Freeroam Rush Practice Routes (Blueprints and maps)

Hi everyone!

So, I suck in Freeroam rush. And I’m sure (from personal observations and forum posts) that I’m not alone. And one thing that upsets me about this situation is that there’s no practice route or rivals for Freeroam Rush.

And so I decided to fix it for myself (and as usual - share it with anyone who’s interested).

How does that work?

I created blueprints for each of FRR routes I had footage of, fully recreating the suggested path from start to finish without any checkpoints. In areas where there’s no race available at FRR start point, I chose the closest race and led the way to starting point with checkpoints, after which there are no more checkpoints till finish. Such routes are have “Checkpoints to FRR Start: Yes” specified in description and marker on the map showing actual starting line.

All blueprints are set to Anything Goes with no PI restriction to allow any car/class combination to be tested.

What does this allow to do?

Well, one can simply practice any kind of route in this Freeroam Rush simulation while having full rewind capability, time to study the map and actual time measurement (that can be recorded for future reference).

There are no shortest routes laid out here, it’s a tool to find one, study the layout and memorize it.

How do I find it?

At the moment I have created 15 routes that I had recording of. Each blueprint has “Freeroam Practice” in its name so they are easy to find via text or author search. Individual names are listed below.

I start with 6 layouts that I have in picture form in this thread (see next and subsequent posts). If anything, one can use enclosed maps as a reference for desk study. I plan to add remaining 9 I have shortly as well as any other I come across afterwards.

Contribute

Feel free to send me FRR routes that I don’t have listed (ideally in the form of video recording so I can accurately pick up start, finish and the whole suggested route).

Also, if you have suggested routes for maps I post - don’t hesitate to draw them over the map and posting back here.

We’ll see how it goes :slight_smile:

Overview video:

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New additions:

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Ok, added 10 more maps and that’s all I have at the moment (I think I also accidentally created largest online collection of FH4 Freeroam Rush routes :slight_smile: ).

That looks a brilliant piece of work. I’ve been spending some time noting the different permutations but there are a few maps I just haven’t done regularly enough to feel comfortable with them.

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Nice work. I started on the same job many months ago, but got fed up with just how many routes there are. Then they removed it from road and street and ever since then I haven’t played ranked adventure because I’m waiting for them to finish the job and either remove it from dirt and xc as well, or make it so you can choose to only do road or street. If it never happens, I guess I’m never racing again in FH4!

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Do you by chance remember how many you counted back then? :slight_smile:

Sorry, no. I started off thinking there were a fairly limited number of playlists, and was saving a screenshot of each playlist. Sometimes I did get an identical playlist to one I’d had before, but I also saw different playlists for the exact same thing, so I’d get e.g. A Class Spring Road Racing twice, but with a different set of 3 tracks. So it started to seem like a bit of an endless task, and also, there was one where even after I’d created a blueprint for it and raced it several times, trying to plan the best route from the map before starting, I wasn’t getting anywhere near the time the winner in my adventure did, so I kind of gave up.

I suspect the intent of having so many different racing routes and freeroam rush routes is that everyone would be on an equal footing of not knowing them, making it friendly to casual players. What has actually happened is the opposite, that you have to invest an astounding amount of time and effort to become good at the game due to the huge number of routes to learn. People complain that GTS is too hardcore and requires a huge investment of time to practise, but you always know which car and track you’ll be racing so can just practice that one combination before you race it, and hence you can do pretty well with just a few hours a week, whereas FH4 can throw anything at you, so you have this vast amount of knowledge to try to acquire before you race. According to the Xbox app I’ve played FH4 for 960 hours, yet I still don’t feel like I have even close to the knowledge needed to race well. OTOH I will do my next GTS race Wed evening and know I only need to spend a few hours practising before then to be able to race it well, because I know which car and track I’ll be racing.

What would be helpful would be to confirm which two courses they link. For example, I think the last one is the FR between Ambleside X and Mountain Foot. Tried that out and works well.

The joys of being a newbie mean I’m not sure whether I posted something last night which hasn’t been approved yet or if I didn’t actually post at all, so I may have said some of this already!

I think there is a pattern. I’ve only really been looking at X country but I know certain sets of races crop up regularly. For example, Ambleside Rush - Mountain Foot - Beach View has appeared relatively regularly in my events. I suspect it’s possible to fairly swiftly establish the key combinations. There are also some combos which must be ruled out because of the freeroam inclusion - the two Ambleside courses are so close together that a freeroam between them would basically be rounding a couple of corners!

I’m trying to get some info on patterns and overall number of routes. If I succeed, I’ll post it here.

A commendable project you are taking on here. Most high ranked teams/individuals have all compiled their own methods and strategies for free roam rushes for their “private” use and have the routes memorized by heart this far into the game. This should definitely help a lot of people get better at FRR that aren’t as competitive as some of the more serious/hardcore players.

Some things to keep in mind and help you with your project:

  1. You appear to have some old road race free-roam rush routes in your list (Derwent Reservoir, Astmoor Heritage, and maybe a couple others, I can’t tell because the origin and end races aren’t listed). These do not exist anymore because FRR is only in Dirt and X-Country.

  2. There are different optimal routes depending on the season. Mainly winter will have alternate routes for several FRRs that allow you to cross Derwent Water when it is frozen.

  3. Despite what many complain about, FRR is far from luck based. It is very much skill/knowledge based and the people that run these routes over and over know every rock, tree, bump, etc. that can screw up a run. They know landmarks to aim for and areas to avoid at all cost. Some elite players will even “fake” a certain direction to send the pack into what looks like a promising line but turns out to be certain doom. Some will wait at the start so people don’t just follow their route.

  4. Tune and car are very important. There are certain race sets that are biased to top end speed and certain ones that are biased to handling/acceleration, this applies to free roam rush routes as well, there are numerous routes that utilize the freeway/motorway. It is best to learn what the sets require in terms of car performance. For example, people cant just say one car/tune applies to all A class Dirt events.

  5. When I was determining the optimal routes for myself in FRR I would draw them out and practice the paths. There also appear to be better starting points you could be choosing from when making your practice routes (I would use Derwent Water Trail (the dirt one just south of the intended start line) instead of Derwent Lakeside Sprint as your start point for the route you posted in your video). Personally, I would also just run the optimal route in your practice runs and place checkpoints at certain key positions/monuments that you always want to aim for when running the optimal path. For example, the run you show on youtube appears to be one of the same ones that ISAD (aka Grandma Driving) posted, I would put checkpoints at some of the key locations similar to where he puts his notes in the video Forza Horizon 4 - 5 Freeroam Rush Routes that will give you an edge in Ranked Adventure - YouTube

  6. You may want to consider showing a more detailed overview picture of each route: For example, this is a version I had created for the Ambelside Scamble to Lakehurst Woodland Scramble.

  1. I don’t have all the FRR routes with me right now, but here are some of them that I have on a list with me (best thing to do is just screen shot the race card at the start of a CC or Dirt event):
    Quarry CC to Gardens CC
    Gardens CC to Windmill CC
    Lakehurst Woodland Scramble to Ambleside Scramble
    Amleside Scramble to Broadway Village Scramble
    Gardens CC to Ambleside Loop CC
    Ambleside Rush CC to Mountain Foot CC
    White Horse Hill Trail to Bamburgh Pinewood Trail
    Ambleside Scramble to Lakehurst Woodland Scramble
    North City CC to Beach View CC
    Castle CC to Glenn Ranoch CC
    Glenn Ranoch CC to Windmill CC
    Highland Farm Scramble to Greedale Foothills Scramble
    Greendale Foothills Scramble to Lakehurst Forest Trail
    Bamburgh Pinewood Trail to Glen Rannoch Trail
    The Ridge CC to Riverbank CC
    Rail Yard CC to The Titan
  • Also note, that the number of blue prints people can actually find from your creative hub or each race location doesn’t allow them to access every blue print you create, so there may come a point that people won’t be able to find certain blue prints.
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If you know the begining and ending points, it’s pretty simple to fast travel to starting location, then set a way point for the destination and go.

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Nice idea! Freeroam Rush has been a great way to exercise my extended vocabulary. *#(&@)($&@$ Not good for much else tho

Thanks! Great feedback and all valid points!

On old races: yeah, I realized it a bit too late into the project. I couldn’t find a collection of routes in the net so I was basing it on own and others’ footage, some of it is old. And once BP is shared, you can’t unshare it.

I’m trying to find an actual list of routes in rotation though and I hope to get it some time soon.

On optimal routes and marking them on the map - it’s a logical next step but I’m not sure I’ll have a capacity to actually get there. One thing is to re-create the route, finding at least close-to-optimal routes, testing them for each track and then mapping them properly might be just a bit too ambitious at this point in time.

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It is for one time run. And if anything - the maps above can be used for exactly that. It becomes a bit harder if you want to compare several routes and/or car combinations as you need to measure time using external device or software, then record it. Benefit of using the blueprint is you it does that for you and you can do it with team/friends as well as training or just a friendly competition not bound by restrictions of online mode (points, time to match making, randomness).

Fantastic work being done here. Thank you very much!

Yeah, this is fantastic. Thanks for putting it together!

I was counting race sets for a while to track my times… My list has 15 different cross country sets and 14 dirt sets.
If I’ve counted right (and possibly I haven’t), that’s 58 FRR routes.

In terms of preparation required to race competitively, I actually think dropping FRR adds to the challenge - FRR mostly requires a fairly high top speed, so it really limits possible cars. Without it, it’s really a lot harder to pick the right tool for the job in S1 and S2, at least.

To add on to my initial list of FRR (I also put links to the route of ones I could find), also remember when a FRR comes after a point to point race it starts at the finish of the previous race:

  1. Quarry CC to Gardens CC (Non-Winter)
  2. Gardens CC to Windmill CC (Non-Winter)
  3. Lakehurst Woodland Scramble to Ambleside Scramble
  4. Amleside Scramble to Broadway Village Scramble
  5. Gardens CC to Ambleside Loop CC
  6. White Horse Hill Trail to Bamburgh Pinewood Trail
  7. Ambleside Scramble to Lakehurst Woodland Scramble
  8. North City CC to Beach View CC
  9. Highland Farm Scramble to Greedale Foothills Scramble
  10. Greendale Foothills Scramble to Lakehurst Forest Trail
  11. Bamburgh Pinewood Trail to Glen Rannoch Trail
  12. The Ridge CC to Riverbank CC
  13. Rail Yard CC to The Titan
  14. Rail Yard CC to Ambleside Loop CC
  15. Ambleside Loop CC to City Outskirts CC
  16. Ambleside Rush CC to Mountain Foot CC Forza Horizon 4 - 5 Freeroam Rush Routes that will give you an edge in Ranked Adventure - YouTube
  17. Arthur’s Seat CC to Mountain Foot CC Forza Horizon 4 Livestream: Reached League 4 in Solo Ranked! Climbing towards League 3 - YouTube
  18. Mountain Foot CC to Ambleside Loop CC Forza Horizon 4 Livestream: Reached League 4 in Solo Ranked! Climbing towards League 3 - YouTube
  19. Castle CC to Glenn Ranoch CC Forza Horizon 4 Livestream: Reached League 4 in Solo Ranked! Climbing towards League 3 - YouTube
  20. Glenn Ranoch CC to Windmill CC Forza Horizon 4 Livestream: Reached League 4 in Solo Ranked! Climbing towards League 3 - YouTube
  21. Quarry CC to Gardens CC (Winter) Forza Horizon 4 Livestream: Reached League 4 in Solo Ranked! Climbing towards League 3 - YouTube
  22. Gardens CC to Windmill CC (Winter) Forza Horizon 4 Livestream: Reached League 4 in Solo Ranked! Climbing towards League 3 - YouTube
  23. Highland Farm Scramble to Cotswolds Road Rally Trail Forza Horizon 4 Livestream: Reached League 4 in Solo Ranked! Climbing towards League 3 - YouTube
  24. Cotswolds Road Rally Trail to Astmoor Rally Trail Forza Horizon 4 Livestream: Reached League 4 in Solo Ranked! Climbing towards League 3 - YouTube
  25. Coastal Rush CC to Whitewater Falls CC Forza Horizon 4 Livestream: Reached League 4 in Solo Ranked! Climbing towards League 3 - YouTube
  26. Whitewater Falls CC to Glen Rannoch CC Forza Horizon 4 Livestream: Reached League 4 in Solo Ranked! Climbing towards League 3 - YouTube
  27. Riverbank CC to Aerodrome CC Forza Horizon 4 - Solo Ranked & Mitsubishi has arrived! + Livestream of my 10 Ranked Placements - YouTube
  28. Aerodrome CC to Whitewater Falls CC Forza Horizon 4 - Solo Ranked & Mitsubishi has arrived! + Livestream of my 10 Ranked Placements - YouTube
  29. Glen Rannoch CC to Ambleside Loop CC (Winter) Forza Horizon 4 - Solo Ranked & Mitsubishi has arrived! + Livestream of my 10 Ranked Placements - YouTube
  30. Moorhead Rally Trail to Glen Rannoch Trail Forza Horizon 4 - Solo Ranked & Mitsubishi has arrived! + Livestream of my 10 Ranked Placements - YouTube
  31. Glen Rannoch Trail to Mudkickers 4x4 Scramble Forza Horizon 4 - Solo Ranked & Mitsubishi has arrived! + Livestream of my 10 Ranked Placements - YouTube
  32. Mountain Foot CC to Riverbank CC Forza Horizon 4 - Solo Ranked & Mitsubishi has arrived! + Livestream of my 10 Ranked Placements - YouTube
  33. Riverbank CC to The Ridge CC Forza Horizon 4 - Solo Ranked & Mitsubishi has arrived! + Livestream of my 10 Ranked Placements - YouTube
  34. Ashbrook Loop Scramble to Greendale Foothills Scramble
  35. Greendale Foothills Scramble to Bamburgh Pinewood Trail
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