Occasional Tales

I’ve spent much of today trying the Nissan Retro Rides Car Pack, and the cars which Horizon Realms has unlocked. Nissan Retro Rides They’re mostly the same. Same stock tuning – 1/9 (see me after class), the same perks, including the 150% XP racing bonus (probably to entice players to drive them), and whole range of engine swaps. I built all of them in much the same way and raced them round 5 laps of the Stadium Track . 1991 Nissan Figaro. Built to B class. 04:25.359 with a best lap of 00:50.594, which shows just how short this track is if I can lap it in this time in a FWD car. 1989 Nissan Pao. The camshaft boosted this into A class. Overall time, 04:16.551, which was 15 seconds faster than the drivatars. My fastest lap was 00:49.749. 1989 Nissan S-Cargo (escargot – geddit?). In this first race, this blasted into the lead. Another car I built into low A class. Very nose-heavy. Race time of 04:15.505 which was 21 seconds ahead of the drivatars probably because by now I had the measure o...

This week’s treasure hunt was… but first a word from our sponsors, Horizon Realms – playpen opportunities to annoy you to a greater or lesser extent. All your favourite Evolving Worlds™ are packed inside minuscule spaces with maximum opportunities to lose skill chains. Horizon Realms, coming to a PC, xbox, PS5 (delete as applicable) near you. What was I talking about? Oh, the treasure hunt. Do some jumps in the Pontiac Firebird. The weekly was the return of the 1983 VW Golf GTi. It had to include a Street Scene race, and the Street Scene race had to include the inappropriate Porsche Rallye (pronounced “Dakar”). Yes, I won, but that Porsche Dakar… sorry, Rallye, has a tendency to pop up in all the wrong places and being one of those cars that the drivatars make you hate (e.g., the Supervan 3 in FH4) even though it’s quite good. (Aside: I don’t think the Porsche Rallye [Dakar? –ed.] is that good, being too overpowered and too underhandling.) I somehow managed to knock out an ultimate ski...

The game was much less kind this week, and I actually had to do something to complete the treasure hunt. The weekly challenge was in the Hoonigan F-150, which has the advantage of being AWD. Of course, some wit at PGG had to include the Volcán Sprint , although apart from the wiggly bit (I was too fast into it), I managed not to make a fool of myself. That got me another Sierra 700R as well. Woohoo! Shopping trolleys for everyone. Time for the PR stunts. One-shotted the danger sign for a one-third good SWS. One-shotted and PB’ed the speed trap for a rubbish SWS (isn’t that always the way?) No, wait, there’s more. Went up a level and got a better wheel spin. I managed to one-shot the drift zone for another rubbish SWS. Eventlab (1), Crop Circle Stadium Rally . Points on for props. Points off for placement of props because the intermittent tyre bundles were a potential nuisance. Points off for overpowered cars on a go-kart track. Points on for this being limited to two laps. Eventlab (2)...

The treasure hunt. The tile suggested that I should jump a particular distance across some river. I got in my FE Puma, left my house, and my job was done. Perhaps like London, there’s a buried river beneath Mulegé. This is not the first time I’ve completed a treasure hunt without actually doing it. There was another one which also involved a jump. I bounced over a low rise, I certainly hadn’t done the required distance, but had somehow completed the task. The weekly challenge was in the Hoonigan Ford Focus Gymkhana 10. I retuned the car for road racing because one of the tasks was Tunnel Run , which didn’t really help. I’ve been trying some of the Hoonigan clown cars (let’s call ’em what they are) with the turbo rally engine instead, which seems to help. I knew the danger sign into the stadium would be annoying because although I landed the car without it flipping, it appears you had to land on the wheels; and when I did complete the task, I PB’ed it to be applauded with a rubbish SWS....

I thought we had another faulty weekly because the light-grey Hoonigan Mustang didn’t initially trigger the event. I did Highland Climb for the Street Scene race, but with care and got a pathetic wheel spin afterwards. That took me to a spot just outside Guanajuato, where I quickly found a taco cart to smash, and the drifting after that was no problem. I one-shotted the drift zone in the Hoonicorn while I was doing the weekly. A pitiful exhibition of drifting, but it worked. I PB’ed the speed trap the other day when I was practising, but this took me a couple of attempts in my low S2-class International Scout. One-third good SWS. One-shotted the danger sign for a lame SWS. Thanks, game. Eventlab (1). Cordillera Lapras . I liked this as an intermediate-length scramble. Went with the Escort RS1600. Eventlab (2) Mangrove Rallycross . Night – no. Layout – ugh. Props – good unless there were awkward jumps ahead of corners. Another pathetic SWS. One-shotted the HW PR stunt in the Jesko (obv...