FH6, Series 7, Week 1

I guessed that the location of the treasure was the park in the north of Tokyo. The chest was just next to the DZ which is one of this week’s PR stunts.

The weekly was the Honda City EII, which I’ve only ever driven in the much-loathed Eliminator. We were forced to do an engine swap, but this was to do the second task, which was to do three PR stunts in a set time. My recommendation is to do the circuit clockwise, although I completed the task going anticlockwise. And you can’t fast travel between events. I tried. I want to rebuild the car and do some proper racing with it.

The photo. Another stupid emote.

I picked the CCGT for Urban Legend, but didn’t discover that I’d not tuned it until I got to the Festival Sprint. That helped. All bloody sprint races, though.

Rise to the Challenge is the Dodge Barge … sorry, Challenger in Street Scene races with about the least amount of traffic I’ve seen, with one car per race turning up often right at the end.

Because the 448 Pista was S1 900 I used it in Paint the Town Red. I was a bit puzzled as to why it was sliding a little too much, only finding out afterwards that it was stock with next to no tuning options.

I had to download a tune for the Toyota Sera to complete the drag meet. Rubbish WS.

The same car was all right for the ST, and the reward was also complete rubbish. I had to download another tune to deal with the DZ for another rubbish WS.

And then there was the Trial which this week was a monumental Trial, taking me seven attempts to complete. In quite a number of those I never even managed to complete Rainbow Bridge Decent. My successful attempt saw the return of a “prestige ten” player from an earlier round. He got to the lead [Due to his excellent driving skills? –ed.] and then vanished, which made me wonder whether he was doing this deliberately to try and ruin the Trial for whichever players happened to end up in the same lobby. I finished Rainbow Bridge in 4th, but decided to persevere because the other player had quit. I managed a 3rd and a team win in the Shuto Charge before coming 1st in the Tokyo City Docks Charge. That was a close-run thing, though, because I went very deep into one corner and thought I’d be doing an eighth bout of the Trial. Luckily, I managed to overtake most of the drivatars by using them as brakes and sliding past them before eventually taking the lead. Yes, darlings, I’m all about the ethical racing.

I feel that the problem with this Trial was a series of races that gave the drivatars the advantage with long, fast sections. I started out with the Honda Beat on semi-slicks and then switched to sport tyres so that I had a bit more engine to play with and a bit more speed. In a lot of my attempts, the lead drivatars were buggering off at the start of the race and staying that way.

I had thought the Honda Beat was meant to be some meta car, but not on this occasion. It’s also a car I’ve never previously driven, and another one like the City EII I’d like to build properly for some racing.

Did Horizon Play Spec Racing in the Letterman Fiesta. Dirt racing, but it had to be dark and wet round Sunflower Scramble.

And lastly, Rivals. The Honda S660 was very sluggish round Shimanoyama. Perhaps upgrades might help it. The Mustang was a decent enough barge round the new Edo Circuit.

Edo Circuit

Good to see that we have another intermediate length circuit in the game. I rolled my eyes to see yet another race that almost immediately goes turn-one-at-Monza (cf. Edinburgh Station Circuit), and I can imagine the city section seeing much dirty, unethical driving because of limited opportunities for passing. I’m not a fan of reverse hairpins (where the road turns one direction, but the hairpin turns the other). We had an Evenlab event in FH5 like this. Overall, though, the circuit is all right.

Shuto Charge

This looks like the City Circuit in reverse and may end up being the closest thing FH6 has to the Marathon. One very nuisance bridge early in the race. I twice crashed into the end on the left-hand side in the Trial, and watched another player completely miss it and go flying off the course. In spite of partly or wholly doing this track seven times, I never once thought, What a cool race. Still can’t understand the allure of Street Scene.

1968 Holden Monaro GTS

I tried this on tarmac and dirt. I thought it might be an alternative to the Torana, but I’d describe it as a sound performer instead.

2024 MB AMG G 63 4Matic+

(Well, there’s a name that trips off the tongue.) AWD, usual sort of understeer issues, but like the Holden, it’s all right. Another car that I’m only likely to drive on rare occasions.

2025 Ford Mustang GTD

I took this thing out stock (with what little tuning it allows) and managed to come 1911st [sic!] round Legend Island Circuit. I did do some building. Race weight reduction sent it nearly 100 PI points to near the top of S2 class. Silly. I’ll take it racing later.

Best update evah™

Really? I keep seeing this and can’t think why that would be anyone’s judgement. It’s not terrible, but, I think, is going to come, go, and be forgotten. I do get the impression that some players are fed up with negative comments about the game, but to label this the best update is likely to be undermined by labelling Series 8 in the same way. Und so weiter as the Germans say.