. Good use of props, terrible surface, awful layout. What was the deal with the checkpoints? Were they on sale at Asda?

Eventlab (2). City Slicker Circuit. This wasn’t too bad. Again, a track that needed practice. The SWS was one-third good.

I forgot that as this is the first week of the month, we’d have to deal with Rivals. The stock Z Nismo felt slidey round Playa Azul. The Cadillac CTS-V Sport, the estate car you never knew existed and know you don’t want, was a barge on Rocosa. The new BMW M5 wasn’t too bad on the awful Reservorio. A little slidey, but mostly a sound performer stock. The BMW i4 is a series reward car. Have we been that bad? I drove it carefully round Estadio.

I took a photo. I got a silly item of headgear that could only be worn by someone who has no sense of embarrassment.

I managed to one-shot the HW PR stunt in the Ariel Atom, but so incompetently that you’ll think that my terrible SWS for it was well deserved.

I struggled to do the RA PR stunt. In the end it was that bloody awful VW Beetle off-roader which managed to get this done. The SWS was one-third beyond excellent. Again, further compensation for the game’s other contemptible SWSs.

I did the Trial to get a third 1987 Nissan Skyline. I went with the 2007 Honda Civic Type R. I started on the front row of Valle del Río and managed a 2nd in spite of falling back through the field. You know the drill, though. People who can’t take corners. Team win. Mulegé. I started on the back row and fell to the back at the start of the race, but realised as I approached the hairpin that this wasn’t a bad thing because I could see the absolute carnage there and managed to avoid it, thus placing me in about 5th. I managed to come 4th, but there wasn’t enough race for me to catch the three drivatars at the front. I ought to have passed the player in 4th much, much sooner, although even if I had overtaken the drivatar in 3rd, it wouldn’t have helped.  This meant that we had to go to Línea Costera where I started on the middle row and came 4th again, but this time we had a solid team win.

The Bentley Flying Spur ended up being quite decent. I built it into low S1 class, although that was only because it had semi-slick tyres. Even with race weight reduction, it was still quite chunky, but I think the weight distribution and aero probably helped. In spite of it being AWD and chubby, it was very manoeuvrable and stuck nicely to the road. I suspect that with too much power, the driving experience would be far less enjoyable.