agreed 100%
Personally, I kinda like the freeroam rush but I think that
a. They should contribute half to the championship outcome. So, out of 5 races, the two rushes essentially provide 1 race worth of points in total.
b. All race types should have them, not just cross country. But the point to points should be structured such that its always faster to go along roads when doing street or road based freeroam rushes.
c. Or they are a toggle, and the game tries to matchmake players with the same preference.
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I tend to abandon offroad adventures as soon as they start because of FRR. I just don’t enjoy the event at all so I avoid it. It would be better if it were a separate event rather than lumped in with proper races.
For me its S2 races that I abandon on principle.
I’ll grant that FRR is why I don’t play Free for All racing and stick to Team racing as Team Racing usually ends in 3 races, but FFA on CC tracks gets stretched out to 5 events that must all be completed.
I like freeroam rush
I also like FFR.
At the same token, having track cars dashing across fields and punching through walls seems off.
I feel that FFR needs damage on, or indestructable walls / trees when the race types are not cross country, to encourage people to keep on roads. Perhaps implement that reset timer that resets cars if they spend too long off road.
Which is to say, road and dirt free roam rush should be less as-direct-a-line-as-possible and more - mostly following roads with some shortcuts.
100% Agreed
FRR are just not something for casual beginner players. Those races do not have checkpoints thus require taking time to train/analyse the map…
I like FRR on this aspect that it’s not just finding the shortest path. Depending on class, car and conditions, the optimal path my differ.
For sure, I am not kind of player who will ever enjoy FRR in hypercars … just non sense to me, but CC sure and dirt acceptable.
FRR could be part of a level up thing, once you’ve reach a specific level, those come into picture some ways.
Anyway, not sure yet the concept of championship survived, from what I could read here and there, Horizon Open is replacement for both multiplayer, ranked and pvp … hope it’s not the case.
Whith Horizons’s modified physics I don’t know that there is much to enjoy about S2 and X class at all. Whatever form multiplayer takes in Horizon 5 I hope it can be capped to S1 as a preference.
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Winning in FRR, IMO is 80% Luck 20% Skill, unlike when you race on track/circuit with checkpoints, where if you are good you win, otherwise you eat dust. Even a Grandmaster may lose in FRR vs less-skilled players. Cars turn very unpredictable in free roam at high speed, dodging obstacles is mere luck! Win who knows best the shortcuts, and lucky enough not to crush on a tree or anything in your way. So, I would NOT speak about SKILL when it comes to FRR.
And to add a note, there is the entire game map and dlc where you can FREE ROAM 24/7, I think some genuine PVP with proper races should be put somewhere in FH5, unlike in FH4. FRR has nothing to do with Rally Races, should be part of Cross Country only if you ask me, that’s where it makes sense.
I don’t enjoy freeroam rush either. The only times I’ve ever won was by pure luck, e.g. a bounce moved me out of the way of a tree, but my opponents bounce put him in it. There’s no skill involved whatsoever. At this point though, from what I’ve seen of FH5, it’s going be almost nothing but offroad. But we’ll see…
All fair points, everyone occasionally has a bad bounce but to act like its a foregone conclusion on each event is a gross exaggeration. I lose them periodically but I know where to and where not to go on the map. Not all but majority of people don’t like the event because the GPS can not help them. The hard truth is sanctioned races are easier to remember because its a set route and checkpoints are somewhat of a guide.
The little preview before each start helps a bit, at the very least it gives you a sense of direction. No matter how fast or slow you or your car may be, if you know the map layout, you’ll be successful in freeroam.
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Winning FRR is actually more 33% map knowledge, 33% smart car, 33% skill …luck only really comes into play if you take risky routes. “If you are good you win, otherwise you eat dust” can be applied to almost anything, regardless whether on a circuit or offroad. The arguement about dodging all the trees, rocks, barriers, walls, buildings, etc has always been a bunch of hooey, as they are all inanimate objects with fixed positions. They’re not the ones moving all around, we are. They’re in the same spots every time, so the the problem is either a) player is limited/memory deficiency, b) player lacks skill to avoid objects, c) player apathy/too lazy to bother learning the game …take your pick.
Curious though, how is ‘who knows the best shortcuts’ & ‘is capable enough not to run head-on into parked tractor’ in FRR really any different from ‘who knows best lines’ & ‘which three meta cars to stick to’ on track/circuit? Oooooooh, I understand now. There’s no LINES in FRR to tell everyone when to accelerate/brake/turn, no Anna/navigation to tell you how to get to your destination, and the landscape has too many variables that mitigate the effectiveness of your OP meta. In other words, FRR requires thought. You can’t 
your way through it.
Oh, you don’t say? 
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I’m not responding to this post because I think FRR is skilless. I’m responding because never once did you consider that maybe we shouldn’t have FRR for dirt events. I can bring a car dominant on dirt, only to be surrounded by effen trucks because everyone is trying to win the FRR and doesn’t even consider the dirt part.
You can take away the lines and I’d still dominate the actual races. But then I’m completely outclassed in FRR because IT’S NOT DIRT RACING and my suspension isn’t up to the task.
I hate FRR. Period. But at least in CC it has a leg to stand on. FRR shouldn’t even warrant consideration in dirt racing, yet it is forced on it.
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Idk which of the two quotes you were referring to, but I think it is implicit in my previous post that I also dislike FRR for being part of dirt races in FH4. I genuinely share the exact same reasons you mentioned. I would also add about the abuse by players, like the typical Toyota Baja and alike, bullying small rally cars in dirt races by ramming them mercilessly. On the other hand, if you go with a small car in Cross Country, you can’t blame the big jeeps and trucks for ramming you, that’s the place where they are meant to race.
With that being said, I also understand that there is someone who likes it, so I have to respect that too. For this reason, I suggest keeping FRR for Cross Country only but removed from dirt. Just as they did in FH4 when it was removed from Road and Street.
How do you know what I have or haven’t ever once considered? 
First, for what it’s worth, I share your sentiment regarding trucks on dirt…at least for B700 Dirt Online Adventures. With that being the ‘forced floor,’ so to speak, for allllll the lower-spectrum vehicles that include (though not limited to) rally, older, and/or just plain smaller cars, I also hate seeing Power Wagons start showing up in what is really the only place for any small car online racing. It’s especially galling when the existing lobby comes together organically, with respectful racing and everyone running sensible yet competitive choices, no silly nonsense…but enter one or two Rams and it becomes Lord of the Flies, Vehicular Edition. I feel you there.
But as for the remainder off your commentary, it fails on multiple fronts:
• I know everyone likes to act like going off the pavement in FRR is akin to crosstrekking the Adirondacks with a paper mache Big Wheel, but the reality is that despite the overall increased difficulty of H4’s topography in respect to H3’ flatter, faster Australian Outback, much of the common offroad routes in H4 are anything but ‘extreme.’ Approximately two-thirds of the map (east and central) is largely comprised of either rolling hills or fairly flat plains of various and changing elevations, surfaces most any car ‘dominant in dirt’ should be able to handle with ease. Most of the remaining areas, including the western third and center area of the map, riddled with Scottish inclines, rocky outcropping, and/or dense forest all conveniently have arterial roadways close by should one get mired in wilderness as one often does. When people do get all worked up about FRR, it’s usually in response to getting saddled with multiple consecutive +slowdowns from trying to plow through a bevy of stone walls, juveile trees, or other such destructible objects that no doubt mitigate competitive acceleration. When it’s the case of ‘trees jumping out in front of cars,’ however, such events can tend to be avoided simply by, say, not attempting to drive through the heart of a petrified forest at mach 5 in a vehicle with the handling, brakes, and turning radius of the RMS Lusitania. In short, your ‘dirt dominant’ car’s dirt suspension should be adequte enough to generally handle the wide and the open of FRR…if it’s not, and you are grossly ‘out-classed,’ you’re probably in the wrong ‘dominant’ car. The obvious remedy being, of course, to get a car or suspension or both that is/are up to the task; like Mr. Reo said, “This game is all about adapting.”
• ‘Dominant in dirt’ car dirt suspension notwithstanding, competing against ‘effen trucks’ of players presumably focused solely on winning FRR and nothing else, as peculiar as that sounds, should only be marginally difficult to defeat for the championship even when they win both FRR’s as that is only two of the five races, and per your own scenario they won’t/don’t even consider the remaining three dirt events.
• I do appreciate your honesty; there is nothing wrong with hating (or “disliking strongly” as Grandma Squryl would eagerly correct us) this or that, “period.” We’re not all automatons, right? I disagree, however, with the framing of FRR as incompatible, inappropriate even, with dirt racing. Such narrow vision is not only, well, narrow and constricting, but it’s incongruous with the adaptive spirit and nature of the game. You just need to take a step back, a forest for the trees approach, for a more natural framing. Ask yourself why Street and Road don’t have FRR, and why dirt along with cross country does. Is dirt more like asphalt racing than cross country (yes, there is plenty of pavement in dirt, but when we say dirt we mean just dirt, not both)? Should have Road gotten FRR back? Such questions are asked with the aforementiond narrow vision, but should be answered with a wider perspective. Instead of parsing everything down into its own restrictive bucket, pair up the common denominators plainly staring us all in the face. Allow me to make a heavy-handed and clumsy analogy…Road/Street (Tarmac) racing has certain criterion, Dirt/XC (Offroad) racing has other criterion…FRR and Dirt and XC all share common criterion and attributes and live under the OffRoad umbrella. Theyre like a tight little family with common interests and a common language. Some varying nuances, for sure, but they can interact without much difficulty. The Tarmac family, however, are strict and rigid people, not at all flexible. They can work together but that’s about it. While Offroad racing can tolerate crossing over, and can work with asphalt people, the Tarmac people are just not flexible enough to reciprocate. In short, road racing w FRR intervals is hell, very unpleasant. Offroad racing with FRR intervals is like putting on a silky-smooth glove, a perfect fit without any knee jerk reflexes.
(See, I told you it was clumsy and heavy-handed) 
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I don’t normally read such long posts but you really broke it down as far as it can go. The guy mentioned his suspension isn’t up for freeroam. I’ll take “I downloaded a popular tune for 500 Alex.” Prior to going off-road in said car how would you even know your car isn’t prepared to take the bumps and jumps?
Newsflash for everyone, all the popular tuners are cutting corners when they post up a “tune.” I’ve been screaming from the mountaintops to take time to figure out the system, a few have listened but majority don’t have time or patience to do it. I know exactly what they’re doing when they put these setups out and the places they cut corners are the places I have an advantage. Which is why I do not share my tunes but I always get a message through Xbox, “who’s tune is that?” Mine, its not public.
I know alot of the players hate me for that and that’s okay, I put in the work and you can do the same. I’ve had a few try to get me to join clubs or whatnot but I’m a one man gang, I just want to play. Even had a guy tell me handbraking a hairpin turn takes no skill, I said okay sure but I’ve handbraked my way to GM 7 times in FFA not teams and 5 are in the top 20 if you care to go look [JUCE] but I agree no skill sir. It took hours to find the right numbers to handbrake a turn and not do a full 180 or slam into the wall which I see alot players who are behind me attempt to do and fail at it.
As I conclude, I can argue it takes ZERO skill to download a popular tune and win some races but maybe I’m crazy for thinking such things. Don’t forget I am the winningest player in eliminator where there are no popular tunes or predefined destinations and I DOMINATED that mode so much even Mike Brown gave me a shoutout in a monthly stream. 2300 wins in a few months but perhaps I have no skill.
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I’ve built every car I race myself.
You can max out the ride height, max the suspension and dampers super soft, you can even take air out of the tires, you still won’t be able to take a rally car to compete against a truck’s suspension in FRR, and you’ll lose time in the actual races making your car too loose. Besides, even if it could be competitive, I should not have to compromise a great dirt build in order to accommodate such a stupid, unrelated pivot in racing.
I’m perfectly fine with FRR continuing to exist, but as it exists now, those of us that want to use rally cars in dirt racing are SoL, either going for some luck in the rush or taking the losses there. And it’s infuriating because again, it has nothing to do with dirt racing. Dirt racing and CC have different build and tune requirements, and while it’s possible to make a build suitable for both, it’s not always ideal.
I’d prefer if FRR was it’s own mode that I could then ignore, or at the very least learn on my own terms. Getting forced down my throat during an unrelated event has kind of soured my view of it.
Fair enough my mistake, you are a rare breed if you’re building them yourself I respect that. Ultimately where we are is you’ll have to deal with the current system the way your car is setup now, tune it a little bit better or simply stay out of those rooms. The community was torn 50/50 or 60/40 on whether to remove it, so to keep everyone satisfied they took it out half the rooms and left it in the others.
We’ve all complained about X, Y or Z and ask around, the things we complain about almost never get addressed and one more thing Eliminator technically is a freeroam rush mode, the downside is we don’t get to use our own cars.
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Sure…I win it at a clip of high 90s but I’m sure its all pure luck. I must be the luckiest player to win them, probably why I won so much in eliminator too. Your car just isn’t prepared.
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