Occasional Tales

I started the week with the weekly challenge in the ugly 1993 Ford SVT Cobra, a car that wouldn’t have looked sexy and desirable even back in the 90s. I’d seen there were problems with painting the body of the car, but, it seems, the dot on the tile wasn’t turning yellow to indicate completion, while the text at the bottom said the task had been completed. I did the race and the weekly was done. I went to the Street Scene Festival site and smashed some cubes, which got me the 80% series car. PR stunts. In the Cobra again, but this time C600. I one-shotted the danger sign and managed to front flip on landing. The SWS was one-third very good and two-thirds good, a most unusual outcome. It took a lot of attempts to do the Trailblazer. I know the best strategy, which is to head through the gate at a shallow angle, swing right through the trees (if you don’t go right enough, you’ll get savaged by the game’s feral logs), follow the road, and cut corners. I still have a theory that there’s a ...

I was looking for some videos on my old laptop at school yesterday when I came across a video of me playing Most Wanted (2005). I think I was probably testing the game bar to record a video about six years ago (?) when I had that game installed just before I bought Horizon 4. I see that Ericship111 posted a video about FH5 ending too soon. Ending? Another matter. The video I found had me wondering why I played MW (2005) so much even though it had no Festival playlist, the roster of cars was minute, and nothing new was ever added to the game. The game has some progression (which – little reminder – can’t go on forever) in that you did events to unlock new parts of Fairhaven and to challenge rivals on the Black List before dealing with Sergeant Cross and the Corvette Squad. What made the game replayable for me was the police pursuits even though I reached a point where I knew all the tactics to evade them or boost my score because Sergeant Cross would sit behind me in the docks just out ...

Treasure hunt. I did a figure-8 round the crates at the Street Scene outpost. No drifting required. The treasure is not far from the stadium to the south-west. I think I have about 69,000 FPs. Nothing to spend them on, not even Backstage Passes. The weekly in the 2016 CTS-V passed without any issues, although some players may need to buy a new one to spend the credits to get it into S1 class. As I had a second, unused one, that wasn’t a problem. Eventlab, Chemical Plant . Totalitarian use of props. Points off for a night race and a terrible circuit. Points on for at least restricting the race to C-class hot hatches. PR stunts. I added front aero and heavier rims to get the CTS-V to the top of S1 class. The danger sign was a nuisance because on my first attempt I got the distance, but landed on a rock. Got it on the second attempt by aiming slightly to the left. Start from the Lookout Circuit turn (I’ve decided that a long run-up doesn’t really help, especially on that deceptive right-...

Treasure hunt. Burn some rubber, skid or something like that out at the airfield. The treasure chest is near the start of the San Juan Scramble. The weekly in the 1965 Pontiac GTO was uneventful. On the other hand, a D-class 1965 Pontiac GTO was a pain i’ th’ arse because the car had sod-all handling when I was attempting the Mulegé danger sign on stock tyres. Three tries for a one-third good SWS. I one-shotted the speed trap on the bridge by approaching it from the Ek’ Balam side and using the pavement inside the tunnel to help. Rubbish SWS. Then it was time for a pic. I got a scarf. It’s years since I’ve acquired a new scarf. Now there’s something FH6 should have – a clothing editor. I must suggest this at once. Eventlab, Rally of the Ancient Ruins , was actually a good idea, incorporating deliberately or otherwise, parts of Teotihuacán and other dirt races. I forgot that this was Rivals week. Granjas de Tapalpa in the 2022 Dodge Challenger Super Stock. Too much power, too fat, iff...

Two new cars and that may be all FH5 is getting. One is the 2022 Dodge Challenger SRT Super Stock which will probably end up being garage filler like the other non-Viper Dodges, and the other is one of those 90s “Mustangs”. The rest will please newer players who are looking to fill holes in their garages. More extended night. Ugh. The night’s already too long and I still don’t understand the point of it. Perhaps in FH6 they could adjust the hours of daylight according to the season. Also, those bloody garish neon lights. Ugh! (but with an exclamation mark). A choice of opening screens is a nice late idea. I’m tempted to opt for the Horizon 4 one, but probably won’t change anything. This looks to be the last series with any new cars because from now on we’ll be voting for one old series or another, although there will be some updates to the playlist such as expansion events with series that predate Hot Wheels or Rally Adventure. Perhaps this is the “new content” to which PGG may be some...

 Series 43 preview and the 2023 Porsche 911 Turbo S. As I guessed yesterday, the post outline Series 41 was on the forums this morning, The post also covered Series 42 and teased Series 43. The cars. A couple of estate cars. Not my favourite class, although there are one or two decent ones such as the Hammer Wagon. There ought to be one of those stupid phrases to go with estate cars saying, “Get orf moi laaand!” (Irate country sort.) The Nissan Z Nismo doesn’t really interest me. I find the Nissan Z to be a barge and not a worthy heir to its antecedents, and I suspect that, for example, the perks for both cars will be the same. It’s a pity they won’t bring back the Bentley FE from FH4 because that had racing pedigree. I don’t really see the point of adding some chunky luxury barge to the game. Bentley marketing? The BMW M5 CS does interest me. First new M5 since the 2018 model which in FH4 has the most wins of any car I’ve driven. And lastly, in Series 42, we have some ridiculous s...