Occasional Tales

The treasure hunt was easy money. I haven’t done that danger sign in ages, but by and large I only do the PR stunts that are included in the Festival playlist. I followed this with the weekly challenge in the Toyota Supra RZ. Yet another bloody night race. Portentous voiceover to black screen: In an age of darkness… Screen caption: The 1990s… I one-shotted the speed trap in my 1996 Chevrolet Impala, but had been practising ahead of the new season. A one-third good SWS. I one-shotted the speed zone as well for a rubbish SWS, and I one-shotted the trailblazer for a second one-third good SWS. I did Horizon Tour next and ended up in retro rally cars. I initially chose the GT70, but found it was tuned for road racing, and switched to the 1970s Escort rally car. 3rd place from the back row round Mangrove and watched the usually iffy cornering from my teammates. I was on the front row of the human grid for River Scramble and won the race probably because of the questionable cornering behind...

I started with the weekly in the 1997 Honda Civic Type R, being spared the treasure hunt. I did Mulegé as the road race and had a painful couple of first laps. The hard charger skill remains a mystery. I overlarded the car with power and somehow achieved this randomly achieved skill. For the first two PR stunts I went with the 1993 Nissan Skyline. For the jump, keeping to the road seemed best with early turn-in on that slight sharp right-hander ahead of the jump. The SWS was two-thirds excellent. I one-shotted the speed trap, following the road and being careful on the approach. Rubbish SWS. The game decided – as I tried to do the speed zone in vain – that it ought to go CTD on me. I restarted and switched to the ever reliable Nissan Pulsar for another rubbish SWS. I took a photo. I got a stupid horn. I ran down some VCR tapes and got another horn. I am a mediocre player. Hear me squeak! Eventlab (1). JCO Project Race 3 Airport . Another bloody night race, but excellent use of props a...

No seasonals this week as I see no point in doing a bunch of races for cars that I have, have more than one of, and probably don’t want yet again. Also, with particular reference to this week, Street Scene is being overdone. I had to build the car from scratch for the treasure hunt only to pick a sketchy, fog-enshrouded Jungle Descent as the Street Scene race in a monstrously fast car with somewhat iffy handling. Another CR90,000. O thou veriest wit, game. Rather annoyingly I repainted one of my three Diablos before doing the weekly. I slightly altered the colour. Yet another Street Scene race. I chose Highland Climb which the Diablo aced even though the handling was rather dubious. I discovered that I have two Lotus Carltons and have driven neither. Took a picture. I’m sure the reward was something naff. Eventlab (1). Horizon Wave Circuit . Nighttime again. Props brilliant, but the circuit was bloody awful, not actually running back into itself, but looking like it was on the minima...

Treasure hunt. Drive ugly, fake Mustang from the 1990s. Win CR90,000. Oh, ha ha. Rivals. Subaru SVX round Emerald Circuit . Horrible gears stock. Then Chihuahua in the Soarer. Horrible gears and terrible handling. Both cars about as exciting as cold spam fritters on a grey Sunday morning. Weekly in the Ferrari F50. This is a car I like, but I think I need to rebuild it. No probs with the various tasks. I took a snap of the 22B-STi. I got some ghastly clothing that makes me look like one of those poor unfortunates outside shops handing out flyers or scaring small children in a vain attempt to seem cuddly. I did the Eliminator. Even got to 11th before someone provided me with the keys to my freedom. I think I might add this to my list of things to shun. Actually, I almost got timed out when I wandered into Guanajuato looking for a car drop, and the barrier went whizzing past me. I started the PR stunts in the Elise GT1, but switched to the overpowered Cerbera. I eventually managed to PB...

Lazy. My thought – to anticipate my post about the final week of Series 37 – is that Series 38 looks a little lazy. The Forzathon Shop seems to be alternating between HW and 10th-anniversary merch. Yes, I’m sure newer players will be delighted to be able to acquire such items if they missed out on them. Four new cars in the playlist. The 1995 Mitsubishi Evo III seems to be a refugee from that popular Forza Motorsport which everyone is playing [ They are? –ed.]. I’m hoping it’ll be decent on dirt, but I already have my go-to Evos for seasonals in the game. I’m also not sure about the 2022 Subaru WRX now that I’ve heard AR12 Nick give it a shrug. Again, I have my preferred, ready-to-go Imprezas/WRX/STi Subarus. Is this like an SUV in that it looks like it ought to be out in the countryside, but never ever strays off tarmac? In other words, it’s a saloon car that aspires to be a rally car. As for the Toyota Chaser, I admit I’ve never heard of it. I assume that it’s a rival to the Nissan ...