GazzaGarratt

Race 1 - 4 laps Fuji Gr4
 
Fuji is quite a technical track with some tricky tightening radius and off cambers corners with the first half being faster with flowing corners and the last sector being all slow and tight corners.
 
Qualifying
Due to some technical issues this week - the pit out bug - qualifying had to be stopped and restarted.  After the re-start the real qualifying began unfortunately Lee was still unable to leave the pits but we bravely carried on regardless.  @JBR-Kiwi was considerable faster in practise and carried this to qualifying with his first lap being over 1 second faster than Mike who took provisional second spot with myself in third followed by Shucker, Tom, Bones, Phil and Lurch.  Everyone was up to their pace quickly so there was little change over the rest of qualifying with the exception of Pete who improved his lap to move up to provisional third then further improved to take second on the grid.
 
Race
  
 
 
Following on from last week, we continued using a grid start rather than a rolling start which caused Pete some problems as he got too much wheel spin off the line and started to drop back. Paul @slamminbones and @phil bottle both ran deep in to turn 1 causing a knock on effect of pushing some cars wide.  One of which was myself and I rejoined at the back of the pack with the aim of recovering as many positions as possible which was helped by Matt @Misneach_ kindly pushing Paul wide at turn 4 making it easy for me to gain 2 places.  Though this was soon undone due to Gary @techno   who used my car as a brake a couple of times through the final  sector putting me almost to the back again.  At the lead end of the start finish straight, @Shucker firmly in Phil's tow misjudges his braking zone and pinballs in to Phil causing him to run wide but due to the tarmac on the outside of turn 1, Phil gets a good run and manages to stay ahead in to turn 2.  The pack had become reasonably spread out by this point however Mike @Mikepjbell and Kiwi continued to have a brilliant battle for the lead over the remaining laps with Mike taking the lead in to turn 1 of lap 2 but Kiwi soon re-took his position at turn 4 of the same lap and Mike sticking one up the inside of the final corner to again retake the lead.  Though due to the length of the straight, Kiwi manages to draft up to Mike and take his lead at turn 1 of lap 3.  Over lap 3 Kiwi and Mike swap places several times which allows Tom @LordBaguette to catch up and join in the battle with Tom managing to briefly get passed Mike around turn 3 of the final lap though Mike soon retakes this as they go through turn 4.  This fighting slows them down meaning Shucker also is in the fight for the final half a lap but sadly this is ended as Tom runs wide at the hairpin at the start of the final sector and in cutting the grass infield gets reset costing him a podium.    Pete had also managed to catch up to Shucker and with the finish line being a considerable distance down the straight, manages to draft up to Shucker with them finishing just 0.05 seconds apart.
 
Results

 
 
Race 2 10 laps Monza no chicane Gr3
 
Monza is a world famous track for it's heritage and speed with it's long straights separated by chicanes.  In the layout raced this week though we skipped the first chicane meaning Curva Grande became turn 1.
 
Similar to last week, the grid for the second race was a reverse order of the finishing positions of the first race so there is no qualifying report.  Both the Medium and Hard racing compound tyres were available to use though the rule was that at least 1 lap had to be done on the hard compound tyre. 
 
Race
 
 
 
Again we used a grid start rather than a rolling start which has the benefit of keeping the pack far closer together than using a rolling start.  Without the first chicane it opened up the possibility of managing to sort ourselves out ready for, what is normally, the second chicane.  This didn't happen!  Due to the various speeds of people getting off the line and the run down to Curva Grande being so long the tow became important with the cars lining up 4 wide on the run to turn 1.  This didn't end well going a few small nudges through turn 1 saw Gary , Paul and Tom run wide in to the gravel but manage to recover and carry on.  @Lurch wasn't so lucky though as his trip through the gravel ended up with a spin and being parked sideways in front of Lee @GazzaGarratt.  @crispymorgan kept it clean and managed to hold on the lead though running wide in the first chicane and then coming out of the first Lesmo left me with an easy pass for the lead.  As it turns out the Lesmo's were a problem for a few people during the race with Lee, still struggling to get used to his wheel, becoming the second victim as he got out of shape through Lesmo 1 and spun hitting the inside barrier.  Kiwi had close the gap to me in the lead and using the tow down the start finish straight took the lead which I didn't fight too hard as I had picked up a time penalty and I knew I could use the tow from Kiwi to serve my penalty without losing any actual time.  Matt also manages to get a slight tow on Paul going down the start finish straight and has an attempt for a pass in to the first chicane but a massive misjudgement of his braking point saw him run clean over the chicane with the game resetting him giving Lee and easy pass though Matt closely follows Lee up to the Ascari chicane but failing to retake his position.  Lee on the charge at this point puts in a couple of fast lap to catch up to Paul on the following lap and manages to draft passed him going through turn 1 to take fifth place.  Unfortunately for Lee he becomes a victim to Lesmo 1 again costing him a couple of places as Pete and Paul move up the order.  I briefly take the lead from Kiwi down the straight though this is soon reversed at the chicane - at this point I'm reasonably confident Kiwi is on medium tyres and will need to pit whereas I decided to the whole race on the hard compound so won't need to pit so I decide to just follow Kiwi rather risk a pass or lose too much time fighting.  This is undone through as going through the Ascari chicane I get a snap of oversteer running the kerbs costing me time and allowing Mike @Mikepjbell to have the run on me down to Parabolica to take second though this reversed as I get a small tow on to the straight and re-pass Mike through turn 1.  Mike then becomes the next victim of the Lesmo's as he runs wide costing him time and allowing me to have some breathing room to catch back up to the leader, Kiwi.  I get a good run on Kiwi out of Ascari though he only leaves me with outside line for Parabolica which is a difficult pass.  A bit of door to door rubbing ends as Kiwi, as well as Mike in third, peal off to do their pitstops (much to Mikes disguist that I would use such a tactic).  Kiwi exits the pits with a few seconds lead over Mike though due to a mistake through Lesmo 1 and running wide through the gravel and grass, Mike has a run up to Ascari.  Mike takes the inside line and takes second from Kiwi but unfortunately runs a bit deep as Kiwi pulls a switch back and retakes his second place which manages to hold on to until the end of the race.  The final victim of the Lesmo's is Paul who on the final lap, with a chance to catch Matt, runs wide and spins at Lesmo 1 then rejoins and runs wide on the exit of Lesmo 2 also.
 
Results

 
 
Race 3 6 laps Blue Moon Bay Infield N200
 
We've done the oval of this track before but decided to try the infield version that has a few more corners than turning left all the time.  The track has a small number of corners with an especially tricky turn 1 due to the bump in the braking zone as you come off the banked oval section.
 
Again, the grid for this race was decided as a reverse of the finishing positions of the Monza race.
 
Race
 
 
Lee decided to really push the boat out for this race and try manual gears on top of also using his wheel.  This cost him slightly at the start as he forgot to change gear off the line though for the most part Lee, and everyone else, got off clean meaning we were all bunched up through turn 1.  Phil got nudged slightly which Mike was quick to defend that it wasn't him this time though Mike made up for it by then hitting Phil at turn 3.  Lee runs wide at the hairpin giving Kiwi an easy pass up the inside as Gary also follows Lee wide though in Gary's case this was helped by Tom.   Lee follows Kiwi out of the final corner and on to the oval section and with the help of the tow, makes a move down the inside for turn 1 but brakes late and runs wide in to the barriers of the outside of the corner.  This fighting leaves Paul with a small lead much to his own and Mike's surprise but with Kiwi in second and myself in third it was going to be fun to find out how long he could hold the lead as the gap gets smaller over lap 2.  At the end of lap 2, Phil gets in a 3 way fight with Pete and Gary and unfortunately gets switched back on through the final corner and run in to the wall on the outside of the oval.  By this point Kiwi and I had managed to close in on Paul in the lead with Kiwi making his move through turn 3 causing Paul to lose some speed.  I try to take advantage though I get caught out and have to take to the grass to avoid crashing in to Paul as I misjudged the overspeed I had.  The fight continues down to the hairpin where sadly Paul gets a bit to eager and a snap over oversteer sees him get a slow exit allowing me to take second.  While this is going on, Crispy, Matt and Gary are all very close and soon they're joined by Phil, Macca and Lurch for all 6 of them to run nose to tail through turn 1.  It's all kept clean though Crispy forgets which corner he was at and brakes unnecessarily costing him some places.   As they get to the hairpin, Lurch runs wide on the grass dropping him out of contention.  Matt also runs a little wide but managed to keep it on the black stuff until Crispy, who is also running wide due to Macca on his inside, has some contact with Matt and spins him out.  This leads on the final lap as Kiwi and myself start the final lap side by side on the oval as Kiwi takes a wider line through turn 1 to get ahead but I keep my car alongside to have a move in to turn 2 but fail to make the pass until Kiwi runs wide in turn 3.  Though Kiwi makes quick work of recouping the place at the first hairpin which I attempt to make the pass at the second hairpin.  Due to some dodgy ghosting, we pass through each other with Kiwi in the lead but on the outside for the final corner with me on the inside but with only my nose along side.  We try to make it through the final corner but Kiwi, in a repeat of Phil's earlier accident, gets run out wide in to the wall.  As I had so little alongside I should have backed out of the final corner so I lift off to give Kiwi the place back and for him to take the win.  Paul managed to keep in front of Mike also to hold on to third which I believe is his first podium so congratulations!
 
Results

 

A trophy secured and another oh-so-nearly season although it didn't look like it early on!
 
We welcomed new free agent Cal Nash @TheMuggySpud . Highly surprised to snap up the cool and calculated Irish dynamo all for a promise to buy him a Chicken Burger and a Sprite at the next big FG meet up. The first game of Monday Night Football we expected to use as watm-ups but needing 3 points from 2 games for the Division 4 title, it spurred everyone on to battle hard and comprehensively beat a strong Nuttin 2 Suttin side 2-0 at the first attempt. Another trophy in the bag!!
 
When it came to starting the Division 3 attack, the team took a while to settle in to the night - precisely 5 games actually 😬 - with people like @GazzaGarratt having internet problems and the usual strikeforce misfiring up top. Apart from a glorious 3-0 win, we took some heavy beatings, with a few of them being a little harsh but there wasn't much FGFC could do about some very good sides and defence splitting balls in which there was no way we could defend them, even if we had 110 Pace. Those through ball killer passes are a nightmare for flat footed defenders.
 
 
We needed something to stop the rot and to get out of our Baguette Blues we were having. Firstly, we'd spent a number of weeks trying some extra formations out from what we started out with for many seasons. A suggestion was put up to go back to the infamous 4-1-2-1-2 formation. Difficulty was that the ridiculous Pro Clubs mode has a bug that doesn't change the formation on screen but does in game. So for the first 17 minutes of the game, Gary Goals @LordBaguette  has to spend time switching people into the correct positions. Not ideal but it came just in time. The game against Royal Accademys ended up to be a balls to the wall, defending masterclass by all involved. The back 4 of Torpedo Tony @TonyAE86 , Sensual Chocolate @jordie1892 , Club Tropicana @GazzaGarratt and AI defender Jordan Prickford, were helped hugely with the concentration skills of Gin Tronic @tronic44 at CDM and the rest of the team. A winner from debutant Cal @TheMuggySpud , made the 1-0 win even more sweeter. No need to explain the rest, role the tape.
 
 
This gave the whole team new renowned hope for the rest of the night as FGFC before that were speeding for the relegation zone again. The 1-0 win was a catalyst for FGFC to obliterate their next opponents 6-0. A late inclusion jumping online straight into the back line was Roberto Barlos @Findmartin  immediately grabbed a clean sheet, the Assist King @Macca89  back on form with a Man of the Match performance and Rodman @Lurch back to his best with a hat-trick. James continued to show how amazing his alternate tall Striker really is ending the night top of the goals again, and more than double than anyone else.
 
A closer fought battle followed straight after but another strong defensive show proved useful yet again as Torpedo Tony shined through with some crunching tackles, one of which started the first goal where Maccanohairman crossed to the glorious heed of Rodman. The same show struck late on in the game too, even though I think we have to thank Jordie the Mindreader after Rodman had his pen saved 🤣
 
 
Just as there was a freak glimmer of promotion out of nowhere, it was quickly ended with 3-1 defeat to end Season 52, however remaining in Division 3 felt like a good result by the end of the night.
 
We're getting close, incredibly close, to the top two divisions and I think thats hugely commendable given the difference in experience everyone in FGFC has. So good to see some cracking teamwork yet again.
 
GGFG @Lurch  @JamaicanSteve  @jordie1892  @LordBaguette  @TheMuggySpud  @Macca89  @TonyAE86  @Findmartin  @tronic44 @GazzaGarratt
 

A trophy secured and another oh-so-nearly season although it didn't look like it early on!
 
We welcomed new free agent Cal Nash @TheMuggySpud . Highly surprised to snap up the cool and calculated Irish dynamo all for a promise to buy him a Chicken Burger and a Sprite at the next big FG meet up. The first game of Monday Night Football we expected to use as watm-ups but needing 3 points from 2 games for the Division 4 title, it spurred everyone on to battle hard and comprehensively beat a strong Nuttin 2 Suttin side 2-0 at the first attempt. Another trophy in the bag!!
 
When it came to starting the Division 3 attack, the team took a while to settle in to the night - precisely 5 games actually 😬 - with people like @GazzaGarratt having internet problems and the usual strikeforce misfiring up top. Apart from a glorious 3-0 win, we took some heavy beatings, with a few of them being a little harsh but there wasn't much FGFC could do about some very good sides and defence splitting balls in which there was no way we could defend them, even if we had 110 Pace. Those through ball killer passes are a nightmare for flat footed defenders.
 
 
We needed something to stop the rot and to get out of our Baguette Blues we were having. Firstly, we'd spent a number of weeks trying some extra formations out from what we started out with for many seasons. A suggestion was put up to go back to the infamous 4-1-2-1-2 formation. Difficulty was that the ridiculous Pro Clubs mode has a bug that doesn't change the formation on screen but does in game. So for the first 17 minutes of the game, Gary Goals @LordBaguette  has to spend time switching people into the correct positions. Not ideal but it came just in time. The game against Royal Accademys ended up to be a balls to the wall, defending masterclass by all involved. The back 4 of Torpedo Tony @TonyAE86 , Sensual Chocolate @jordie1892 , Club Tropicana @GazzaGarratt and AI defender Jordan Prickford, were helped hugely with the concentration skills of Gin Tronic @tronic44 at CDM and the rest of the team. A winner from debutant Cal @TheMuggySpud , made the 1-0 win even more sweeter. No need to explain the rest, role the tape.
 
 
This gave the whole team new renowned hope for the rest of the night as FGFC before that were speeding for the relegation zone again. The 1-0 win was a catalyst for FGFC to obliterate their next opponents 6-0. A late inclusion jumping online straight into the back line was Roberto Barlos @Findmartin  immediately grabbed a clean sheet, the Assist King @Macca89  back on form with a Man of the Match performance and Rodman @Lurch back to his best with a hat-trick. James continued to show how amazing his alternate tall Striker really is ending the night top of the goals again, and more than double than anyone else.
 
A closer fought battle followed straight after but another strong defensive show proved useful yet again as Torpedo Tony shined through with some crunching tackles, one of which started the first goal where Maccanohairman crossed to the glorious heed of Rodman. The same show struck late on in the game too, even though I think we have to thank Jordie the Mindreader after Rodman had his pen saved 🤣
 
 
Just as there was a freak glimmer of promotion out of nowhere, it was quickly ended with 3-1 defeat to end Season 52, however remaining in Division 3 felt like a good result by the end of the night.
 
We're getting close, incredibly close, to the top two divisions and I think thats hugely commendable given the difference in experience everyone in FGFC has. So good to see some cracking teamwork yet again.
 
GGFG @Lurch  @JamaicanSteve  @jordie1892  @LordBaguette  @TheMuggySpud  @Macca89  @TonyAE86  @Findmartin  @tronic44 @GazzaGarratt
 

A trophy secured and another oh-so-nearly season although it didn't look like it early on!
 
We welcomed new free agent Cal Nash @TheMuggySpud . Highly surprised to snap up the cool and calculated Irish dynamo all for a promise to buy him a Chicken Burger and a Sprite at the next big FG meet up. The first game of Monday Night Football we expected to use as watm-ups but needing 3 points from 2 games for the Division 4 title, it spurred everyone on to battle hard and comprehensively beat a strong Nuttin 2 Suttin side 2-0 at the first attempt. Another trophy in the bag!!
 
When it came to starting the Division 3 attack, the team took a while to settle in to the night - precisely 5 games actually 😬 - with people like @GazzaGarratt having internet problems and the usual strikeforce misfiring up top. Apart from a glorious 3-0 win, we took some heavy beatings, with a few of them being a little harsh but there wasn't much FGFC could do about some very good sides and defence splitting balls in which there was no way we could defend them, even if we had 110 Pace. Those through ball killer passes are a nightmare for flat footed defenders.
 
 
We needed something to stop the rot and to get out of our Baguette Blues we were having. Firstly, we'd spent a number of weeks trying some extra formations out from what we started out with for many seasons. A suggestion was put up to go back to the infamous 4-1-2-1-2 formation. Difficulty was that the ridiculous Pro Clubs mode has a bug that doesn't change the formation on screen but does in game. So for the first 17 minutes of the game, Gary Goals @LordBaguette  has to spend time switching people into the correct positions. Not ideal but it came just in time. The game against Royal Accademys ended up to be a balls to the wall, defending masterclass by all involved. The back 4 of Torpedo Tony @TonyAE86 , Sensual Chocolate @jordie1892 , Club Tropicana @GazzaGarratt and AI defender Jordan Prickford, were helped hugely with the concentration skills of Gin Tronic @tronic44 at CDM and the rest of the team. A winner from debutant Cal @TheMuggySpud , made the 1-0 win even more sweeter. No need to explain the rest, role the tape.
 
 
This gave the whole team new renowned hope for the rest of the night as FGFC before that were speeding for the relegation zone again. The 1-0 win was a catalyst for FGFC to obliterate their next opponents 6-0. A late inclusion jumping online straight into the back line was Roberto Barlos @Findmartin  immediately grabbed a clean sheet, the Assist King @Macca89  back on form with a Man of the Match performance and Rodman @Lurch back to his best with a hat-trick. James continued to show how amazing his alternate tall Striker really is ending the night top of the goals again, and more than double than anyone else.
 
A closer fought battle followed straight after but another strong defensive show proved useful yet again as Torpedo Tony shined through with some crunching tackles, one of which started the first goal where Maccanohairman crossed to the glorious heed of Rodman. The same show struck late on in the game too, even though I think we have to thank Jordie the Mindreader after Rodman had his pen saved 🤣
 
 
Just as there was a freak glimmer of promotion out of nowhere, it was quickly ended with 3-1 defeat to end Season 52, however remaining in Division 3 felt like a good result by the end of the night.
 
We're getting close, incredibly close, to the top two divisions and I think thats hugely commendable given the difference in experience everyone in FGFC has. So good to see some cracking teamwork yet again.
 
GGFG @Lurch  @JamaicanSteve  @jordie1892  @LordBaguette  @TheMuggySpud  @Macca89  @TonyAE86  @Findmartin  @tronic44 @GazzaGarratt
 

Race 1 - 12 Laps Willow Springs Gr4
 
Even though the Audi TT has been given a Balance of Power (BoP) nerf recently, this race looked like it was going to play out in a similar fashion to Laguna Seca a few weeks ago.  The Audi TT is significantly faster but is Front wheel drive and suffers excessive front tyre wear meaning a pit stop is required.  Choosing a different car though would mean being slower on ultimate pace but able to do the race without a stop.  Which would be quicker in this race of strategy...that @Mikepjbell screwed during practise by explaining the assists he use causing Phil to force them to be off for qualifying and the race.
 
Qualifying
Out of the 12 racing, only 4 chose not to use the Audi TT so qualifying was going to be difficult for us.  The four were myself in the Toyota GT86, The birthday boy @JBR-Kiwi in the Dodge Viper, @tronic44 in the Peugeot RCZ and first time racer @techno in a Lamborghini Huracan.  I got out the pits first and so crossed the line first, I set a new PB of a low 1:16 but this was short lived as Mike crossed the line shortly afterwards with a blistering 1:15.8 whose pace already surprised himself with everyone slotting in third down.  On the second flying lap, the times and positions didn't change much with the exception of Lee  @GazzaGarratt jumping up to fourth, then on his third qualifying lap take his first pole from Mike by a tenth.
 
Race
 
 
Unlike the last few weeks, we were doing standing starts, which saw Lee on pole get nothing but wheel spin allowing a better starting Mike to hold the inside in to turn 1 and take the lead.  A bit of door to door action saw Tom@LordBaguette get squeezed leaving Kiwi on my tail going in to turn 2.  Keeping an eye on Kiwi in my mirror, I missed my braking point for turn 3 allowing Kiwi to make a pass and move on up the podium positions.  This was relatively short lived though as on the tricky last corner both Lee and Kiwi run wide giving me an easy second and as Kiwi got a better run on to the start finish straight, it saw Lee drop from second to fourth in one corner.  Lee stuck close to Kiwi though and manages to re-pass him at the top of the circuit on turn 4 which also allows Tom get passed on the downhill section.  The leader, Mike, touches the dirt on the way down the hill allowing me to close and get a run on him in to the last corner but the Audi is monstrous through the final corner so Mike pulls a small gap.  Lap 2 it was Tom and Phil's @phil bottle turn to run wide at the final corner and losing them places.  Tom running wide, left Kiwi again chasing down Lee and on the following lap, making a pass on the downhill as Lee runs on to the dirt and very wide costing him several places.  As the saying goes, third times the charm, on my third attempt to follow Mike through the final corner he gaps me but I get a better exit and close up down the straight to take the lead through turn 1 which is all to brief as in a copy of Lap 1, I run wide in to turn 3 allowing Mike to retake his lead who then runs wide in turn 6 letting me back passed.  Kiwi has a couple of bad laps of running wide on the last corner and ends up behind @jordie1892 who battle for the place with Kiwi making the pass, Jordie retaking the position before Jordie runs wide on on turn 3 of lap 11.  To end the race Phil and @Lurch get close with their final position coming down to the final corner where Phil runs wide allowing Lurch to take the place by a little of one tenth of a second.
 

 
To somewhat show how tricky the final corner of this track is, I think half my notes for this race revolved around someone or other running wide 😆
 
Race 2 - 3 laps Sainte Croix A Gr3
 
There was no qualifying for this race as we decided to try out a reverse grid based on the results of the previous race.  The race is only 3 laps but as it is one of the longer tracks in GT Sport so there was going to be plenty of time for action as the faster cars at the back made their way through the pack.
 
Race
 
 
As race 1, this was a grid start which caused carnage from the start as @Shucker couldn't race but forgot to remove his entry so was at a stand still at lights out causing Mike some issues.  The majority of the pack got off well and running 3 or 4 wide heading for turn 1 was a risk for a big pile up but with the exception of Pete getting knocked wide and pushing Tom wide it was mostly clean.  The exit of turn 1 had Rich @tronic44 in the lead being chased by Kiwi, Lurch in 3rd with Phil and Lee bumper to bumper in 4th and 5th respectively.  Mike had recovered from a stranded Shucker and was 3 wide with myself and Gary going up to turn 2 where I managed to take 6th with Mike in 7th and Gary in 8th.  Rich makes a mistake runs wide at turn 6 letting Kiwi take the lead while Lurch runs wide out of turn 4 allowing Phil and Lee to close the gap.  Phil takes the inside in to Turn 6 but like Rich runs deep while Lee also follows while helping Lurch in to the wall too giving me an easy pass straight to 3rd place.  Sadly in recovery Lurch spins a few corners later and retires form the race.  Rich goes offline through turn 8 which allows me to run round the outside of 9 and take the inside of turn 10 to move myself up to second place.  Mike shortly follows with a nice move to overtake Rich at the hairpin at turn 13 with Rich losing a further place as Tom makes the pass down the start finish straight at the end of the first lap.  The race calms down after the manic first lap as most people have found their rough positions and running with gaps though a few mistakes give chances and passes.  I haven't really been able to close down the gap to Kiwi but in pushing Kiwi runs wide turn 10 on lap 2 allowing me to close right up but with some work still to be done if I want to get close enough to try a pass.  I fail to close the gap with my last option being to try and out drag Kiwi to the line but due to misjudging my speed from the tow I brake too late for the final corner allowing Kiwi a clear run to the line.  Lee, Gary and @slamminbones all get close with Lee managing to overtake Gary who shortly after takes the position though Lee manages to pass Gary right at the end.
 

 
Race 3 - 4 Laps Tokyo East Loop (Wet Race)
 
This race was scheduled for a previous week which due to time constraints it was not possible to do so it was re-run this week.  In the practise for the previous weeks race, Bones was quick and topping the times but was struggling to achieve the same times during this practise session.  Though I think everyone was struggling to adapt to the slippery conditions after two dry races on some of the softest and grippiest tyres available.  Due to the time, we didn't do any official qualifying for this race so the grid was decided by the  practise times.
 
Race
Sadly there is no footage of this race due to someone, who might have been me, forgot to save the replay which is a shame as the drag to turn 1 was interesting.  Again we started this race with a standard start but on Tokyo the start line is in a tunnel so the track is dry and it's a looong run to turn 1.  We all go off relatively clean but the differences in cars became apparent as Pete's speed saw him take the lead just as Phil in his Aston Martin also made a charge through the pack.  Phil takes a defensive inside line in to turn 1 and brakes early catching me out causing me to have dive for the outside as I brake later.   Due to the conditions both Pete and Lee run wide touching the wall but getting away mostly clean.  Pete takes a drive at turn 2 to take the lead from me as Lee runs wide again this time picking up a penalty for hitting the wall.  Towards the end of the lap, I make a pass on Pete retaking the lead as Lee closes up to Pete too.  Lee attempts to pass Pete by going round the outside but due to the lack of grip they run wide and in touching the wall, Lee spins and sadly the game doesn't reset him until most of the pack has passed.  Lee is chasing down Bones in to the final hairpin where Bones does his best Tokyo drift impression which Lee takes advantage of but Bones gets a better run and with the help of the tow repasses Lee down the straight.  At the end of lap 1, I cross the line in the lead with a gap to Mike in second who has a gap to Kiwi and Phil in 3rd and 4th who in an attempt to close in on Mike try some shake and bake bump drafting though Rich has been sneaking up on them and makes a surprise pass on Phil at turn 1.  Lee succumbs to some technical difficulties as his wheel slips on the desk causing him to go all pinball wizard by hitting every wall trying to re-clamp it.  Kiwi without the need for shake and bake, manages to pass Mike who then tries to convince Kiwi to slow down on the straight so he can be in the tow - for some reason Kiwi doesn't.
 

Race 1 - 8 Laps Tsukuba Gr.4

A few of us had practised this combination over the weekend with most of us having decided on what car to use.  That was until an update the day before the race rebalanced the cars.  A quick check of the leaderboard soon told us the new fastest car but it was going to be a rush trying to get used to it.

Qualifying; This week saw qualifying start off in some rather unusual circumstances - Rather than Mike apologising, Mike was being apologised to!  This didn't distract Lurch though who crossed the line first and setting what would be provisional pole until Kiwi crossed the line around half a lap later.  I followed Kiwi across the line slotting myself in to second place and bumping Lurch down to third.  Over qualifying Phil managed to get a good lap together to finally take third on the grid leaving Lurch to take fourth.  All the time Lee was getting more and more angry at himself as he was failing to get near his optimal lap time or the time he managed in practise meaning he had to settle for fifth.  I improved my lap time but was still second though, with my optimal fast enough for pole, on the pnultimate lap of qualifying I got my lap together to take pole by less than 0.1 seconds from Kiwi.
 
Race:
 
 
A rolling start saw us all reasonably separated and so turn 1 was clean but with everyone trying hard it didn't take long for mistakes to happen.  The first victim was @Stretch616 , running wide through the middle chicane but through skill (or luck?) managed to hold it.  By lap 2 the pack had closed up allowing Lee @GazzaGarratt to make a nice pass on @phil bottle at the final hairpin to move up to a podium position.  This was shortly followed by @slamminbones trying a similar move but failing to pull it off and running wide and costing himself a few places.  Sadly this followed by Stretch running wide through the final corner causing himself to fall down the order.  Out front, I was slowly pulling away from Kiwi in second until a mistake at the start of lap 4 saw my lead halved and down to just 0.2 seconds by the end of lap 4.  A few more unforced errors with Matt running ride through the middle chicane before hitting the wall and Bones copying Stretch and running wide through the last corner saw further changes to the order.  I had been eeking out a gap to @JBR-Kiwi but an unforced error of my own at the final hairpin meant I had to go defensive against Kiwi through the final corner and turn 1 of lap 7.  Kiwi took the lead in to turn 1 but being on the outside he couldn't hold on to it.  Through all the action and mistakes, Bones had caught up with Stretch and tried a repeat of his lap 2 dive at the final hairpin.  Bones keeps it on track this time but Stretch gets the switch back causing them to run side by side down the back straight, the final turn and the start finish straight.  Sadly for Bones a misjudged braking zone for turn 1 saw him off in to the gravel leaving Stretch to easily keep his place.  And so began the final lap with the win up for grabs, I was in the lead but bumper to bumper with Kiwi in second.  Kiwi took some unusual lines in trying to find a way passed with me taking defensive lines through the final hairpin and corner to take the win by a little over 1 tenth of a second.
 
Final Result:

 
Race 2 - 9 Laps Mount Panorama
Going in to this race, it was always going to be tricky.  Gr3 cars are fast and give plenty of oppurtunites to make mistakes going over the mountain where there's no run off areas and lots of walls to get penalties from.
 
Qualifying; From practise it was looking likely that I would take pole with Kiwi lining up second on the grid.  However qualifying didn't start well for Kiwi who managed to spin on the final corner of his out lap but a quick reverse up the track saw him start his first qualifying lap at normal racing speed.  I cross the line first but with a lap overtaking Phil and a mistake saw Lee initially setting the pace with a 2:03.7 lap, almost 3 seconds faster than his PB in practise.  Kiwi manages to get a good lap in though and takes provisional pole following half a lap later by me taking provisional pole.  In the middle of qualifying, Mike has time to play deceit when Matt asks him what his time is and Mike gives his optimal lap time rather than his actual - sneaky!  Phil who has been down the order gets a clean lap in to take provisional fourth but is promptly beaten to by Mike dropping him to fifth place.  At this point, I nail an almost perfect (for me) lap and scrape a 2 minute dead lap time causing Lee much disguist.  Lurch closes out qualifying by jumping himself from seventh to fifth on the grid and further demoting Phil.
 
Race:
 
 
Due to the extremely short start/finish straight at Mount Panorama, the rolling start didn't work out for some as it started them on the last corner and causing Matt @Misneach_ to fall back from the pack much to his annoyance at not being able to get a tow up the hill after turn 1.  Lee made a great start though and with the tow from Kiwi makes a move in to turn 2 which after some battling Kiwi holds his place as Lee falls back a little.  Sadly Lee's race soon takes a turn for the worse as he runs wide at the final corner of the mountain and the game reset him costing him valuable places and his sudden re-appearance causing Stretch to also hit the wall.  This saw Stretch fall backwards with Matt right on his tail which starts a fight that gets picked up a few times through the race.  Lee making a recovery chases down Phil until Phil runs wide on the last corner of the mountain allowing Lee to take fifth place.  Phil doesn't give up though but following Lee over the mountain on lap 4, dips a tyre on the grass and spins.  As Phil recovers he holds up Matt a little who is then caught by Stretch to continue their battle.  Sadly for Matt, he gets a little loose out of one of the corners and with a little tap from Stretch spins right round (baby, right round) but ever the gentleman, Stretch waits for Matt to recover and retake his position.  While all this has been going on down the field, Lee still recovering from lap 1 catches Lurch in fifth and following a side by side battle over several corners, Lee emerges victorious.  This is short lived though as the following lap, Matt recounts his excessive penalties and distracts Lee which allows Lurch to retake his place with 1 lap to go.  Lee now mostly on his own starts the final lap only to begin the celebrations a little early with several doughnuts at turn 2  letting Bones and Phil to gain an easy position.  To give credit where credit is due though, Lee follows up the doughnuts with some nice drifting going up the mountain
 
Final Result:

 

A game of 3 halves is what they say isn't it?
 
FGFC started the night in Division 4 after midweek impromptu meetups didn't quite pan out as we'd have hoped. Still, we were raring to go and eager to change our slow 'warm-up' starts and it paid off with a gruelling 1-0 over vanssssssss (I was tempted to carry on there for a moment...). A tremendous defence-splitting pass by Rodman @Lurch  in his commanding CDM role found Crunchy Connor @JamaicanSteve  to go through 1-on-1 to score the solitary goal.
 
The FG train was on a roll and swiftly made the next team quit, obtaining a default 3-0 win. Needing one more win to go up, we turned up against a better side in Team Taunt UK. A goal a piece in the first half meant it was a tight affair but early in the second half a lovely worked play down the left ended up Forlan @ChaosGladiator  putting a sweeping cross in, for what was to be the biggest salmon jump we've seen so far playing FIFA...or so we thought!
 
 
Division 3 carried on where we left off with a sublime 2-0 win; a brace from Rodman just showing how much of a utility player he is for FGFC, like the stellar Aaron Mokoena was back in the day for Blackburn Rovers and Portsmouth. Memorable, right? 😎 After such a good start, we got to the end of the first Third of the night (although we didn't know this at that point in time).
 
The next phase of the night started with a 3-3 banger, all goals coming within 30 minutes of the first half. The Tennis match was soon over though with a cagey 2nd half of constant defending, not all because of the opposition mind you... 😄
 
 
A horrible patch followed with 3 back-to-back defeats. Some goals the back 4 couldn't do much about, whereas others we just kept on losing the ball in dangerous positions outside of the box. I think most teams will seem to have these spells through a night (I can hear Tom @LordBaguette  screaming in his sleep something beginning with S...) but i'd say we weren't flat throughout that period. Just on the wrong side of luck. Our 2-1 loss Jakes U15s could've been different if Gin & Tronic @tronic44 had expected the penalty to be passed to him, although it was still a cracking save.
 
Near the end of the bad middle spell, we were doing everything we could against some good, skillful sides but perhaps also having a ton of luck against us. 2-0 down at H/T to TTN GaMiNg, we battled to stop further goals coming through. Torpedo Tony @TonyAE86 , Roberto Barlos @Findmartin  and makeshift centreback @jordie1892  were pulling out all the stops keeping them to just one extra goal, going into the last 10 mins 3-1 down. Sensing we'd had enough of getting the wrong side of this luck, @Macca89 hot a screamer against the bar with Mulletov @G_dub52  crucially following in to force an headed own goal. It set up a tense finish, with TTFN getting a corner on 89 minutes and unusually it was FGFC that managed to break away, a side-splitting pass from Torpedo Tony allowed Mulletov and Sensual Chocolate @jordie1892  to play a one-two with Mulletov smashing the equaliser home.
 
You wouldn't believe that last minute winners aren't our specialism. However, when one last minute goal comes, another soon follows, as the saying goes. Toronto Rabbits put up a strong fight and we were deadlocked at 1-1. We thought we lost our chance - twice - but the following 30 seconds were truly incredible stuff. FIFA at his best. They still must be screwing over that since Monday.
 
 
Unfortunately, the damage was already done early doors in Season 46 resulting in FGFC bouncing back down to Division 4.
 
The last minute winners and desire from those games though did give us some heart at the end of the night as the third phase kicked off, we became more dominant in overall play. Sensual Chocolate found his shooting boots, alongside MaccaNoHairMan. Rodman went back up top and his found some form with his head, alongside Mulletov and Roberto Barlos that finished some lovely team goals. 9 goals in 3 games and a lovely 3 winning game streak to end the night on.
 
Moment of the night went to good ol' Torpedo Tony @TonyAE86 . It does have awful trouble with his WiFi at the best of times due to his Washing Machine being on 🙈🤣but this week's excuse for missing a 2 yarder was more down to some food stuck inside his controller. Don't ever change, Tony.
 
 
 
Overall, its clear to see we play better with 3 halves to the night 😎 GGFG all @Lurch  @Macca89  @JamaicanSteve  @jordie1892  @LordBaguette  @Findmartin  @ChaosGladiator  @G_dub52  @TonyAE86  @tronic44 @GazzaGarratt
 
 

 
 
 

A game of 3 halves is what they say isn't it?
 
FGFC started the night in Division 4 after midweek impromptu meetups didn't quite pan out as we'd have hoped. Still, we were raring to go and eager to change our slow 'warm-up' starts and it paid off with a gruelling 1-0 over vanssssssss (I was tempted to carry on there for a moment...). A tremendous defence-splitting pass by Rodman @Lurch  in his commanding CDM role found Crunchy Connor @JamaicanSteve  to go through 1-on-1 to score the solitary goal.
 
The FG train was on a roll and swiftly made the next team quit, obtaining a default 3-0 win. Needing one more win to go up, we turned up against a better side in Team Taunt UK. A goal a piece in the first half meant it was a tight affair but early in the second half a lovely worked play down the left ended up Forlan @ChaosGladiator  putting a sweeping cross in, for what was to be the biggest salmon jump we've seen so far playing FIFA...or so we thought!
 
 
Division 3 carried on where we left off with a sublime 2-0 win; a brace from Rodman just showing how much of a utility player he is for FGFC, like the stellar Aaron Mokoena was back in the day for Blackburn Rovers and Portsmouth. Memorable, right? 😎 After such a good start, we got to the end of the first Third of the night (although we didn't know this at that point in time).
 
The next phase of the night started with a 3-3 banger, all goals coming within 30 minutes of the first half. The Tennis match was soon over though with a cagey 2nd half of constant defending, not all because of the opposition mind you... 😄
 
 
A horrible patch followed with 3 back-to-back defeats. Some goals the back 4 couldn't do much about, whereas others we just kept on losing the ball in dangerous positions outside of the box. I think most teams will seem to have these spells through a night (I can hear Tom @LordBaguette  screaming in his sleep something beginning with S...) but i'd say we weren't flat throughout that period. Just on the wrong side of luck. Our 2-1 loss Jakes U15s could've been different if Gin & Tronic @tronic44 had expected the penalty to be passed to him, although it was still a cracking save.
 
Near the end of the bad middle spell, we were doing everything we could against some good, skillful sides but perhaps also having a ton of luck against us. 2-0 down at H/T to TTN GaMiNg, we battled to stop further goals coming through. Torpedo Tony @TonyAE86 , Roberto Barlos @Findmartin  and makeshift centreback @jordie1892  were pulling out all the stops keeping them to just one extra goal, going into the last 10 mins 3-1 down. Sensing we'd had enough of getting the wrong side of this luck, @Macca89 hot a screamer against the bar with Mulletov @G_dub52  crucially following in to force an headed own goal. It set up a tense finish, with TTFN getting a corner on 89 minutes and unusually it was FGFC that managed to break away, a side-splitting pass from Torpedo Tony allowed Mulletov and Sensual Chocolate @jordie1892  to play a one-two with Mulletov smashing the equaliser home.
 
You wouldn't believe that last minute winners aren't our specialism. However, when one last minute goal comes, another soon follows, as the saying goes. Toronto Rabbits put up a strong fight and we were deadlocked at 1-1. We thought we lost our chance - twice - but the following 30 seconds were truly incredible stuff. FIFA at his best. They still must be screwing over that since Monday.
 
 
Unfortunately, the damage was already done early doors in Season 46 resulting in FGFC bouncing back down to Division 4.
 
The last minute winners and desire from those games though did give us some heart at the end of the night as the third phase kicked off, we became more dominant in overall play. Sensual Chocolate found his shooting boots, alongside MaccaNoHairMan. Rodman went back up top and his found some form with his head, alongside Mulletov and Roberto Barlos that finished some lovely team goals. 9 goals in 3 games and a lovely 3 winning game streak to end the night on.
 
Moment of the night went to good ol' Torpedo Tony @TonyAE86 . It does have awful trouble with his WiFi at the best of times due to his Washing Machine being on 🙈🤣but this week's excuse for missing a 2 yarder was more down to some food stuck inside his controller. Don't ever change, Tony.
 
 
 
Overall, its clear to see we play better with 3 halves to the night 😎 GGFG all @Lurch  @Macca89  @JamaicanSteve  @jordie1892  @LordBaguette  @Findmartin  @ChaosGladiator  @G_dub52  @TonyAE86  @tronic44 @GazzaGarratt
 
 

 
 
 

A game of 3 halves is what they say isn't it?
 
FGFC started the night in Division 4 after midweek impromptu meetups didn't quite pan out as we'd have hoped. Still, we were raring to go and eager to change our slow 'warm-up' starts and it paid off with a gruelling 1-0 over vanssssssss (I was tempted to carry on there for a moment...). A tremendous defence-splitting pass by Rodman @Lurch  in his commanding CDM role found Crunchy Connor @JamaicanSteve  to go through 1-on-1 to score the solitary goal.
 
The FG train was on a roll and swiftly made the next team quit, obtaining a default 3-0 win. Needing one more win to go up, we turned up against a better side in Team Taunt UK. A goal a piece in the first half meant it was a tight affair but early in the second half a lovely worked play down the left ended up Forlan @ChaosGladiator  putting a sweeping cross in, for what was to be the biggest salmon jump we've seen so far playing FIFA...or so we thought!
 
 
Division 3 carried on where we left off with a sublime 2-0 win; a brace from Rodman just showing how much of a utility player he is for FGFC, like the stellar Aaron Mokoena was back in the day for Blackburn Rovers and Portsmouth. Memorable, right? 😎 After such a good start, we got to the end of the first Third of the night (although we didn't know this at that point in time).
 
The next phase of the night started with a 3-3 banger, all goals coming within 30 minutes of the first half. The Tennis match was soon over though with a cagey 2nd half of constant defending, not all because of the opposition mind you... 😄
 
 
A horrible patch followed with 3 back-to-back defeats. Some goals the back 4 couldn't do much about, whereas others we just kept on losing the ball in dangerous positions outside of the box. I think most teams will seem to have these spells through a night (I can hear Tom @LordBaguette  screaming in his sleep something beginning with S...) but i'd say we weren't flat throughout that period. Just on the wrong side of luck. Our 2-1 loss Jakes U15s could've been different if Gin & Tronic @tronic44 had expected the penalty to be passed to him, although it was still a cracking save.
 
Near the end of the bad middle spell, we were doing everything we could against some good, skillful sides but perhaps also having a ton of luck against us. 2-0 down at H/T to TTN GaMiNg, we battled to stop further goals coming through. Torpedo Tony @TonyAE86 , Roberto Barlos @Findmartin  and makeshift centreback @jordie1892  were pulling out all the stops keeping them to just one extra goal, going into the last 10 mins 3-1 down. Sensing we'd had enough of getting the wrong side of this luck, @Macca89 hot a screamer against the bar with Mulletov @G_dub52  crucially following in to force an headed own goal. It set up a tense finish, with TTFN getting a corner on 89 minutes and unusually it was FGFC that managed to break away, a side-splitting pass from Torpedo Tony allowed Mulletov and Sensual Chocolate @jordie1892  to play a one-two with Mulletov smashing the equaliser home.
 
You wouldn't believe that last minute winners aren't our specialism. However, when one last minute goal comes, another soon follows, as the saying goes. Toronto Rabbits put up a strong fight and we were deadlocked at 1-1. We thought we lost our chance - twice - but the following 30 seconds were truly incredible stuff. FIFA at his best. They still must be screwing over that since Monday.
 
 
Unfortunately, the damage was already done early doors in Season 46 resulting in FGFC bouncing back down to Division 4.
 
The last minute winners and desire from those games though did give us some heart at the end of the night as the third phase kicked off, we became more dominant in overall play. Sensual Chocolate found his shooting boots, alongside MaccaNoHairMan. Rodman went back up top and his found some form with his head, alongside Mulletov and Roberto Barlos that finished some lovely team goals. 9 goals in 3 games and a lovely 3 winning game streak to end the night on.
 
Moment of the night went to good ol' Torpedo Tony @TonyAE86 . It does have awful trouble with his WiFi at the best of times due to his Washing Machine being on 🙈🤣but this week's excuse for missing a 2 yarder was more down to some food stuck inside his controller. Don't ever change, Tony.
 
 
 
Overall, its clear to see we play better with 3 halves to the night 😎 GGFG all @Lurch  @Macca89  @JamaicanSteve  @jordie1892  @LordBaguette  @Findmartin  @ChaosGladiator  @G_dub52  @TonyAE86  @tronic44 @GazzaGarratt
 
 

 
 
 

Could we? I mean, how dare we? Try and stay in Division 2 and mount a challenge to the promised land? Nah, you're alright thanks 🤣
 
An incredible start to the night had us thinking the impossible of keeping ourselves in the mighty Championship and then mounting a challenge to get up to Division 1 for the first time in our FGFC FIFA 21 existence. A mighty battle started with FG going 1-0 down after half an hour. The main contributing factor went to Torpedo Tony @TonyAE86  having lag, but not by the conventional issues we usually find. This time out it was the...Washing Machine. Yep, apparently all of the spins impact his WiFi speeds these days. Having said that though, we immediately sprung into life with a bullet from Gin Tronic @tronic44 at the near post.
 
The positivity was growing, and with a goal from either side in a matter of minutes to make it 2-2, we found ourselves with a corner. Tony looking for our headshot king, Dennis Rodman @Lurch ...but we didn't expect the following at all.
 
 
Mulletov @G_dub52  rounded off a 4-3 win in our first match and we were pumped for what was to come. Forgetting the unfortunate blip straight after where we went unfortunately down 3-1, even though we dominated the play througout, the momentum was took forward to the third game of the night where it was a near perfect performance. The assist king @Macca89  got his shooting boots on and rounded up the Man of the Match perfect 10 performance with a sublime hatrick from some amazing assists and team play throughout a 6-0 riot. Tom @LordBaguette  was notching the penalties early doors and the back 4 of Club Tropicana @GazzaGarratt, Sensual Choc @jordie1892 , Dennis Rodman @Lurch  and Torpedo Tony @TonyAE86  had a stormer. Unfortunately, previous days results alongside the second game blip left FGFC needing yet another win just to survive relegation to Division 3. A stellar performance with yet another @Macca89  goal set us up nicely but an equaliser shortly followed and for all the tea in Rich's house, we just couldn't push a winner past the keeper. It was worth mentioning though James yet again kept us in the game again with some fine defending. A quick highlight reel below was a delight to clip.
 
 
 
So Season 44 was upon us and after a short break and a swap around of all our positions, we commenced another season in Division 3. When all the positions change up somewhat, we always struggle to find the momentum again and it hurt us badly at the start, going down heavily in a 3-0 loss. We dug deep to then take a 4-1 lead in the next game to nearly throw it away with two late goals...apparently something about James making a rare mistake had to to be noted down on the stats. I'm not that harsh though, so i'll just write about for everyone to see rather than stick on the infographic below 😎
 
Inconsistency was definitely showing again though with another 2-0 defeat hitting us hard, we then tried to buck the trend of losing too many matches early doors. With the game poised at 2-2 and battling extremely hard into the closing stages, GD Pontevel broke forward after another chance for FGFC was saved. The rest was history. Can somebody lend us a spare FIFA script when they get chance please?
 
 
 
A successful 3-1 win followed this stinging defeat, but we couldn't keep up the levels we had started out at the beginning of the night and aptly ended the evening in a goal crazy 5-4 defeat.
 
Not a night we expected and I think the results were extremely harsh on us all, especially when there was some lovely football being played and a few belters that went in. @Macca89  showed his worth this week topping the Goals and Assists columns with Connor @JamaicanSteve  starting to slot in nicely after his loan deal was made permanent when Chill Ya Beans United accepted FGFC's bid of 2 baked beans tins and a packet of Uncle Ben's Golden Rice. We're still fortunate they didn't check the Use By Date in advance.
 
Superb night of banter and laughs along the way as always. GGFG
 
@Macca89  @LordBaguette  @JamaicanSteve  @tronic44 @jordie1892  @G_dub52  @Lurch  @GazzaGarratt @TonyAE86  @Findmartin
 

Could we? I mean, how dare we? Try and stay in Division 2 and mount a challenge to the promised land? Nah, you're alright thanks 🤣
 
An incredible start to the night had us thinking the impossible of keeping ourselves in the mighty Championship and then mounting a challenge to get up to Division 1 for the first time in our FGFC FIFA 21 existence. A mighty battle started with FG going 1-0 down after half an hour. The main contributing factor went to Torpedo Tony @TonyAE86  having lag, but not by the conventional issues we usually find. This time out it was the...Washing Machine. Yep, apparently all of the spins impact his WiFi speeds these days. Having said that though, we immediately sprung into life with a bullet from Gin Tronic @tronic44 at the near post.
 
The positivity was growing, and with a goal from either side in a matter of minutes to make it 2-2, we found ourselves with a corner. Tony looking for our headshot king, Dennis Rodman @Lurch ...but we didn't expect the following at all.
 
 
Mulletov @G_dub52  rounded off a 4-3 win in our first match and we were pumped for what was to come. Forgetting the unfortunate blip straight after where we went unfortunately down 3-1, even though we dominated the play througout, the momentum was took forward to the third game of the night where it was a near perfect performance. The assist king @Macca89  got his shooting boots on and rounded up the Man of the Match perfect 10 performance with a sublime hatrick from some amazing assists and team play throughout a 6-0 riot. Tom @LordBaguette  was notching the penalties early doors and the back 4 of Club Tropicana @GazzaGarratt, Sensual Choc @jordie1892 , Dennis Rodman @Lurch  and Torpedo Tony @TonyAE86  had a stormer. Unfortunately, previous days results alongside the second game blip left FGFC needing yet another win just to survive relegation to Division 3. A stellar performance with yet another @Macca89  goal set us up nicely but an equaliser shortly followed and for all the tea in Rich's house, we just couldn't push a winner past the keeper. It was worth mentioning though James yet again kept us in the game again with some fine defending. A quick highlight reel below was a delight to clip.
 
 
 
So Season 44 was upon us and after a short break and a swap around of all our positions, we commenced another season in Division 3. When all the positions change up somewhat, we always struggle to find the momentum again and it hurt us badly at the start, going down heavily in a 3-0 loss. We dug deep to then take a 4-1 lead in the next game to nearly throw it away with two late goals...apparently something about James making a rare mistake had to to be noted down on the stats. I'm not that harsh though, so i'll just write about for everyone to see rather than stick on the infographic below 😎
 
Inconsistency was definitely showing again though with another 2-0 defeat hitting us hard, we then tried to buck the trend of losing too many matches early doors. With the game poised at 2-2 and battling extremely hard into the closing stages, GD Pontevel broke forward after another chance for FGFC was saved. The rest was history. Can somebody lend us a spare FIFA script when they get chance please?
 
 
 
A successful 3-1 win followed this stinging defeat, but we couldn't keep up the levels we had started out at the beginning of the night and aptly ended the evening in a goal crazy 5-4 defeat.
 
Not a night we expected and I think the results were extremely harsh on us all, especially when there was some lovely football being played and a few belters that went in. @Macca89  showed his worth this week topping the Goals and Assists columns with Connor @JamaicanSteve  starting to slot in nicely after his loan deal was made permanent when Chill Ya Beans United accepted FGFC's bid of 2 baked beans tins and a packet of Uncle Ben's Golden Rice. We're still fortunate they didn't check the Use By Date in advance.
 
Superb night of banter and laughs along the way as always. GGFG
 
@Macca89  @LordBaguette  @JamaicanSteve  @tronic44 @jordie1892  @G_dub52  @Lurch  @GazzaGarratt @TonyAE86  @Findmartin
 

Could we? I mean, how dare we? Try and stay in Division 2 and mount a challenge to the promised land? Nah, you're alright thanks 🤣
 
An incredible start to the night had us thinking the impossible of keeping ourselves in the mighty Championship and then mounting a challenge to get up to Division 1 for the first time in our FGFC FIFA 21 existence. A mighty battle started with FG going 1-0 down after half an hour. The main contributing factor went to Torpedo Tony @TonyAE86  having lag, but not by the conventional issues we usually find. This time out it was the...Washing Machine. Yep, apparently all of the spins impact his WiFi speeds these days. Having said that though, we immediately sprung into life with a bullet from Gin Tronic @tronic44 at the near post.
 
The positivity was growing, and with a goal from either side in a matter of minutes to make it 2-2, we found ourselves with a corner. Tony looking for our headshot king, Dennis Rodman @Lurch ...but we didn't expect the following at all.
 
 
Mulletov @G_dub52  rounded off a 4-3 win in our first match and we were pumped for what was to come. Forgetting the unfortunate blip straight after where we went unfortunately down 3-1, even though we dominated the play througout, the momentum was took forward to the third game of the night where it was a near perfect performance. The assist king @Macca89  got his shooting boots on and rounded up the Man of the Match perfect 10 performance with a sublime hatrick from some amazing assists and team play throughout a 6-0 riot. Tom @LordBaguette  was notching the penalties early doors and the back 4 of Club Tropicana @GazzaGarratt, Sensual Choc @jordie1892 , Dennis Rodman @Lurch  and Torpedo Tony @TonyAE86  had a stormer. Unfortunately, previous days results alongside the second game blip left FGFC needing yet another win just to survive relegation to Division 3. A stellar performance with yet another @Macca89  goal set us up nicely but an equaliser shortly followed and for all the tea in Rich's house, we just couldn't push a winner past the keeper. It was worth mentioning though James yet again kept us in the game again with some fine defending. A quick highlight reel below was a delight to clip.
 
 
 
So Season 44 was upon us and after a short break and a swap around of all our positions, we commenced another season in Division 3. When all the positions change up somewhat, we always struggle to find the momentum again and it hurt us badly at the start, going down heavily in a 3-0 loss. We dug deep to then take a 4-1 lead in the next game to nearly throw it away with two late goals...apparently something about James making a rare mistake had to to be noted down on the stats. I'm not that harsh though, so i'll just write about for everyone to see rather than stick on the infographic below 😎
 
Inconsistency was definitely showing again though with another 2-0 defeat hitting us hard, we then tried to buck the trend of losing too many matches early doors. With the game poised at 2-2 and battling extremely hard into the closing stages, GD Pontevel broke forward after another chance for FGFC was saved. The rest was history. Can somebody lend us a spare FIFA script when they get chance please?
 
 
 
A successful 3-1 win followed this stinging defeat, but we couldn't keep up the levels we had started out at the beginning of the night and aptly ended the evening in a goal crazy 5-4 defeat.
 
Not a night we expected and I think the results were extremely harsh on us all, especially when there was some lovely football being played and a few belters that went in. @Macca89  showed his worth this week topping the Goals and Assists columns with Connor @JamaicanSteve  starting to slot in nicely after his loan deal was made permanent when Chill Ya Beans United accepted FGFC's bid of 2 baked beans tins and a packet of Uncle Ben's Golden Rice. We're still fortunate they didn't check the Use By Date in advance.
 
Superb night of banter and laughs along the way as always. GGFG
 
@Macca89  @LordBaguette  @JamaicanSteve  @tronic44 @jordie1892  @G_dub52  @Lurch  @GazzaGarratt @TonyAE86  @Findmartin
 

Could we? I mean, how dare we? Try and stay in Division 2 and mount a challenge to the promised land? Nah, you're alright thanks 🤣
 
An incredible start to the night had us thinking the impossible of keeping ourselves in the mighty Championship and then mounting a challenge to get up to Division 1 for the first time in our FGFC FIFA 21 existence. A mighty battle started with FG going 1-0 down after half an hour. The main contributing factor went to Torpedo Tony @TonyAE86  having lag, but not by the conventional issues we usually find. This time out it was the...Washing Machine. Yep, apparently all of the spins impact his WiFi speeds these days. Having said that though, we immediately sprung into life with a bullet from Gin Tronic @tronic44 at the near post.
 
The positivity was growing, and with a goal from either side in a matter of minutes to make it 2-2, we found ourselves with a corner. Tony looking for our headshot king, Dennis Rodman @Lurch ...but we didn't expect the following at all.
 
 
Mulletov @G_dub52  rounded off a 4-3 win in our first match and we were pumped for what was to come. Forgetting the unfortunate blip straight after where we went unfortunately down 3-1, even though we dominated the play througout, the momentum was took forward to the third game of the night where it was a near perfect performance. The assist king @Macca89  got his shooting boots on and rounded up the Man of the Match perfect 10 performance with a sublime hatrick from some amazing assists and team play throughout a 6-0 riot. Tom @LordBaguette  was notching the penalties early doors and the back 4 of Club Tropicana @GazzaGarratt, Sensual Choc @jordie1892 , Dennis Rodman @Lurch  and Torpedo Tony @TonyAE86  had a stormer. Unfortunately, previous days results alongside the second game blip left FGFC needing yet another win just to survive relegation to Division 3. A stellar performance with yet another @Macca89  goal set us up nicely but an equaliser shortly followed and for all the tea in Rich's house, we just couldn't push a winner past the keeper. It was worth mentioning though James yet again kept us in the game again with some fine defending. A quick highlight reel below was a delight to clip.
 
 
 
So Season 44 was upon us and after a short break and a swap around of all our positions, we commenced another season in Division 3. When all the positions change up somewhat, we always struggle to find the momentum again and it hurt us badly at the start, going down heavily in a 3-0 loss. We dug deep to then take a 4-1 lead in the next game to nearly throw it away with two late goals...apparently something about James making a rare mistake had to to be noted down on the stats. I'm not that harsh though, so i'll just write about for everyone to see rather than stick on the infographic below 😎
 
Inconsistency was definitely showing again though with another 2-0 defeat hitting us hard, we then tried to buck the trend of losing too many matches early doors. With the game poised at 2-2 and battling extremely hard into the closing stages, GD Pontevel broke forward after another chance for FGFC was saved. The rest was history. Can somebody lend us a spare FIFA script when they get chance please?
 
 
 
A successful 3-1 win followed this stinging defeat, but we couldn't keep up the levels we had started out at the beginning of the night and aptly ended the evening in a goal crazy 5-4 defeat.
 
Not a night we expected and I think the results were extremely harsh on us all, especially when there was some lovely football being played and a few belters that went in. @Macca89  showed his worth this week topping the Goals and Assists columns with Connor @JamaicanSteve  starting to slot in nicely after his loan deal was made permanent when Chill Ya Beans United accepted FGFC's bid of 2 baked beans tins and a packet of Uncle Ben's Golden Rice. We're still fortunate they didn't check the Use By Date in advance.
 
Superb night of banter and laughs along the way as always. GGFG
 
@Macca89  @LordBaguette  @JamaicanSteve  @tronic44 @jordie1892  @G_dub52  @Lurch  @GazzaGarratt @TonyAE86  @Findmartin
 

Could we? I mean, how dare we? Try and stay in Division 2 and mount a challenge to the promised land? Nah, you're alright thanks 🤣
 
An incredible start to the night had us thinking the impossible of keeping ourselves in the mighty Championship and then mounting a challenge to get up to Division 1 for the first time in our FGFC FIFA 21 existence. A mighty battle started with FG going 1-0 down after half an hour. The main contributing factor went to Torpedo Tony @TonyAE86  having lag, but not by the conventional issues we usually find. This time out it was the...Washing Machine. Yep, apparently all of the spins impact his WiFi speeds these days. Having said that though, we immediately sprung into life with a bullet from Gin Tronic @tronic44 at the near post.
 
The positivity was growing, and with a goal from either side in a matter of minutes to make it 2-2, we found ourselves with a corner. Tony looking for our headshot king, Dennis Rodman @Lurch ...but we didn't expect the following at all.
 
 
Mulletov @G_dub52  rounded off a 4-3 win in our first match and we were pumped for what was to come. Forgetting the unfortunate blip straight after where we went unfortunately down 3-1, even though we dominated the play througout, the momentum was took forward to the third game of the night where it was a near perfect performance. The assist king @Macca89  got his shooting boots on and rounded up the Man of the Match perfect 10 performance with a sublime hatrick from some amazing assists and team play throughout a 6-0 riot. Tom @LordBaguette  was notching the penalties early doors and the back 4 of Club Tropicana @GazzaGarratt, Sensual Choc @jordie1892 , Dennis Rodman @Lurch  and Torpedo Tony @TonyAE86  had a stormer. Unfortunately, previous days results alongside the second game blip left FGFC needing yet another win just to survive relegation to Division 3. A stellar performance with yet another @Macca89  goal set us up nicely but an equaliser shortly followed and for all the tea in Rich's house, we just couldn't push a winner past the keeper. It was worth mentioning though James yet again kept us in the game again with some fine defending. A quick highlight reel below was a delight to clip.
 
 
 
So Season 44 was upon us and after a short break and a swap around of all our positions, we commenced another season in Division 3. When all the positions change up somewhat, we always struggle to find the momentum again and it hurt us badly at the start, going down heavily in a 3-0 loss. We dug deep to then take a 4-1 lead in the next game to nearly throw it away with two late goals...apparently something about James making a rare mistake had to to be noted down on the stats. I'm not that harsh though, so i'll just write about for everyone to see rather than stick on the infographic below 😎
 
Inconsistency was definitely showing again though with another 2-0 defeat hitting us hard, we then tried to buck the trend of losing too many matches early doors. With the game poised at 2-2 and battling extremely hard into the closing stages, GD Pontevel broke forward after another chance for FGFC was saved. The rest was history. Can somebody lend us a spare FIFA script when they get chance please?
 
 
 
A successful 3-1 win followed this stinging defeat, but we couldn't keep up the levels we had started out at the beginning of the night and aptly ended the evening in a goal crazy 5-4 defeat.
 
Not a night we expected and I think the results were extremely harsh on us all, especially when there was some lovely football being played and a few belters that went in. @Macca89  showed his worth this week topping the Goals and Assists columns with Connor @JamaicanSteve  starting to slot in nicely after his loan deal was made permanent when Chill Ya Beans United accepted FGFC's bid of 2 baked beans tins and a packet of Uncle Ben's Golden Rice. We're still fortunate they didn't check the Use By Date in advance.
 
Superb night of banter and laughs along the way as always. GGFG
 
@Macca89  @LordBaguette  @JamaicanSteve  @tronic44 @jordie1892  @G_dub52  @Lurch  @GazzaGarratt @TonyAE86  @Findmartin
 

Could we? I mean, how dare we? Try and stay in Division 2 and mount a challenge to the promised land? Nah, you're alright thanks 🤣
 
An incredible start to the night had us thinking the impossible of keeping ourselves in the mighty Championship and then mounting a challenge to get up to Division 1 for the first time in our FGFC FIFA 21 existence. A mighty battle started with FG going 1-0 down after half an hour. The main contributing factor went to Torpedo Tony @TonyAE86  having lag, but not by the conventional issues we usually find. This time out it was the...Washing Machine. Yep, apparently all of the spins impact his WiFi speeds these days. Having said that though, we immediately sprung into life with a bullet from Gin Tronic @tronic44 at the near post.
 
The positivity was growing, and with a goal from either side in a matter of minutes to make it 2-2, we found ourselves with a corner. Tony looking for our headshot king, Dennis Rodman @Lurch ...but we didn't expect the following at all.
 
 
Mulletov @G_dub52  rounded off a 4-3 win in our first match and we were pumped for what was to come. Forgetting the unfortunate blip straight after where we went unfortunately down 3-1, even though we dominated the play througout, the momentum was took forward to the third game of the night where it was a near perfect performance. The assist king @Macca89  got his shooting boots on and rounded up the Man of the Match perfect 10 performance with a sublime hatrick from some amazing assists and team play throughout a 6-0 riot. Tom @LordBaguette  was notching the penalties early doors and the back 4 of Club Tropicana @GazzaGarratt, Sensual Choc @jordie1892 , Dennis Rodman @Lurch  and Torpedo Tony @TonyAE86  had a stormer. Unfortunately, previous days results alongside the second game blip left FGFC needing yet another win just to survive relegation to Division 3. A stellar performance with yet another @Macca89  goal set us up nicely but an equaliser shortly followed and for all the tea in Rich's house, we just couldn't push a winner past the keeper. It was worth mentioning though James yet again kept us in the game again with some fine defending. A quick highlight reel below was a delight to clip.
 
 
 
So Season 44 was upon us and after a short break and a swap around of all our positions, we commenced another season in Division 3. When all the positions change up somewhat, we always struggle to find the momentum again and it hurt us badly at the start, going down heavily in a 3-0 loss. We dug deep to then take a 4-1 lead in the next game to nearly throw it away with two late goals...apparently something about James making a rare mistake had to to be noted down on the stats. I'm not that harsh though, so i'll just write about for everyone to see rather than stick on the infographic below 😎
 
Inconsistency was definitely showing again though with another 2-0 defeat hitting us hard, we then tried to buck the trend of losing too many matches early doors. With the game poised at 2-2 and battling extremely hard into the closing stages, GD Pontevel broke forward after another chance for FGFC was saved. The rest was history. Can somebody lend us a spare FIFA script when they get chance please?
 
 
 
A successful 3-1 win followed this stinging defeat, but we couldn't keep up the levels we had started out at the beginning of the night and aptly ended the evening in a goal crazy 5-4 defeat.
 
Not a night we expected and I think the results were extremely harsh on us all, especially when there was some lovely football being played and a few belters that went in. @Macca89  showed his worth this week topping the Goals and Assists columns with Connor @JamaicanSteve  starting to slot in nicely after his loan deal was made permanent when Chill Ya Beans United accepted FGFC's bid of 2 baked beans tins and a packet of Uncle Ben's Golden Rice. We're still fortunate they didn't check the Use By Date in advance.
 
Superb night of banter and laughs along the way as always. GGFG
 
@Macca89  @LordBaguette  @JamaicanSteve  @tronic44 @jordie1892  @G_dub52  @Lurch  @GazzaGarratt @TonyAE86  @Findmartin
 

As many of us are currently working from home, i thought it would be benifical to go through some suggestions that might make your life a bit easier, more comfortable and better for your health in general.
 
1. Get dressed
For some people, the prospect of staying in their pyjamas all day is the most tantalising aspect of working from home. But washing and getting dressed will not only improve your state of mind, it will psychologically prepare you to start work.
Whether you need to change into business attire depends on the type of person you are and the nature of the job you have. Some people find that dressing formally is helpful, and also useful if they need to dial into a video call.
But for many others, the point of getting dressed is being forced to shower and change out of clothes they associate with sleep and rest, even if that means just changing into a T-shirt and jeans.
Wearing respectable clothes also increases motivation to leave the house. Likewise, changing out of work clothes when you clock off for the day helps your brain to understand that the working day is over.
 
2. Establish boundaries
If you're employed by a company, you'll probably have set hours of work, and it's important to stick to these when you're working from home. Be ready to start your day at the same time as you would normally arrive in your office or workplace, and finish your day at the same time.
Em Sheldon, a blogger and freelance writer, says she sticks to a routine while working from home. She advises "going to bed at a reasonable hour so that you get enough sleep and then wake up at your usual time.
"I also find things like booking in a workout or getting my gym kit ready means I have to get up and go," she says. "Once you do something over and over, it becomes a habit, so the first week may be challenging but eventually it becomes part of your routine."
At the end of a working day, it's best to switch off your computer and tidy away papers and other items. Space allowing, set aside a specific, separate area in your home where you can set yourself up - ideally with a properly adjusted desk and chair, similar to your workplace.
The NHS advice is that you should adjust your chair so you can use the keyboard with your wrists and forearms straight and level with the floor.
If there are other people in the house, finding a space where you're not likely to be disturbed is essential, as Prof Robert Kelly found out the hard way in 2017. He was being interviewed live by BBC News when his two children burst into the room, creating a now infamous video, which has been viewed more than 30 million times.
It's also important to not "overcompensate" because you're anxious about working from home, says Ross Robinson, who manages a team of freelancers at his Ignata Consulting firm.
"Many people tend to over communicate when working from home - either wanting to 'be seen', or overcompensating to ensure people know what they are up to. That's fine - but don't go over the top. You know if you're on task and being productive - keep yourself in check."
 
3. Get out and about (if you're not self-isolating)
Working from home shouldn't mean you stay cooped up indoors all day. While you might not miss your daily commute, it does guarantee that you leave the house at least once during the day.
So get your shoes on, get outside and enjoy that fresh air. A different perspective will also help undo mental blocks and give you a fresh pair of eyes for any tasks you're struggling with.
Matthew Knight, founder of Leapers, a group that supports self-employed people and freelancers, says getting outside first thing helps him feel like it's time to work.
"There's a mental angle for each individual that makes you feel like you're working," he says. "I will leave the house and walk around the block and feel like right now I am at work. Find ways of putting in those boundaries otherwise it becomes difficult to switch off."
If you can't go outside, you could even bring the atmosphere of the office to you.
"I like bustle and being around people, so I use sound to help make a bit of an atmosphere," says Gillian Roche-Saunders, whose entire regulatory consultancy firm Adempi Associates work remotely.
She uses an app that plays background sounds such as a train moving along tracks, or the chatter of a coffee shop.
 
4. Pick up the phone
If you're working from home, the chances are you'll be alone, so you won't get distracted by colleagues' conversations and other office noise.
When you're at work, you're more likely to engage with colleagues but when you're working from home, you could spend the whole day without speaking to anyone which can be isolating.
Make some time to pick up the phone and have a real conversation, rather than relying on email and instant messaging.
"More and more people hide behind email rather than pick up the phone and talk to colleagues and contacts," says Hugo Mortimer-Harvey, who's worked remotely from Spain as a freelance PR consultant since 2018.
"When you spend the day working on your own, actually calling people and having a conversation can be much more stimulating and indeed productive than a chain of emails."
Jack Evans is lead business psychologist at workplace wellness consultancy Robertson Cooper, which is planning to have all its staff temporarily work from home. Their plan is to speak to each other for 30 minutes every day via video conferencing.
"At about lunchtime we will just chat over video message about nothing in particular. It's to make sure people don't just turn into work monkeys. We will maintain conversation about work but it's also about not losing that social connection, which is much easier to get in person."
 
5. Take regular breaks
It's good to have a routine when you're working from home, but work shouldn't become monotonous.
And you shouldn't stay glued to your screen all day. It's important to take regular screen breaks and get up from your desk and move around just as you would in an office.
Research has also found that short breaks throughout the day are more beneficial than less frequent, longer breaks.
Many home workers recommend the Pomodoro Technique, a method of time management which breaks your working day into 25 minute chunks. Each chunk is followed by a five minute break.
Ellie Wilson is co-founder of virtual assistant service, Virtalent, and has a team of more than 50 remote workers.
"It's important to stand up, stretch, move around and even go for a short walk to take a break from your work and your screen," she says.
"Being cooped up without stopping for a break can mean your productivity levels drop, you become more tired and less motivated to complete what you're working on."
 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51868894
 
6. Workstation adjustment and efficient working posture
 

Advice for everyone - Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Stay at home to stop coronavirus spreading
Everyone must stay at home to help stop the spread of coronavirus.
You should only leave the house for 1 of 4 reasons:
shopping for basic necessities, for example food and medicine, which must be as infrequent as possible one form of exercise a day, for example a run, walk, or cycle – alone or with members of your household any medical need, or to provide care or to help a vulnerable person travelling to and from work, but only where this absolutely cannot be done from home  
Important
These 4 reasons are exceptions – even when doing these activities, you should be minimising time spent outside of the home and ensuring you are 2 metres apart from anyone outside of your household.
 
There is separate advice about:
staying at home if you're at high risk of getting seriously ill from coronavirus staying at home if you or someone you live with has symptoms of coronavirus  
How to stop infection spreading
There are things you can do to help reduce the risk of you and anyone you live with getting ill with coronavirus.
 
Do
- wash your hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds
- use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available
- wash your hands as soon as you get back home
- cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze
- put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands afterwards
 
Don't
- do not touch your eyes, nose or mouth if your hands are not clean
 
Looking after your health and wellbeing
To help yourself stay well while you're at home:
stay in touch with family and friends over the phone or on social media try to keep yourself busy – you could try activities like cooking, reading, online learning and watching films do light exercise at home, or outside once a day  
For more advice, see:
Every Mind Matters: 10 tips to help if you are worried about coronavirus Every Mind Matters: how to look after your mental wellbeing while staying at home strength and flex exercises you can do at home  
What to do if you need medical help
If you need medical help for any reason, do not go to places like a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital.
If you have symptoms of coronavirus (a high temperature or a new, continuous cough), use the 111 coronavirus service.
If you need help or advice not related to coronavirus:
for health information and advice, use the NHS website or your GP surgery website for urgent medical help, use the NHS 111 online service – only call 111 if you're unable to get help online for life-threatening emergencies, call 999 for an ambulance  
Stay safe everyone!

One of my favourite things on Call of Duty is the domination game mode. It’s fast paced and forces out all of the campers as you have to push on to flags etc to win.
 
After watching many different videos and playing for a long time I have to admit - playing dom, getting the win and hitting some streaks requires a certain strategy.
 
My argument for this is, it’s hard to go on long kill streaks if you don’t know where your enemies are coming from, this is why I’m not a fan of team death match as the spawns are a lot more difficult to predict and gun fights are often 50/50 rather than 90/10 when you know an enemy is coming. Also, you don’t want to be the loser camping in corners trying to get a streak going whilst the enemy has 2 flags capped and you’re losing the game.
 
So, what is the strategy? Well it’s nothing ground breaking but it is often one that is overlooked - grab a home flag (A or C) and cap B. Then, use the power positions overlooking the enemy spawn to kill them as they come out. This only works if all members of the team don’t break the imaginary line that crosses between the last third of the map where the enemies will spawn at their home flag.
 
The problem is, it never seems to go this way as we all go looking for kills or (what usually happens) the enemy pushes deep into our spawn and then we get flipped over to their side. In this circumstance you shouldn’t cap the enemy flag but instead retreat and catch the enemies on the flank.
 
Communication is also key in this context as each member of the team is responsible for covering gaps in the map and maintaining map control. A word on this.
 
Map control relates to having a member of the team in certain areas so that enemies do not spawn their (for the most part). A good strategy when capping B is for someone to push past the B flag and kill anyone coming to defend.
 
So, if you want to hit some streaks and get a guaranteed win on Dom, give this strategy a try the next time you are in a sizeable team! Also, give this topic a little YouTube as well because there are people much better than me who can explain it better.
 
Thanks
Elliot

Looking Back
 
Don’t blink too fast or it’s gone. Oh, sorry. Already has. Well, that’s how I felt anyway. And from the sounds of it most of you all did too.
- Robbie Coltrane.
 
Due to our average age currently at 36 and the many personal IRL things that have happened to many of our family this year I’m not surprised to say that games this year didn’t bring the best out in us. More so reminded us of a time that we thought we were invincible playing MW2 or even early parts of Destiny 1 in the newer era smashing raids out of the park. So you have to keep moving. Let’s face it, I’m friends with every single one of you for your company, great banter and the odd occasion where golden MLGpro360noscopeskillz come out, so I can say ‘I was there’. That’s been difficult for even me this year. Motivation when things are quiet are always hard and even more so when you gather energy to go again, only to bumped back by a personal loss. But we all hold each other up, like the absolute Champions that you are. And amidst all the anguish and despair some encountered, we’ve still created lots of stuff to do, fun and ‘Feel Good’ moments for as many as we could last year. In facts we had:
 
9,452 posts posted
802 topics created
30+ Videos made by you and uploaded
5 Quizzes you’ve got involved in
40 Events created and attended
2 Crispy Controllers fixed
External Hard Drives, Multiple PS4 Games, PC Game Codes, Annual DLC Passes and 1 very shiny state of the art PC from the Forever Gaming Feel Good Fund (FGFGF)
1 very big FG Meet Up
 
If I didn’t mention two things in more detail before we move on, that wouldn’t be quite right. The first was how everyone rallied around for our favourite part of the furniture, PlumberDave. Being able to chip in together, buy the parts we could and have an amazing trip to Ipswich to surprise our awesome friend was a moment to treasure (last time amazing and Ipswich go together though, sorry Dave). And finally for 2019, there was the first ever Huge FG Meet Up organised, in a remote location in Hereford. To have over 20 people come from all over the UK and even other countries too was truly incredible. We don’t take enough time to look back at these wonderful moments, so please do this more often. I don’t think anyone couldn’t get an amazing boost from the memories made on that weekend. If you didn’t make it…let’s hope and work out ways you can get on to the next one. Make it happen.

Giving Something Back To Gamers
 
As the last decade departs, I’m such a big believer and getting off your arse and doing better than last time. There’s some amazing facts shared above and you were incredible in 2018 too, actually even more so which can remind you that we are capable of so much more than what we do today.
- Germany Kent
 
We’ve had for a while an identity crisis, not dis-similar to some games out there ironically. This ‘thing’ that we/you do here is a pretty cool gig if you ask me. So if someone asked me to put ourselves out there even more, I say yes. Yes we should. We must. Forever Gaming is you. And all of you deserve to leave a Legacy. Something to be proud of.
 
‘Giving Something Back To Gamers’ is what we do best. We’ve helped so many people that we must continue to help as many more as we possibly can and spread what FG is all about. The Feel Good Fund couldn’t do as much as we wanted too last year and that’s okay. We have to find different ways to raise funds and ask people to help others. At the same token, I want to gain more support. This does mean more funding because I don't want us to be in a position to not things like Xmas Giveaway (because we didn't raise anything) but also there are many other ways to support. Creating events is helping as much as putting a fiver in to help someone out. Creating spaces for gamers to get together is something we should do more of and join in. We’re not scary, well not much anyway, and you guys can teach a whole load of people about some new skills to learn or hidden items to find. We need to create new videos to show this. Things that anyone can be a part of.
 
The base of games out there on consoles and PC I feel is in a decent state right now. Some really solid titles since September and some long-standing ones mean we can do a whole lot more this year than before. So we have this place and I want to utilise more of it. I want you all to utilise more of it - but I need all your help. If theres something you think you can help out with, shout up. If you don't really know what but you are still really keen to get involved in any way SHOUT UP.
 
Let's make:
 
More Posts
More Articles
More Videos
More Quizzes
More Events
More Giveaways
More Feel Good Moments
More Streaming
More Helping
 
Let's start Giving Something Back at FG.
 
 
#GGFG
 

Looking Back
 
Don’t blink too fast or it’s gone. Oh, sorry. Already has. Well, that’s how I felt anyway. And from the sounds of it most of you all did too.
- Robbie Coltrane.
 
Due to our average age currently at 36 and the many personal IRL things that have happened to many of our family this year I’m not surprised to say that games this year didn’t bring the best out in us. More so reminded us of a time that we thought we were invincible playing MW2 or even early parts of Destiny 1 in the newer era smashing raids out of the park. So you have to keep moving. Let’s face it, I’m friends with every single one of you for your company, great banter and the odd occasion where golden MLGpro360noscopeskillz come out, so I can say ‘I was there’. That’s been difficult for even me this year. Motivation when things are quiet are always hard and even more so when you gather energy to go again, only to bumped back by a personal loss. But we all hold each other up, like the absolute Champions that you are. And amidst all the anguish and despair some encountered, we’ve still created lots of stuff to do, fun and ‘Feel Good’ moments for as many as we could last year. In facts we had:
 
9,452 posts posted
802 topics created
30+ Videos made by you and uploaded
5 Quizzes you’ve got involved in
40 Events created and attended
2 Crispy Controllers fixed
External Hard Drives, Multiple PS4 Games, PC Game Codes, Annual DLC Passes and 1 very shiny state of the art PC from the Forever Gaming Feel Good Fund (FGFGF)
1 very big FG Meet Up
 
If I didn’t mention two things in more detail before we move on, that wouldn’t be quite right. The first was how everyone rallied around for our favourite part of the furniture, PlumberDave. Being able to chip in together, buy the parts we could and have an amazing trip to Ipswich to surprise our awesome friend was a moment to treasure (last time amazing and Ipswich go together though, sorry Dave). And finally for 2019, there was the first ever Huge FG Meet Up organised, in a remote location in Hereford. To have over 20 people come from all over the UK and even other countries too was truly incredible. We don’t take enough time to look back at these wonderful moments, so please do this more often. I don’t think anyone couldn’t get an amazing boost from the memories made on that weekend. If you didn’t make it…let’s hope and work out ways you can get on to the next one. Make it happen.

Giving Something Back To Gamers
 
As the last decade departs, I’m such a big believer and getting off your arse and doing better than last time. There’s some amazing facts shared above and you were incredible in 2018 too, actually even more so which can remind you that we are capable of so much more than what we do today.
- Germany Kent
 
We’ve had for a while an identity crisis, not dis-similar to some games out there ironically. This ‘thing’ that we/you do here is a pretty cool gig if you ask me. So if someone asked me to put ourselves out there even more, I say yes. Yes we should. We must. Forever Gaming is you. And all of you deserve to leave a Legacy. Something to be proud of.
 
‘Giving Something Back To Gamers’ is what we do best. We’ve helped so many people that we must continue to help as many more as we possibly can and spread what FG is all about. The Feel Good Fund couldn’t do as much as we wanted too last year and that’s okay. We have to find different ways to raise funds and ask people to help others. At the same token, I want to gain more support. This does mean more funding because I don't want us to be in a position to not things like Xmas Giveaway (because we didn't raise anything) but also there are many other ways to support. Creating events is helping as much as putting a fiver in to help someone out. Creating spaces for gamers to get together is something we should do more of and join in. We’re not scary, well not much anyway, and you guys can teach a whole load of people about some new skills to learn or hidden items to find. We need to create new videos to show this. Things that anyone can be a part of.
 
The base of games out there on consoles and PC I feel is in a decent state right now. Some really solid titles since September and some long-standing ones mean we can do a whole lot more this year than before. So we have this place and I want to utilise more of it. I want you all to utilise more of it - but I need all your help. If theres something you think you can help out with, shout up. If you don't really know what but you are still really keen to get involved in any way SHOUT UP.
 
Let's make:
 
More Posts
More Articles
More Videos
More Quizzes
More Events
More Giveaways
More Feel Good Moments
More Streaming
More Helping
 
Let's start Giving Something Back at FG.
 
 
#GGFG
 

Looking Back
 
Don’t blink too fast or it’s gone. Oh, sorry. Already has. Well, that’s how I felt anyway. And from the sounds of it most of you all did too.
- Robbie Coltrane.
 
Due to our average age currently at 36 and the many personal IRL things that have happened to many of our family this year I’m not surprised to say that games this year didn’t bring the best out in us. More so reminded us of a time that we thought we were invincible playing MW2 or even early parts of Destiny 1 in the newer era smashing raids out of the park. So you have to keep moving. Let’s face it, I’m friends with every single one of you for your company, great banter and the odd occasion where golden MLGpro360noscopeskillz come out, so I can say ‘I was there’. That’s been difficult for even me this year. Motivation when things are quiet are always hard and even more so when you gather energy to go again, only to bumped back by a personal loss. But we all hold each other up, like the absolute Champions that you are. And amidst all the anguish and despair some encountered, we’ve still created lots of stuff to do, fun and ‘Feel Good’ moments for as many as we could last year. In facts we had:
 
9,452 posts posted
802 topics created
30+ Videos made by you and uploaded
5 Quizzes you’ve got involved in
40 Events created and attended
2 Crispy Controllers fixed
External Hard Drives, Multiple PS4 Games, PC Game Codes, Annual DLC Passes and 1 very shiny state of the art PC from the Forever Gaming Feel Good Fund (FGFGF)
1 very big FG Meet Up
 
If I didn’t mention two things in more detail before we move on, that wouldn’t be quite right. The first was how everyone rallied around for our favourite part of the furniture, PlumberDave. Being able to chip in together, buy the parts we could and have an amazing trip to Ipswich to surprise our awesome friend was a moment to treasure (last time amazing and Ipswich go together though, sorry Dave). And finally for 2019, there was the first ever Huge FG Meet Up organised, in a remote location in Hereford. To have over 20 people come from all over the UK and even other countries too was truly incredible. We don’t take enough time to look back at these wonderful moments, so please do this more often. I don’t think anyone couldn’t get an amazing boost from the memories made on that weekend. If you didn’t make it…let’s hope and work out ways you can get on to the next one. Make it happen.

Giving Something Back To Gamers
 
As the last decade departs, I’m such a big believer and getting off your arse and doing better than last time. There’s some amazing facts shared above and you were incredible in 2018 too, actually even more so which can remind you that we are capable of so much more than what we do today.
- Germany Kent
 
We’ve had for a while an identity crisis, not dis-similar to some games out there ironically. This ‘thing’ that we/you do here is a pretty cool gig if you ask me. So if someone asked me to put ourselves out there even more, I say yes. Yes we should. We must. Forever Gaming is you. And all of you deserve to leave a Legacy. Something to be proud of.
 
‘Giving Something Back To Gamers’ is what we do best. We’ve helped so many people that we must continue to help as many more as we possibly can and spread what FG is all about. The Feel Good Fund couldn’t do as much as we wanted too last year and that’s okay. We have to find different ways to raise funds and ask people to help others. At the same token, I want to gain more support. This does mean more funding because I don't want us to be in a position to not things like Xmas Giveaway (because we didn't raise anything) but also there are many other ways to support. Creating events is helping as much as putting a fiver in to help someone out. Creating spaces for gamers to get together is something we should do more of and join in. We’re not scary, well not much anyway, and you guys can teach a whole load of people about some new skills to learn or hidden items to find. We need to create new videos to show this. Things that anyone can be a part of.
 
The base of games out there on consoles and PC I feel is in a decent state right now. Some really solid titles since September and some long-standing ones mean we can do a whole lot more this year than before. So we have this place and I want to utilise more of it. I want you all to utilise more of it - but I need all your help. If theres something you think you can help out with, shout up. If you don't really know what but you are still really keen to get involved in any way SHOUT UP.
 
Let's make:
 
More Posts
More Articles
More Videos
More Quizzes
More Events
More Giveaways
More Feel Good Moments
More Streaming
More Helping
 
Let's start Giving Something Back at FG.
 
 
#GGFG
 

Looking Back
 
Don’t blink too fast or it’s gone. Oh, sorry. Already has. Well, that’s how I felt anyway. And from the sounds of it most of you all did too.
- Robbie Coltrane.
 
Due to our average age currently at 36 and the many personal IRL things that have happened to many of our family this year I’m not surprised to say that games this year didn’t bring the best out in us. More so reminded us of a time that we thought we were invincible playing MW2 or even early parts of Destiny 1 in the newer era smashing raids out of the park. So you have to keep moving. Let’s face it, I’m friends with every single one of you for your company, great banter and the odd occasion where golden MLGpro360noscopeskillz come out, so I can say ‘I was there’. That’s been difficult for even me this year. Motivation when things are quiet are always hard and even more so when you gather energy to go again, only to bumped back by a personal loss. But we all hold each other up, like the absolute Champions that you are. And amidst all the anguish and despair some encountered, we’ve still created lots of stuff to do, fun and ‘Feel Good’ moments for as many as we could last year. In facts we had:
 
9,452 posts posted
802 topics created
30+ Videos made by you and uploaded
5 Quizzes you’ve got involved in
40 Events created and attended
2 Crispy Controllers fixed
External Hard Drives, Multiple PS4 Games, PC Game Codes, Annual DLC Passes and 1 very shiny state of the art PC from the Forever Gaming Feel Good Fund (FGFGF)
1 very big FG Meet Up
 
If I didn’t mention two things in more detail before we move on, that wouldn’t be quite right. The first was how everyone rallied around for our favourite part of the furniture, PlumberDave. Being able to chip in together, buy the parts we could and have an amazing trip to Ipswich to surprise our awesome friend was a moment to treasure (last time amazing and Ipswich go together though, sorry Dave). And finally for 2019, there was the first ever Huge FG Meet Up organised, in a remote location in Hereford. To have over 20 people come from all over the UK and even other countries too was truly incredible. We don’t take enough time to look back at these wonderful moments, so please do this more often. I don’t think anyone couldn’t get an amazing boost from the memories made on that weekend. If you didn’t make it…let’s hope and work out ways you can get on to the next one. Make it happen.

Giving Something Back To Gamers
 
As the last decade departs, I’m such a big believer and getting off your arse and doing better than last time. There’s some amazing facts shared above and you were incredible in 2018 too, actually even more so which can remind you that we are capable of so much more than what we do today.
- Germany Kent
 
We’ve had for a while an identity crisis, not dis-similar to some games out there ironically. This ‘thing’ that we/you do here is a pretty cool gig if you ask me. So if someone asked me to put ourselves out there even more, I say yes. Yes we should. We must. Forever Gaming is you. And all of you deserve to leave a Legacy. Something to be proud of.
 
‘Giving Something Back To Gamers’ is what we do best. We’ve helped so many people that we must continue to help as many more as we possibly can and spread what FG is all about. The Feel Good Fund couldn’t do as much as we wanted too last year and that’s okay. We have to find different ways to raise funds and ask people to help others. At the same token, I want to gain more support. This does mean more funding because I don't want us to be in a position to not things like Xmas Giveaway (because we didn't raise anything) but also there are many other ways to support. Creating events is helping as much as putting a fiver in to help someone out. Creating spaces for gamers to get together is something we should do more of and join in. We’re not scary, well not much anyway, and you guys can teach a whole load of people about some new skills to learn or hidden items to find. We need to create new videos to show this. Things that anyone can be a part of.
 
The base of games out there on consoles and PC I feel is in a decent state right now. Some really solid titles since September and some long-standing ones mean we can do a whole lot more this year than before. So we have this place and I want to utilise more of it. I want you all to utilise more of it - but I need all your help. If theres something you think you can help out with, shout up. If you don't really know what but you are still really keen to get involved in any way SHOUT UP.
 
Let's make:
 
More Posts
More Articles
More Videos
More Quizzes
More Events
More Giveaways
More Feel Good Moments
More Streaming
More Helping
 
Let's start Giving Something Back at FG.
 
 
#GGFG
 

In the forums you may have noticed that a series of topics around health and wellness have begun to pop up. The reason? I’m a strength and conditioning coach – so health and wellness are the corner stone of my existence! 
 
Today I want to address something that impacts all of us here at FG – Sleep. If you’ve played with me at all you know that I often log off first and go to bed at around 9.30pm, why?
 
Well according to several studies there is a link between video games and the quality of sleep we can get. Sleep is one of, if not the, most important factors influencing our physical and mental health and wellbeing. Getting a solid 8 hours of sleep every night is truly the fountain of youth as it has links to lower blood pressure, weight loss, cancer…..you name it – sleep impacts on it.
 
In a recent study it was found that even the smallest exposure to video games led to: 
 
“The analysis indicated a reduction of Total Sleep Time (TST) and an increase of Sleep Onset Latency (SOL), modifications of the REM sleep and Slow Wave Sleep (SWS), and increased sleepiness and self-perceived fatigue.”
 
That means when you play video games the amount of sleep you get is reduced, the time it takes you to fall asleep takes longer and you don’t get as good quality REM sleep (the important part of sleep). 
 
To mitigate this, I have made the following recommendations on the forum:
 
1.     Be in bed with enough time to fall asleep and get at least 8 hours sleep. For me that’s 10pm, so I log off at 9.30pm, make my lunch and bits for the next day and get in bed by 10pm. 
2.     Stop drinking caffeine after midday. This one is a tricky one as people like their tea and coffee etc. However, the half-life of caffeine is actually 5 – 6 hours on average, that means if you had a black coffee at midday that’s 100mg of caffeine in your system, by 6pm that’s still 50mg in your system, by midnight 25mg. See the problem? If you drink coffee at 6pm with your dinner it’s still raving out in your system at midnight.
 
Something to think about is that the issues with video games and sleep are acute. You play video games, you have poor sleep, you wake up and you’re tired. You don’t play video games that evening, you sleep well – all is good, right?
 
Wrong. The acute effects of video games and sleep soon build up and the study suggests that long term exposure to video games can have long term chronic issues related to elevated heart rates and blood pressure, obesity and other various ailments. 
 
Hopefully this information might help you to make some different choices about how often you play video games, how late you play them and if you can find ways to mitigate the impact.
 
Here are the final conclusions from the study, which is linked below:
 
In summary, exposure to VGs before falling asleep can have important effects on the subsequent sleep characteristics, in both children/adolescents and adults. The reduction of Total Sleep Time (TST) and an increase of Sleep Onset Latency (SOL) and the possible change of components of sleep (mainly SWS and REM) identified in the study investigated, are clear indicators of poor sleep quality, higher tiredness and fatigue that may have repercussion on cognitive and behavioural activities of the subsequent waking. In fact, some cognitive abilities as sustained attention and verbal memory, can result worsened as a consequence of VGs exposure. Since the relevance of sleep for health and life quality, a great effort is required to address additional research for clarifying the role of acute and chronic exposures to videogames.
 
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6361300
 

Yes, here we are again. Another CoD and another year of what the hell the next developer screwed up - or did they this year?
 
Call of Duty Modern Warfare has certainly divided opinion after a strong and solid Beta that was released, coupled with early news that there will be no loot boxes to the sounds of joyous high fives in the community. The game has managed to retain a lot of positives from the beta into the launch unlike other CoDs and has been highly praised on the fact they've kept many underlying mechanics and gameplay to the level that everyone wants.
 
So why the hell are people still hating on this game?
 
Well, we all love opinions don't we? And when it comes to the Call of Duty franchise its unlike any other game that i see out there over the past 5, 6, 7 years that takes this level of criticism. You see, most criticism that is strong usually comes with emotion. And emotion for this game is strong. Possibly the highest I ever see on a game, because it is the basics of boys and their toys imagination of being Action Man: The Greatest Hero of Them All (don't lie, you sang that line in your head, didn't you).
 
So my view of the world as I see it right now for this CoD is that people jump to the negatives straight away, forgetting the positives. I understand that to a degree - this one still has some glaringly obvious ones.
 
Maps - The most open maps a CoD has ever had. Yet still manages to have a 762 snugs for camper based play to pick you off 4 seconds after you spawn Skillbased Matchmaking - Not a massive negative for me, but i've had the odd game whereby you get a Road Rash punch in the face at 150mph, and the same happens every 2 seconds until the round is up Challenges - Can be cumbersome in how they are implemented and only one at a time is frustrating at times Menus/UI - Overall, that is a shambles, like most CoDs because they do not care about it  
Most importantly though, I find its the behaviours we're all used to that come out because we want CoD to do well so we can get that nostalgic feeling back when we played early CoDs and ransacked every team in town.
 
Let me be clear - This game has the ability to give you that feeling. Open your mind to it.
 
For all the weaknesses, the pros are clear as day and when they get things right, regardless if it is part of Activision, the developers deserve some credit for listening to the community. What am i talking about? Well:
 
Gunplay - These has to be one of the best CoD games ever for overall gunplay. Guns feel solid. Nearly every gun does (apart from Pistols at the time of writing this but thats not fundamentally a bad thing). Gunsmith - The amount of customisation thats available at your disposal is huge. It gives the game a sense of depth to each and every gun. When the game is all about the guns, you want variety at your disposal and you have stacks of it here Changing Loadouts IN GAME - Why o why we have never had this is insanity. It looks like the smallest of Quality of Life changes but it makes a huge difference to the game. Loadouts can be really overwhelming to most people and usually once you've made it you'll stick with it but now theres more incentive to change an attachment mid-game and try more varied loadouts No Prestige - I see this as a massive plus which to some may be surprising. To Prestige in CoD literally helps nothing other than seeing how huge you wanted your forehead to be. I was with many others that used to level up to 55 and never Prestige as i wanted access to all the guns. This way you have that but can still unlock further items and attachments the more you go into the game. Having Season ranks after that level is a way they can keep a certain amount of grind to the game with access to vary the offering to the player base with specific seasonal content in the future. Its a great model to have to help players return more often Choice - In my opinion there's more than enough choice in gamemodes AND maps. Whilst maps require some fine tuning, they aren't all as bad as people say they are. Apart from Piccadilly. Piccadilly can die by being sucked up in large Black Hole with loot boxes. Some have some great verticality and decent sized lanes that have a twisted on how interlocking doors connect each lane. Just because its never been done before doesn't mean its a bad thing. Gameplay - Over the past week i've noticed it doesn't matter what style of game you play any longer. It all depends on what you mode you play in. You can run around all you like in Hardcore and dominate the scoreboard like a madman, or, take it safe and steady in Core. Score and Killstreaks - Not too hard and not too easy to obtain. Not many seem OP and the ones that do, usually can be shot out of the sky reasonably quickly. UAV spamming doesn't seem an issue any longer like it was in the beta. The Personal Radar is a great alternative and also gives away your position so with great reward comes with great risk.  
Veteran CoD players really need to give this time and try all gamemodes. Clearly, in a party it will ALWAYS be better because people will react to how you're feeling and make you feel brighter. Even if you're team is getting spanked. Our mindsets have to change from this CoD forward. We can't just keep labelling it same old CoD anymore and also running around trying to find the first piece of info to royally fuck it over.
 
Give yourself a fresh outlook on a game that has usual dusty name.

Yes, here we are again. Another CoD and another year of what the hell the next developer screwed up - or did they this year?
 
Call of Duty Modern Warfare has certainly divided opinion after a strong and solid Beta that was released, coupled with early news that there will be no loot boxes to the sounds of joyous high fives in the community. The game has managed to retain a lot of positives from the beta into the launch unlike other CoDs and has been highly praised on the fact they've kept many underlying mechanics and gameplay to the level that everyone wants.
 
So why the hell are people still hating on this game?
 
Well, we all love opinions don't we? And when it comes to the Call of Duty franchise its unlike any other game that i see out there over the past 5, 6, 7 years that takes this level of criticism. You see, most criticism that is strong usually comes with emotion. And emotion for this game is strong. Possibly the highest I ever see on a game, because it is the basics of boys and their toys imagination of being Action Man: The Greatest Hero of Them All (don't lie, you sang that line in your head, didn't you).
 
So my view of the world as I see it right now for this CoD is that people jump to the negatives straight away, forgetting the positives. I understand that to a degree - this one still has some glaringly obvious ones.
 
Maps - The most open maps a CoD has ever had. Yet still manages to have a 762 snugs for camper based play to pick you off 4 seconds after you spawn Skillbased Matchmaking - Not a massive negative for me, but i've had the odd game whereby you get a Road Rash punch in the face at 150mph, and the same happens every 2 seconds until the round is up Challenges - Can be cumbersome in how they are implemented and only one at a time is frustrating at times Menus/UI - Overall, that is a shambles, like most CoDs because they do not care about it  
Most importantly though, I find its the behaviours we're all used to that come out because we want CoD to do well so we can get that nostalgic feeling back when we played early CoDs and ransacked every team in town.
 
Let me be clear - This game has the ability to give you that feeling. Open your mind to it.
 
For all the weaknesses, the pros are clear as day and when they get things right, regardless if it is part of Activision, the developers deserve some credit for listening to the community. What am i talking about? Well:
 
Gunplay - These has to be one of the best CoD games ever for overall gunplay. Guns feel solid. Nearly every gun does (apart from Pistols at the time of writing this but thats not fundamentally a bad thing). Gunsmith - The amount of customisation thats available at your disposal is huge. It gives the game a sense of depth to each and every gun. When the game is all about the guns, you want variety at your disposal and you have stacks of it here Changing Loadouts IN GAME - Why o why we have never had this is insanity. It looks like the smallest of Quality of Life changes but it makes a huge difference to the game. Loadouts can be really overwhelming to most people and usually once you've made it you'll stick with it but now theres more incentive to change an attachment mid-game and try more varied loadouts No Prestige - I see this as a massive plus which to some may be surprising. To Prestige in CoD literally helps nothing other than seeing how huge you wanted your forehead to be. I was with many others that used to level up to 55 and never Prestige as i wanted access to all the guns. This way you have that but can still unlock further items and attachments the more you go into the game. Having Season ranks after that level is a way they can keep a certain amount of grind to the game with access to vary the offering to the player base with specific seasonal content in the future. Its a great model to have to help players return more often Choice - In my opinion there's more than enough choice in gamemodes AND maps. Whilst maps require some fine tuning, they aren't all as bad as people say they are. Apart from Piccadilly. Piccadilly can die by being sucked up in large Black Hole with loot boxes. Some have some great verticality and decent sized lanes that have a twisted on how interlocking doors connect each lane. Just because its never been done before doesn't mean its a bad thing. Gameplay - Over the past week i've noticed it doesn't matter what style of game you play any longer. It all depends on what you mode you play in. You can run around all you like in Hardcore and dominate the scoreboard like a madman, or, take it safe and steady in Core. Score and Killstreaks - Not too hard and not too easy to obtain. Not many seem OP and the ones that do, usually can be shot out of the sky reasonably quickly. UAV spamming doesn't seem an issue any longer like it was in the beta. The Personal Radar is a great alternative and also gives away your position so with great reward comes with great risk.  
Veteran CoD players really need to give this time and try all gamemodes. Clearly, in a party it will ALWAYS be better because people will react to how you're feeling and make you feel brighter. Even if you're team is getting spanked. Our mindsets have to change from this CoD forward. We can't just keep labelling it same old CoD anymore and also running around trying to find the first piece of info to royally fuck it over.
 
Give yourself a fresh outlook on a game that has usual dusty name.