Occasional Tales

1993 Autozam AZ-1 Tuning 1/9. 150% XP bonus. Like the GR Yaris, the body kit increases the range of tyre widths that can be installed on the car. Even so, the tyres are rather narrow, and the car tends to lose the back end round corners. Up the Volcán Sprint I struggled to maintain effective control. Aero needs to be set higher, but that probably won’t entire fix the problem. The lightness of the car would also seem to contribute to this issue. The acceleration is very good, and the Autozam (which is apparently a Mazda) redlines at 10,000rpm. Not bad. A 3/5 stars, I think. 1997 Mitsubishi Montero Again, 1/9 for tuning. A good range of perks. I started with the Titan and spanked the drivatars, although wonder whether the spring settings were a bit too soft. I then tried a dirt build, but forgot about ride height. I eventually grip rolled round San Juan after a lot of two-wheeled moments, but in that race and Teotihuacán (lowered the ride height for this one), I got pestered by that B...

We start with the 1992 Jeep Wrangler Sahara. Tuning 1/9 and Car masteries actually all right. Nothing great, but nothing that made me regret unlocking them. Sluggish old thing stock. I built it into B class and then decided that I ought to make it the top of the class. Raced it in the Titan. Very manoeuvrable and managed to keep the revs up round curves and corners. A solid performer. I had high-ish hopes for K.I.T.T. Tuning 1/9 (bah!), and car masteries included dirt (really?) and a 150% XP bonus along with drag racing (why bother?) I built it to the middle of S1 class, but it has no aero upgrades, which it needs, or failing that, AWD. I expected that the body kit would add aero tuning. Yes, but only to the front. What?! And this version of the car was understeery, although that was probably because of how I tuned the aero. I succumbed and did an AWD dirt build to see what the car might be like. Again, I ended up in mid S1 class. Again, the lack of aero was felt round the Mangrove Scr...

And the other guys. Yes, I bought the Fast and Furious DLC. If you haven’t, if you’re dithering, don’t bother. Fanboys only, I’d say. I tried the cars stock in free roam, tuning what could be tuned. Dodge Charger Hellcat Redeye. Tuning 1/9; car masteries: mostly rubbish (Street Scene and drifting). No engine swaps. Overpowered, terrible handling. Back end wants to be the front, or the car wants to understeer or understeer and slide. Feels floaty. The Flip Car might be redeemable. 6.5 for tuning (the 0.5 is rear aero), and the car has a 200% race bonus. Three-speed gearbox and in spite of it being all frame and no trousers, it’s still 1,882kg. Good steering, but not bulletproof. The Dodge Charger (1970). Tuning 4.5/9 (0.5 because the final drive can be tuned). Has masteries for dirt and drag racing (why are all antique muscle cars in the game meant to be dirt racers? Domestic American racing scene?) Much the same as the Hellcat – overpowered, understeery, slidey, unstable. Datsun 240Z. ...

Ferrari Roma, Lamborghini STE, Lamborghini Essenza. I raced the Ferrari Roma round the Horizon Festival Circuit in the same configuration as I used for the HW Goliath (eight-speed gearbox; RWD). No. It may have 50% weight distribution, but the back end is looser than my ageing bowels. I wondered whether a six-speed gearbox might be the answer, and although that helped a little, the car was still very twitchy round corners. Aero doesn’t rescue it, but AWD does, and the resulting understeer isn’t dire. At least, that’s my experience on a keyboard. The Lamborghini Huracán STE (does it have the longest name of any car in the game?) is meant to be an extreme track toy, but, I feel, is in the wrong class. The Huracán STO ought to be a modern supercar, not a track toy. The STE should be a track toy, not an extreme track toy. It struggled against the Sesto Elemento, the 599XX Evo, and the Ariel Atom. I shouldn’t be winning Copper Canyon by hundredths of seconds, but that’s what happened. The c...

With notes on other new cars. The update was 16Gb. I suspect 1Gb of it was content and bug fixes, and the other 15Gb was the additional slots for cars, liveries and tunes. I went back to Mexico and bought the new DLC. I went pootling this morning and racing this afternoon. The Ferrari 296 GTB has the usual blah perks[1]. It gets 2/9 for stock tuning settings[2], and the gears are too short from 1-3 and too long at the top end even if the car does eventually get there. I raced it round the HW Goliath with handling upgrades but no aero. The car is fast and grippy and quite possibly the best of the bunch. The Ferrari Roma[3] has a 150% perk, but presumably only if you race it in a seasonal[4]. Stock tuning is also 2/9 with silly gear settings, but the weight distribution is 50%. From the HW Goliath it became clear that the car needs aero. It’s not as planted as the 296 GTB. I’ll mention the Italdesign Da Vinci Concept[5]. Big, fat barge. I drove it from the Festival site towards the speed...

Finally an update which deserves the accolade. We finally have an update that will be difficult to dethrone as the Best Evah™ along with DLC which can also be accorded the same honour. We knew what was coming and we’re not being disappointed. All right, the cars are all recycled from FH4. The Lancia Fulvia is missing (shame) and the Alfa Romeo Stelvio (don’t care). I thought the Abarth 124 might be omitted because it’s merely a Mazda MX-5, and I feared the Biposto 695 might be replaced with the Abarth EV that Tim “Shmee150” Burton recently added to his garage. This update deserves praise because it has five decent cars for every shrug. As for the DLC, which is about £8, it’s worth it almost all the way. The previous DLC was one good car (the Emira), one sexy car (the Huayra R), and two that you were stuck with to get what you wanted. I’m guessing that some of the Lamborghinis have been imported from Forza Motorsport as promo for that game. I don’t know why the Italdesign Da Vinci Conc...