Online Road Trips

Road Trips in FH2 are non-racing races - that is to say that there is no timer, and nobody wins first place - or second, or 5oth - they are what they are, which is group trips from point A to point B - and in the case of Online Road Trips they are the same thing as offline Road Trips except you know, they are online?

• Castelletto Online Road Trip

• Montellino Online Road Trip

• Nice-Massena Online Road Trip

• Saint-Martin Online Road Trip

• Sisteron Online Road Trip

• San Giovanni Online Road Trip

The Online Road Trip Experience

Just like the Road Trips in the game, the Online Road Trips have a specific purpose. That purpose is to take the players in the online group from wherever it is they happen to be to the destination that they all voted on - at which point they then begin a four-race event that it is purpose of the ORT.

You can start the Online Road Trip in several ways - you can drive to the location marked on the map or you can highlight the Icon and then click X to join it. Either way once you do that and the server slots you into a group, you have to pick the car you are going to use for the ORT and events, and you have to vote on the destination.

You get three choices for Cars, and three choices for destinations - while you do not have total control over the latter, you do get to decide on the former, and what you drive can be crucial to your success for the next 45 minutes of racing! For example I ended up choosing the boxy boat-like Buick Regal - and while that seemed like a good idea at the time, it was a disaster.

The Regal is fast but it sucks in curves and corners, and it tends to burn out rather than go fast from a standing start. Because of that I was at a significant disadvantage because ALL of the other members of the ORT group I was in chose more modern basically better Cars.

When you are voting on the destination, pay attention to the four random race type icons that appear in each because THOSE are the races you will be driving in at that destination. Just saying, be informed by that so you choose the right car.

The Online Road Trip Experience - What to Expect!

Online Road Trips - or ORTs - are not just about playing online with mates and strangers. They are not really about winning - or losing - or just placing in the pack. They are not entirely about Achievements, though for a lot of racers and most of the Forza Faithful they will be about all of that and more. In the end though, what they are really about is points. Points and money!

I thought it would be illustrative to do the math for a typical ORT so that you can see what the basic results can be - that this happens to also be my very first ORT is happenstance, not intent. But it does serve as a great and fresh illustration nevertheless...

The facts presented below are illustrated in the video embedded above. If you are curious, get your own calculator and add it all up, and you will see that this is one of the more profitable ways to spend three-quarters of an hour online in Horizon 2... Just saying :)

• Total Road Trip XP = 16,880 XP

• Total Race XP = 26,563 XP

• Total Race Credits = 52,972 Cr.

• Total Levels Gained = 3

• Total Wheel Spins = 3

• Total Experience Points = 43,443 XP

• Total Credits = 52,972 + 172,000 Cr. Wheel Spins = 224,972 Cr.

For the record the results of the Wheel Spins earned are:

1. Wheel Spin Reward = 28K Cr.

2. Wheel Spin Reward = 120K Cr.

3. Wheel Spin Reward = 24K Cr.

All things being equal and considering the fun and the entertainment that was had in the process, I have decided that this is a great way to break up the main game campaign and an even greater way to inject randomness into the game when it starts to feel too predictable!

YMMV but I doubt it.

The ORT Begins: With the car and destination chosen, you are fed a GPS route and you get a timer for the Road Trip part of this. That is basically driving from wherever you happen to be to the first race destination.

There is an XP prize for this ORT - and usually it is a pretty nice one - so you want to actually get to the destination so that you can collect that. If you let the timer run out before you get there, you get nothing. Oh, and even worse, if you take too much time driving to the destination you could STILL end up with 0XP because the first member of your ORT group to actually reach the destination triggers a short end-of-trip timer.

So once the first racer arrives, you have whatever that timer is to get to the destination - because once that timer ends, you get 0 XP and the race starts no matter where you are.

The Races: Each of the races are in the area of the destination. When you finish a race you get a new Road Trip Route, and timer, and possible XP bonus. And once again you need to quickly get to the detonation as fast as you can so you don't miss out.

Winning: Unlike normal races with their podiums and the need to be one of the first three racers to cross the line, everyone gets rewarded for their efforts in ORT events. So where you place is not really as important as finishing.

Once you complete the fourth race event, you get your final stats and points tally and award, and then you unlock the Achievement: On the Road Again (10g) Complete an Online Road Trip Location.

In addition to that obvious Achievement, there are others that apply to this type of event. Specifically any points you earn as well as completing events and other stats apply to the following list of Achievement.

In General this all applies:

• Wristbands - the points you earn apply to all outstanding Wristband Achievements

• Skill Points - any SP you earn during ORTs counts towards any of the SP Achievements you are sill doing.

• Car Club Points - some of the XP you earn applies to the Loyal Achievement.

Specifically these Achievements also apply:

• Social Caterpillar (10g) Compete in 20 Multiplayer Events.

• Social Butterfly (50G) Compete in 200 Multilayer Events.

• Well Traveled (30G) Complete 25 Online Road Trip Locations.

• You Are Playground Games (40G) Complete 100 Playground Games Events.

• Team Player (30G) Win 50 Team Events.

For the Social Achievements each of the races count as a single MP Event, so you can see how these will add up fast.

For the Well Traveled one, it does not say 25 Unique ORTs because there are not 25 unique ones - you just need to do any 25 ORTs for it.

You are Playground is talking about games like the King event (tag) and you will find that a lot of the ORT destinations include at least one Playground Game event. In fact this is a great way to work towards this one because you do not end up getting tired of them as they appear randomly, not one after the other or over and over.

Team Player is a bit longer because very few of the events if any will be Team Events. But some will, and so as this adds up you will eventually get it as you work towards unlocking the other Achievements that apply here.

No matter which destination you choose or which gets chosen for you, these do not disappear or get checked off as they are an ongoing thing. Just remember you are having fun and being entertained. If it stops being fun, you should stop doing it for a while until it becomes fun again. Seriously!