FH6, Series 5, Week 1

I couldn’t even begin to guess where the chest for the treasure hunt was. I spent an hour fast travelling round the Ito Region for possible locations before I googled it and found that it was beside the railway line south of the junction that’s south of Ito Airfield. I’d been through the area several times without luck and for some reason, other players weren’t appearing on the map no matter how close they were so that I couldn’t identify the correct place by looking for a cluster of grey dots. Colossally annoying.

I did Cross-Country Heroes because I’ve never got the 2020 Defender and had no intention of buying it if I was going to get it as a reward. Two of the races had to be the least cross country races in the game with that asinine thing at the docks and then the ridiculous one in the city. I assume that after the disappointing and irritating CC race in Guanajuato as a sad replacement for the one in Edinburgh, PGG decided to stick one in Tokyo, which is an urban area, not a rural one. The third race, Shinjuku Gyoen was in the dark, which makes navigating a course that I’ve probably only ever done once a bit of a faff.

Right, now that the Defender was mine, I took care of the weekly, and as the final task was a photo in Shimanoyama, it was an opportunity to whip a Jag out for the photo op.

The 2004 Porsche 911 GT3 was, it seemed, a good choice for Rural Summer. Cedar Run was wet and dark. Points off. River Descent has one of those awful twisty sections. 3/10, see me after class. Sunflower Charge was a good deal less irksome.

I got a very good WS out of drifting round Shimanoyama. A small triumph.

The PR stunts weren’t quite working properly because I wasn’t being told whether I’d passed or failed. I tried the DS several times and may have completed it on a previous attempt. Rubbish WS. I one-shotted the ST. Rubbish WS. The trailblazer was another absolutely massive pain in the arse, and I had to google an answer once again because it would’ve taken me hours to find a car that worked (I tried some of the Minis; wrong answer). The answer was the Aston Martin DBX, but even that took multiple attempts to barely achieve the goal (and I PB’ed it about three times). 20 minutes or so later, I had another rubbish WS.

And then there was Raku Raku, which didn’t go well. I think I got sent off to the railway station, but as it was night, the entrance I was supposed to take was utterly concealed and I only managed to get one star after crashing into bollards (twice). Oh sodding bollards!

Time for Rivals again. Shimanoyama Sprint in the McLaren W1. Not a race I’ve done very much. Perhaps only ever once. Nonetheless, I had a decent SWS afterwards that included the 2021 911.

Didn’t we do the Trial in Total Buggies and Off-road (whatever that’s meant to mean) last week? Out with the Ariel Nomad again, but this time in a dirt racing series. My first attempt didn’t survive the first race, with other players quitting, and the writing on the wall being obvious. I joined the exodus. On my second attempt, I was on track for a 3rd in Waterfall, but some damnable drivatar stole my thunder just ahead of the line. I was first on the human grid for Takashiro, but there were only three of us, and one of the other players quit. I won, but I was also getting quite brutal with the drivatars. Two started Nukabira, and I finished, 1st, after the other player quit. Again, I showed the drivatars no mercy.

I’ll do the HSP later. It’s timing was never good.

I had a play with the Ginetta G40 Junior afterwards. Perks, rubbish. Tuning, 8.5/9.0. It’s already on slicks, but they’re about as wide as a bicycle tyre. I tuned it up and took it round Daikoku. Tyres could be wider, but this might be quite fun as a B-class track toy rather than something built to A- or S1 class. (This car cost £39,000 to £45,000 back in the day, and to enter the championship, the fee was £19,100.)