FH5 Series 2 Winter/Dry notes

FH5 Series 2 Winter/Dry Season Notes

Forzathon: 2009 Ferrari 458 Italia (3pts)
This car will set you back 225k credits, and can do all the challenges stock. First is hold 200mph for 10 seconds; a freeway run will do the trick once you get it up to 7th gear. Next is earn 6 stars from Speed Zones within five minutes; pick a road one and just keep going back and forth through it. Shouldn’t take too many passes. Finally is two Road Circuit wins; there’s not much to say here, except that the shortest circuit is Bola Ocho, in the south-east of Guanajuato, with sub-1min lap times, even from the standing start. An easy 60 points (120 with the house or VIP). Note that the Forzathon shop is rotating daily this week!

Arcade (3pts)
Nothing out of the ordinary here. Now that the events scale to participant count, it’s much easier to get this one away. Don’t forget to complete this in a car worth 1m+ CR, to clear one of last week’s daily challenges!

Trial: Santamental Feelings, B 700 Retro Sports Cars (10pts)
Three short road circuits. Emerald Circuit in the south-west, then Estadio Circuit and if the need arises, Bola Ocho on the side of Guanajuato. The first two are on the more open side, while the last is twistier; as such, speed will likely be a higher consideration than handling. Though if you do go for this, try to wrap it up in two races. A Nissan GT-R ‘95 awaits the victors, worth 1.1m CR at Autoshow prices!

Playground Games: Jungle Bells, B 700 Classic Rally (3pts)
Same deal as always here. The arena is the disused airport in the south. You get a nice rallycross Beetle for your trouble.

Danger Sign: Basejump, B 700 Retro Sports Cars (2pts)
You can reuse your Trial car this week; it shouldn’t be difficult to make the distance with the drop you have to work with. Don’t just (Horizon) Rush through this PR stunt though, take a look around the outpost while you’re up there… and smash a few of those presents for a seasonal collectible task! A few of them are on the jump line, so clear them away before going for the jump to avoid losing speed by hitting them. All the PR stunts this week have targets that match or exceed the 2-star value.

Speed Trap: Bulevar, S1 900 1997 Mazda RX-7 (2pts)
Common car, 35k CR, B 645 as stock, so you’ll probably spend at least twice as much again tuning it to class. Straighter approach is from the south. 241km/h is the target here.

Trailblazer: Barranco, A 800 UTV’s (2pts)
Before you start, snap a photo. This week’s challenge for that is any car at the top of the volcano, where you have to be to start anyway. Three car options, only one is in class as stock (the SIERRA Cars RX3). You start with 65s on the clock; you need 15s at the finish, meaning you have 40 seconds to descend the volcano. General trailblazer tips apply; keep it out of the trees, etc.

Seasonal Championships:
Feliz Navidad: C 600 1970s (5pts)
Plenty of car choices, including this week’s DLC car (the Lambo Espada, my first car of choice for this; with only 3 PI to play with, I gave it street brakes and a sport ignition to top it out. However, it was severely lacking in acceleration.). I ended up using a tuned Datsun 510. The prize is a Hoonigan Escort (suitable for the 180 in an 1800 accolade).
Dirt roads are your battleground here, with two Trails (Fuera de Camino and Desierto) and the Horizon Baja Scramble. These seem to be a compromise, with wider corners being more numerous than tight redirections.
Fuera de Camino: The first main corner is the square left, and it can come up on you fast. You can make a couple of positions under brakes here. Take care not to overrun the square left onto gravel, as this will be costly. The key to racing at lower class levels is momentum; often times (in my experience) the fastest method through a corner is tapping the brakes to shift the weight, and drifting through the corner, especially on softer surfaces.
Desierto: No real comments here on major key points; just keep the speed up!
Baja Scramble: Time to play rough. The first tabletop jump is a key point; either make sure you have enough speed to clear it in a single jump, or slow down and take one jump on and one jump off. Try to minimise the speed scrubbed off through the hairpin sequence; it’s a lot harder to build it back up. This includes avoiding the puddle inside the third hairpin; that will slow you down more than running around the high line would. Be careful on the power when you go under the giant tire; if you don’t keep it under control, you’ll go through the Horizon signs and right into the end of the solid barrier. You can gain big on the final turn if you get the line right, clipping the inside checkpoint as the apex.

‘20 Supra GR Championship: A 800 2020 Toyota Supra (5pts)
Is that a Supra? Yes; twelve of them in fact. You already have the car (it’s one of the starters, and it’s in class as stock). Three races, and your reward is clothes; specifically, a Toyota-branded race suit. Clothes completionists should definitely make a point of clearing this challenge, as I don’t see it becoming available for anything else for a long time. No tune necessary; if you leave it as stock, the AI will also be stock, meaning you can’t get the upgrades wrong relative to them.
Tracks are Horizon Mexico Circuit, Plaza Circuit and Panoramica Sprint; this championship is rather handling-focused, especially with the latter two tracks set in the Guanajuato area.
Horizon Mexico Circuit: this twisty racetrack set throughout and just to the north-west of the main Festival is one everyone is probably familiar with by now. There aren’t many overtaking opportunities under brakes, so the key is to carry more speed through the wider apexes (first left, the bridge crossover, and the final turn) to slingshot past the Drivatars who are braking more than necessary. The only real braking opportunity is into the left hairpin, though, with the banking it drives more like a sweeper.
Plaza Circuit: Nothing really remarkable about this track. Don’t feel guilty about forcing the AI into the barrier; give them half a chance and they will do the same to you. The square left uphill after taking the exit is easy to overrun.
Panoramica: Again, there’s little to say except it’s tight, twisty, and the walls are not to be trifled with. Once you exit Guanajuato for the outer roads the second time (after the double hairpins) the right-hander that the line has you brake for rather early; brake when it tells you to. It’s tighter than it looks.

Oh, Deer: A 800 Land Rover Range Rover (5pts)
Another model class championship; three options, including one in class as stock (the SVR, which I ran at the class limit). Reindeer ears are your prize.
Being a Range Rover championship, it was always going to be Cross-Country. Two point-to-point races (Copper Canyon and Las Ranas) are joined by the Herencia XC circuit around the temples of Teotihuacan. As ever, those temples are SOLID, so be careful with your lines there!
Copper Canyon: Mind the jump down into the titular canyon; if you land forward, you’ll lose a lot of momentum. The river turn just after can send Drivatars well wide of the signage; be aware that they may T-bone you! Take care in the rock tunnel; clipping the walls through here is a big momentum-killer.
Las Ranas: This one’s all about the terrain, up and down. You’ll spend almost as much time with your wheels off the ground as on it, so pick your lines early and commit. Watch the bridge; that pillar will move for no car. Aim for the left support. Another momentum-killer jump late in the stage, but by this time you should have built up enough of a lead that it’s not a concern.
Herencia: As mentioned earlier, don’t get in a fight with a Mexican cultural object. You will come off second-best. Take care at the crossover; though there’s a ramp before it, you don’t want to lose to the car in 12th taking you out because you were slow off the jump and got T-boned. Mind the farm machinery and house on the inside of the second left-hand turn, after going under the awning.

Horizon Tour Co-op (3pts)
If you’re lucky, you’ll have this done already thanks to the bank error in your favour (it only seems to check if you’ve won a championship in that season, no matter which series).

Photo Challenge: #SNOWGIANT (2pts)
See the Trailblazer PR stunt for this.

Horizon Open: People Person (2pts)
So I heard you like the Eliminator… and if you don’t, tough. Eliminate five other players over the week in head-to-heads. Winning does NOT count as eliminating everyone else who made it to the final race. Trust me; I played one game, won it, and was only credited with the two head-to-head knockouts. Going to need to play aggressive on this one, and be prepared for frustration; for every person who gets this on their card for the week, that’s five people who got knocked out.

The Eliminator: Finish 30th or better (2pts)
Same as always. Nothing to add here.

Collectables: It’s Raining Gifts (3pts)
Another smashables challenge! This time, there’s present piles at the Outposts. Smash “25” of them across the week. Tip: if playing in Solo, you can rewind after hitting one and hit it again. Doesn’t work online, since the world state does not rewind in that mode.
There’s only three at the Baja outpost, all in a side road. You’ll have more luck at Rush, Wilds, Street Scene and Apex. Although it says they’re at Outposts, there are also some at the main festival.

Monthly Rivals: Cathedral Circuit (4pts)
DeLorean, one lap, clean, easy 16 points to your series total.

Daily challenges:
Friday: Win a Road Race in a Super Saloon
Saturday: Complete a game of the Eliminator (free with the usual requirements)
Sunday: Earn 3 Stars from any Danger Sign
Monday: Drive above 100mph (161km/h) for 20 seconds in any car
Tuesday: Smash 25 Bikes in Guanajuato (offline rewind for collectables)
Wednesday: Complete a Horizon Tour in the 1963 VW Type 2 De Luxe (this could be a tough one, since you need to get a tour pattern that has this car as eligible)
Thursday: Complete a Challenge Card

Super7: completing a full set earns you a Wheelspin.
If you’ve got max available points so far, you should pick up the series 200pt reward (Lambo Aventador Superveloce J) near the end of this week.