How to win the FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS achievement - Some hard won advice with thoughtful criticism

At the end of this rather long message I offer some valuable information for those of you who want to gain the FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS achievement of 1 million CR in Rivals race earnings – so please bear with me. This is some very compelling and damaging complaining I’m doing here and any fan of FORZA should be interested in FORZA maintaining the high standards that made them the greatest at what they do. This is complaining with a purpose. – We should all DEMAND that this be fixed even if we no longer use 360 in favor of Xbox One. A great company like FORZA should not allow such a glaring error to exist. This is for their benefit as well as ours.

I feel like I have lost a fine and valued friend. From the day my Xbox 360 arrived with FORZA 4 in the bundle I knew that FORZA – TURN 10 and Xbox were part of something truly fabulous – excellence, precision and attention to detail in racing games – second to none. A reputation for flawless excellence is difficult to find and maintain. SO:

The first 20 to 50 times this happened I thought I must be doing something wrong - surely FORZA - a name synonymous with excellence in racing games would not make such a glaring “IN YOUR FACE” error like this. It had to be my fault. But:

As I finished the FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS - Achievement after 600 Rivals races to make the 1 Million CR required I’ve listened to the Aussie “mate” (the key INSTRUCTION element in FH2) telling me for the 600th time that I could “earn more rewards” and “get to the next wristband faster” by CLEAN RACING. Is this some small insignificant mistake? After hearing it 600 times I don’t think you can say that.

There is NO CLEAN RACING REWARD for RIVALS races on Xbox 360. So after every race we are confronted with a FORZA FAILURE so glaring that it reminds us every race that FORZA/Turn 10/Sumo didn’t pay any attention to RIVALS content on the 360 SYSTEM FH2 version . Even on the screen that displays the XP rewards there is a line for basic XP earned – a line for “Skills” yet there is no line for Clean Racing reward. Game designers knew there was no clean racing bonus for Rivals so how did they miss the Aussie LIE and allow it to make them appear so foolish?

Why would FORZA attach their good name to such a product? Where is the pride of authorship and creation? Did no one at FORZA – TURN 10 – SUMO DIGITAL – or Xbox bother to race a RIVALS event prior to distribution of this game to the public? Are they really that incompetent? Sadly the answer appears to be YES THEY ARE - or they simply don’t care enough to get it right?

FH2’s instructor chides every Rivals racer with:

  1. “DID YOU KNOW YOU CAN IMPROVE YOUR SCORE BY AVOIDING COLLISIONS???” Well NO you cannot.
  2. “STAY OUT OF TROUBLE AND OFF THE WALLS TO CLAIM A CLEAN RACING BONUS” NO that’s a LIE
  3. “HEY DID YOU ALSO KNOW THAT YOU CAN ALSO PICK UP MORE REWARDS BY CLEAN DRIVING? AVOID COLLISIONS AND PICK UP THAT CLEAN RACING BONUS” NO that is a blatant falsehood
  4. “ALL RIGHT NOT BAD - BUT YOU COULD PICK UP MORE REWARDS AND GET TO YOUR NEXT WRISTBAND FASTER BY DRIVING CLEAN AND AVOIDING COLLISIONS” - hey lugnuts - my wristband is GOLD 999 and there is NO clean racing bonus reward in RIVALS - get it??? For the 600th time?

Believe me after 600 times this message will have you talking back to the Aussie in very unflattering terms with a strong desire to punch the smug instructor in the face. We want to be immersed in these games don’t we? So an emotional reaction of anger isn’t a absurd as you might imagine. I’ve grown to really hate that voice.

I know you’re just a program “MATE” but some human being from FORZA/Turn 10/ SUMO wrote you - That person should be mortified every time you speak. You make them look foolish and incompetent every single rivals race.

FORZA thus created a game that declares in a voice that cannot be turned off the equivalent of “WE ARE INCOMPETENT GAME MAKERS who made a huge glaring mistake that we failed to fix before charging our loyal 360 customers the same excessive $$$$ for this terribly inferior version of FH2” If I were FORZA, I wouldn’t want my brand and my name attached to a game that showed such inattention to basic content out in the world. Their reputation depends on it.

BEFORE the MODERATORS decide to delete or lock this post - perhaps they should think about what this does to the FORZA reputation for excellence. I have a positive purpose here – this is an error that must be fixed before it does more harm to the best racing franchise in history.

This is a SERIOUS ERROR - no it does not effect game play but it loudly proclaims incompetence and inattention to very basic elements of the game environment. Somebody at Forza/Turn 10/ SUMO failed in a manner so OBVIOUS it’s difficult to believe they did not know.

Imagine posting your best ever result and reaching top 5 in an event only to have this incompetent programmed Aussie tell you how you failed to race clean. What a smack in the face - elation over an excellent hard won result smashed by incompetence. This is way beneath the relative competence and excellence of the FORZA team - and it’s a shame to see a hard won good name and reputation marred by such a glaring and STUPID correctable error.

VALUABLE INFORMATION ON HOW TO GET THE FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS ACHIEVEMENT:

If you stuck with me to the end here is something of a reward for your patience. There are 4 events in RIVALS with 5000 CR rewards. Those 4 events are the Sportscar and Street Rivals divisions at Castelletto Festival Circuit and Fattoria Sprint. These are the only 5000 CR reward events I have found (and I have tried to find others). I am now working on trying to post top 1% times in every one of the 480 FH2 races so I’m fairly certain this is true – (if anyone has found another one please add a comment) As of this morning I have done 740 Rivals races trying to post my best times in every event. I am now TOP 1% in 95%, Top 50 in 75% and Top 10 in a dozen or so. I think I’ve earned the right to criticize and inform.

After 5000CR the next best CR rewards for Rivals are the 3,000 CR events, and there are quite a few more of these. So with most RIVALS events rewarding 2000CR or less you can see how long it can take to reach 1 million CR. You will only find the TOP CR available in every event by Clicking to the event, division, hit the accelerator, and then X until you reach the GLOBAL screen and click on the #1 time - the Rival Stats will show the max reward in the box on the right.

As a rule it seems that the Classic Performance (first division), Sportscars and Street Rivals divisions offer the best rewards in most locations. To get the 1 million CR required for the FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS ACHIEVEMENT it is imperative to milk the 5000 and 3000 CR events by repeating these races and winning by fractions of a second each time if you wish to do this as efficiently as possible. Many events only offer only 1000CR per win. Example: Festival Circuit - Amateur, Casteletto - is 3000, 2000, Cult 2000, Dirt 2000, Hyper 2000, Performance 2000, Rally 2000, Sportscar 5000 Street Rivals 5000 and Supercars 2000. this is quite typical except for the 5000 CR events. The Champions Castelletto Club Circuit offers only 2000 CR races across the board.

If you thought 480 races was too much to “master” every event then the 600 races required for Friends With Benefits is a significant task. If you can win 200,000 to 300,000 CR by milking these 5000CR events it will make your job much easier. You can do that by carefully winning by a tenth of a second over and over.

I wish I had known that prior to posting a very fast time in two of those four 5000CR events. I wish I had known how tough it was to find 5,000 and 3000 CR rewards in Rivals. That is something the AUSSIE instructor could have told us that would have been valuable instead of lying after every RIVALS race about a Clean Racing Bonus that does not exist.

I am almost 70 years old and I race Forza with a Fanatec wheel due to arthritic hands that have trouble with a controller. I cannot move up to XBOX ONE until the Fanatec problem is solved for racing. This handicap along with a fixed income makes the investment I made in Xbox 360, racing games and Fanatec a $1000 gamble. I am happy with the graphics and game play on 360 and I don’t understand why FORZA REWARDS had decided that I’m not good enough to deserve rewards for FH2 on this website. I’ve supported Forza, Xbox and this site but now due to handicap I’m being penalized and denied the rewards? Forza, Xbox, and the folks who operate this site should know the decisions they make have repercussions. We customers who’ve supported you deserve better.

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Why would you get a “clean racing reward” for rivals? It’s hot lapping not racing.

You wouldn’t THAT’S THE POINT - the game’s instruction voice should not be telling us we can win more rewards for clean racing in RIVALS

That’s the entire point of the piece. Why would FORZA - TURN 10 - SUMO have their instructor (be he Aussie or English) tell us we are failing to gain just rewards when none are available?

And “mate” always reminds me of my Aussie friends.

Long write-up for a different console.

For the One: challenge any Rivals (from the Monthly Rivals or times your friends beat). You don’t even have to beat the guy in front of you, just finish. With a 75% difficulty modifier, you can get around 6 grand per race making the achievement on the One much easier with 200 races. If you do happen to beat a Rival (especially on Circuit Races), the payout with the 75% modifier can easily be 20 grand or more making the achievement obtainable in 50 races or less.

In time, this would mean 2 to 6 hours of “grinding” whereas other people might even enjoy doing Rivals.

Whoa! Wait a minute are you saying on the Xbox One the total money earned in a rivals race goes towards your rivals total?

On the Xbox 360 only the initial stake gets added e.g. 200/500… credits, the several thousand earned at the end of the race does not go towards our rivals total money earned only the initial stake.

If Xbox One players are getting the total earned added towards the achievement then someone has seriously messed up the coding on the Xbox 360 as we only get the initial stake added.

If the total earned was added then the achievement would indeed be realistic at say 6grand earned per race (with driving assist and style bonuses), but on Xbox 360 we only get the 200/500/1000/2000/3000/5000 initial stake added to the rivals total at the end.

Can an Xbox One player confirm/deny if you have the total earned from a rivals race added to your rival total because if you do we need an update(fix) issued right now for the Xbox 360.

PS: I have noticed in several guides people saying you get the money even if you lose, not on the 360 you don’t. If you check your rivals toal money earned before a rivals race then race and don’t come first the total is the same afterwards, we don’t get any money if we come 2nd.

PPS: I skip that annoying blokes voice by hitting A on the controller when the XP screen comes up, stops him speaking.

He’s not Australian by the way - he’s English.

TTFN
Toni

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Don’t you get skills xp for clean racing not credits?

HEY SAT NITE

does the instructor - the voice that tells you about Clean Racing and Skill racing - have these lines or similar lines on XBOX ONE?

  1. “DID YOU KNOW YOU CAN IMPROVE YOUR SCORE BY AVOIDING COLLISIONS???”
  2. “STAY OUT OF TROUBLE AND OFF THE WALLS TO CLAIM A CLEAN RACING BONUS”
  3. “HEY DID YOU ALSO KNOW THAT YOU CAN ALSO PICK UP MORE REWARDS BY CLEAN DRIVING? AVOID COLLISIONS AND PICK UP THAT CLEAN RACING BONUS”
  4. “ALL RIGHT NOT BAD - BUT YOU COULD PICK UP MORE REWARDS AND GET TO YOUR NEXT WRISTBAND FASTER BY DRIVING CLEAN AND AVOIDING COLLISIONS”

One of these lines is delivered after every RIVALS RACE on XBOX 360 - I assume that these lines are not delivered after a Rivals Race on Xbox One - or perhaps Clean Racing rewards are offered on Xbox One.

The point is that these lines are not valid for Rivals Races on 360 but the lines are still delivered after every Rivals Race is completed. Somebody messed up and failed to eliminate these messages for Rivals races - at first it’s confusing because you are made to wonder if you are failing to do something right or maybe your game or machine is faulty. But I’ve asked 3 different 360 users and they all report the same thing.

To be honest I can not remember lol. I zone out when anyone other than Ashley is speaking. She is my favorite even if she does get annoying in the garage,

There is some text out to the right that says stuff like that. But look at the 4th one. It is talking xp and on the One you get skills xp during the event for clean racing. It adds to your skill chain. If you bank your skill chain you get normal xp which does help you get to your next wristband quicker. So number 4 is accurate.

With items 2 and 3 it mentions bonus which does seem to imply post race.

Item 1 is very vague and could mean anything.

But to me 4 is 100% accurate.

IT is not accurate for RIVALS races because you don’t get credit for Clean Racing XP in Rivals - once again I’m having difficulty getting the point across
These statements have NO PLACE after a RIVALS RACE PERIOD — THERE IS NO CLEAN RACING BENEFIT - REWARD - XP - CREDIT - FOR RIVALS EVENTS.
BUT THE GAME’S INSTRUCTOR KEEPS TELLING US WE WOULD GET THESE REWARDS IF WE RACED CLEAN. -
the statements are accurate for Championship Races not RIVALS races - but they are being said after RIVALS RACES. I hope everyone gets that.

Like I said it may be a 360 issue.

I will need to check on the One but I believe you do get xp during the event including for being clean. Let me check later when I get home.

There is definitely comunication in the game that is not context sensitive when it needs to be.

You do get skill XP - not Clean Racing XP ---- MY ISSUE is with the instructor voice claiming that “YOU COULD GET MORE REWARDS FOR CLEAN RACING” following every RIVALS finish.
The ERROR on the part of FORZA - TURN 10 and SUMO is having the instructor say that when it is simply not true. After hearing it over 700 times I think FORZA should fix it.

It makes them look bad. -

The first times you hear it you think you are doing something wrong - but it’s not your fault - The SUMO or FORZA team evidently didn’t pay attention
I cannot imagine they didn’t do some RIVALS races in 360 to make sure everything was working as it should. But if they did they did not pay attention to this GLARING MISTAKE.

THE INSTRUCTOR delivers one of FOUR MESSAGES after each RIVALS RACE on the 360 system scolding racers for not racing CLEAN - but there is no CLEAN racing bonus and evidently no CLEAN RACING tracking in RIVALS — FORZA - SUMO made a HUGE MISTAKE - they should fix it.

On the One there is a skill xp item for clean racing. You get it during the event not after. Maybe it is different on the 360.

Get you now, Get in touch with Sumo as im sure it could be fixed with a patch.

You don’t bank the Skill XP if you crash and break your skill chain. So, by extension, racing clean does get you additional XP.

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Yup, your difficulty setting is added too credits

I just ran a rival event …I will confirm that you receive skill xp, but at no time does the clean racing xp appear during the rival event I just ran, the rival events are based on credits depending on how tough your rival is, but there is no set xp for the rival events, just what your earn based on the wild driving required…so if you hit everything in sight , you probably won’t earn much …if any xp for the rivals…Also I ran a monthly rival event, and nobody said squat to me about how to make more points whilst I was loading up the event, so it must be a 360 thing

What am I doing wrong???

Everytime a rivals event pops up after a race it only shows an opportunity to earn a max of 200 cr. I haven’t done one yet because of that

Which console?

I had one pop up yesterday with only 100cr, but then that rival was me. Sucks being #1.

Thankfully a few people have now put my time to shame so I can once again earn some credits lol

  1. I have never seen one more than 200cr