Horse Racing sim

[Ragone]

http://www.horseracegame.com/features.htm

Anyone have any feedback on this sim? or any other horse racing sim.. prefering something with somewhat of a career mode to it..

[MizzouRah]

Seems there are quite a few on the market and I'm trying to see which one I want to purchase.

THIS (http://www.startersorders.com/) one looks decent as well. I think I'll check the demo at work tomorrow when I go from dialup to a T1.


Todd

[Ragone]

I'll check it out Mizzou.. and letcha know within a hour or so :)

[MizzouRah]

Originally posted by Ragone
I'll check it out Mizzou.. and letcha know within a hour or so :)

Great! It looks maybe a little to involved, but worth a look anyway. I'll check back later tonight or first thing when I get to work in the morning.


Todd

[Ragone]

Its mostle european races from what i've read so far on the website.. Was kinda hoping it would have encorperated the North American racing circuit... :)

I'll give it a chance anyway :)

[tucker342]

I'm going to check out the demo...:)

[AnalBumCover]

Any online sims out there? I found THIS (http://www.digiturf.com/Homepages/Default.asp) one, but it's a pay-to-play site.

[JonInMiddleGA]

The first one looks pretty good but the demo is limited to five races (and doesn't include the trainer mode as far as I can tell). IMO, either the interface isn't particularly intuitive OR I know so little about horse racing that it feels more confusing than anything else (I suspect the latter has a lot to do with it).

Either way, it looks like it might be pretty good for somebody who's really into horse racing but for the very casual fan the $60 price tag is a non-starter.

[samifan24]

Originally posted by JonInMiddleGA

Either way, it looks like it might be pretty good for somebody who's really into horse racing but for the very casual fan the $60 price tag is a non-starter.

$60? Wow....that's steep. I've never seen a sim game priced so high. Do they just figure they can reel in horse-racing fans rather than "typical" sim players?

[QuikSand]

See, the focus of the first game is to simulate races with real horses - so if you want wo watch Kelso race against John Henry against Seattle Slew, you can do that. If that's what you're after... then maybe this is for you.

If what you want (like me) is a horseracing equivalent of a text sim (a la FOF) then you're pretty close to out of luck.

I want to manage a stable, buy and sell horses, decide when they run, and oversee their development and careers. The best in that group still seems to be the 1995 release Hooves of Thunder, which you can still buy from Wizard Games (http://www.wizardgames/com). It was once floating around for free... don't know if that's still the case.

Hooves was remade as QuarterPole Plus, also available at the same site... but the reviews were mimxed. I haven't played enough post-patch to have a firm opinion yet.

[MizzouRah]

Originally posted by JonInMiddleGA
The first one looks pretty good but the demo is limited to five races (and doesn't include the trainer mode as far as I can tell). IMO, either the interface isn't particularly intuitive OR I know so little about horse racing that it feels more confusing than anything else (I suspect the latter has a lot to do with it).

Either way, it looks like it might be pretty good for somebody who's really into horse racing but for the very casual fan the $60 price tag is a non-starter.


Thanks Jon.

Ragone, did you try it out? I will later today at work. Also, Qs, I've been looking for HOF as well.


Todd

[jerem77]

Online Horse Racing Game (http://simulatedsports.net/hr/)


As far as I know this one is still free. I played it for a little while, it seemed fun, but I know little to nothing about horse racing.

[MizzouRah]

Well, not sure I like the horse racing sim I posted a link to. The demo is VERY limited, not much you can do.


Todd

[Franklinnoble]

Here's my review of the available Horse Racing Games mentioned here, and a few more that haven't been mentioned:

Simulated Sports Horse Racing (http://simulatedsports.net/hr/)

The best text-based online horse racing sim around. It's free, with a pay option that allows you more immediate access to better breeding and the availability of creating your own races. It's a very in-depth virutal horse racing universe, based on actual stallions' dosage ratings, etc. Includes its own volunteer-run (and very good) racing form. Tons of free online utilities to help with stable management. Betting options available. Racetracks worldwide.

The only shortcomings (for me, anyway) are as follows:

[list=1]
It's online. Only. I'd love this game if there were a self-contained single player version that I could play at home while disconnected from the internet.
Races only run once a week. A lot like Hattrick in this regard - you can't speed things up and sim an entire season in one afternoon - it's pretty much 'real time'
Breeding options are limited - when your horse is finished with his race career, you can 'breed over' him or her, but the horse is lost in the process. It's a one-shot deal. You can't stand your horse at stud or anything like that. Granted, they do this to maintain the realistic integrity of the game, but I'd love to race a horse successfully and then reap the benefits of his offspring.
It's getting crowded. Tons of people in the game now, and it's hard to get entered into races every week. Basically, it makes race scheduling every week a pain in the ass, unless you're paying to sponsor the races. Either way, it requires a significant investment of time, and takes a lot of fun out of the game for me.
[/list=1]

Hooves Of Thunder

Kickstand says you can get it over at
Wizard Games (http://www.wizardgames.com). You'll have to take his word for it - I've never played it or Quarterpole.

DigiTurf

I'm not gonna even link this one for you. Enter at your own risk. From what I've heard, a healthy crack habit would be cheaper and more satisfying.

Gallop Racer (http://www.tecmoinc.com/store/gr03.asp)

Gallop Racer 2003 is on its way, but it doesn't look remarkably different (other than some cheap cosmetic changes) from Gallop Racer 2001. They're both PS2 games. The original Gallop Racer was for the PS1. As far as I know, it's your only console option for horse racing. It's not altogether bad, but really shallow, in my opinion. Basically, the whole game is determined by how well your rate your horse and when you decide to go to the whip. Every other aspect of the horse racing industry is pretty much left out.

Horse Racing Fantasy (http://www.horseracegame.com/)

The previous reviews are pretty accurate. No breeding options. Basically, all you do is race pre-existing horses from the included horse files (or horses you create) over the course of a few years. Actual race simulator is fairly accurate, but graphically uninspiring, and it'd be nice to be able to sim the races without having to watch them (even the high speed viewing options are a drag if you're just trying to sim through a season of racing). This one got old for me really quick.

Daily Racing Form Horse Racing

I feel violated for having paid money for this one. I can't believe the Daily Racing Form put their name on this. It's woefully bad. Again, for your own good, I'm not including a link.

I haven't tried Starters Orders yet. Might give the demo a shot, but, again, it loosk like it's lacking in the breeding/auction/career department.

Basically, what I'd love to see is a text-based sim that includes realistic breeding, a solid race simulator, auctions, claiming, and training - everything that the horse racing industry has that makes it such a unique and fascinating sport. So far, every game made has come up short in one or more areas. I've toyed with the idea of writing my own sim, but my programming skills are woefully amateurish, and I waste too much free time on here, anyway. ;)

[QuikSand]

Franklinnoble, nice summary.

There's an age-old sim available through Wizard Games called Good to Firm that simulates British flat racing, but apparently does a pretty interesting job. I have only played the demo, but that's one more potential entry to consider, if you can get past the cross-cultural hurdle (that you won't get the Triple Crown, but rather the 2000 Guineas or whatever).

So far, the ideal horseracing sim just hasn't been made. On paper, Quarterpole Plus sounded really good, but I generally feel it was a step backwards from Hooves of Thunder, from which they clearly started. I really cannot fathom how they took things that worked well in Hooves and made them worse... but there you go, they did it in several instances. And, they neglected to include even the simplest additions that could have added so much to the game. In my opinion, to properly develop a horse racing sim, you need someone (or a group) who understands both sides of the equation: the racing game itself, and also the concept of the text sim (and despite any graphic representation of therace itself, this is first and formost a text sim).

[Critch]

There's this (http://www.cyanide-studio.com/?rub=games&gid=154) one as well. From Cyanide Games, who produced the Cycling manager games. Don't know much about it other than one of my friends in the UK has it and he wasn't overly impressed with it's realism, but liked it as a game.

Looks like they're patching it well, and taking suggestions, so it's got promise.

It is French made, so some of you might like to boycott it.

[Ajaxab]

I would appreciate any thoughts on the Cyanide game. It actually looks pretty interesting. Back in the early 90's, I was really into Omni-play Horse Racing for awhile. Although it only involved betting and then watching races, that was a great game for rainy summer afternoons.

[QuikSand]

I tried the demo of the CYanide game - it's a harness racing simulator, which features a "jockey mode" where you control the horse. That's pretty far from what I want in a racing sim, so the demo didn't exactly sell me on the game too well.

The race itself seemed to be fairly well executed, though it's pretty clearly an arcade style game, rather than a deep sim.

[Franklinnoble]

Harness racing? That's a sport that's WAAAAYYY off the radar. Although, here in Sacramento, that's really all we have (aside from when the fair is in town). I've been a few times. It's more crooked than a dog's leg. Don't even bother trying to pick a winner based on the racing form and past performances... just casually hang out around the tack-up area and find out what horses the grooms and trainers are betting for each race.

It's sad - because I think there's room for it in the marketplace, but until there's real money behind it, there's no way to keep it clean, and no way to bring in more fans.

[Critch]

Quik,

The cyanide game has been patched so that apparently you no longer have to go to jockey mode if you're playing as a stable manager. Pick your jockey and he'll do the riding while you watch the race.

Not sure if that makes it any better.

[John Galt]

Hey QS,

Do you have any opinions about the other Wizard Games horsing racing sims? They seem to have a lot of choices for such a small niche. You can see them all at:

http://www.wizardgames.com/horrac.htm

Anyway, any information would be appreciated.

[PilotMan]

You guys haven't mentioned the Stable Masters (http://www.espsoftware.co.uk/)Series of racing. Primarily, euorpean horse racing, but I have played it and it is reasonably in depth.

Or

You could always go with the old Vrigin game Sport of Kings. Many, many hours of simple fun and enjoyment.

[QuikSand]

From Wizard Games:


QuarterPole - Hoover of Thunder - QuarterPole Plus

These three are the successive stages of the same game. Much discussed here - I still think HoT is the best of the lot, though I have not thoroughly played the post-patch QPP.


Good to Firm

This is a British flat rasing simulation, not very graphic, but supposedly fairly thorough. I don't know much more.


Stable Masters

I played the original version, and then bought the newer version. I didn't get anything out of either one, I'm afraid.


Its A Fair Bet

I believe this is simply a wagering sim - no management at all.

[John Galt]

Originally posted by QuikSand
From Wizard Games:


QuarterPole - Hoover of Thunder - QuarterPole Plus

These three are the successive stages of the same game. Much discussed here - I still think HoT is the best of the lot, though I have not thoroughly played the post-patch QPP.


Good to Firm

This is a British flat rasing simulation, not very graphic, but supposedly fairly thorough. I don't know much more.


Stable Masters

I played the original version, and then bought the newer version. I didn't get anything out of either one, I'm afraid.


Its A Fair Bet

I believe this is simply a wagering sim - no management at all.

Thanks QS. I was most curious about the Stable Masters series (as you had described most of the rest). It is too bad they don't amount to much. Maybe I'll start with QPP post-patch and see how it goes.

[bbor]

Franklin...i own Gallop Racer 2003 for ps2...it is much improved over the last.....still need to play a few more seasons before i recomend it

[bandit]

PilotMan -

I've played most of these games on the PC

First of the guy behind Starters Orders is the same behind Stable Masters. Starters Orders appears to be much better and looks to have got the ballance between form/distance/jockey tactics etc. pretty spot on. It has no breeding options though. It looks like being the best so far in this genre but I'll wait untill the full version is released before I judge.

Horse Racing Manager looks very good but is a dissapointment. It's basicaly a simple arcade game pretending to have some depth (which it doesn't).

Hooves is pretty old now but a good game.

[Franklinnoble]

Originally posted by bbor
Franklin...i own Gallop Racer 2003 for ps2...it is much improved over the last.....still need to play a few more seasons before i recomend it

Well, that's good news. Where did you get it, and for how much?

[bbor]

I'm in Canada....i preordered it from EB (electronic Boutique) because it is not a big seller and some stores won't have more than 2 copies in stock.

GR2003 is ALOT harder than previous versions.

I can't speak to breeding yet because i havent got that far yet(this game came out the same time as CM4 so.....).

I paid $65 Canadian and i am sure i will get my money worth out of it.

[GrantDawg]

There was a guy at our little get together at the ESPNZone (the OOTP party) who said he is working on a horse racing text sim. I recommended he get a hold of Kickstand on this message board because he knows the sport better than anybody I know, plus his mind for "cypherin'." Did he ever talk to you, Kickie?

[Franklinnoble]

Originally posted by GrantDawg
There was a guy at our little get together at the ESPNZone (the OOTP party) who said he is working on a horse racing text sim. I recommended he get a hold of Kickstand on this message board because he knows the sport better than anybody I know, plus his mind for "cypherin'." Did he ever talk to you, Kickie?

Anybody who's seriously interested in developing a text-based horse racing sim, please PM me. I'd like to join forces, and rule the horse-racing sim galaxy... or something.

[MizzouRah]

Thanks to whomever (bbor) mentioned GR2003, I didn't even know this one was out for the ps2.

I like what I've seen and read so far.


Todd

[path12]

I had Good to Firm probably about 5 or 6 years ago -- I remember it being a pretty in-depth treatment -- your training styles definitely had quite a bit to do with your success on the track. I think the one gripe I had with it was that it took an awful lot of experimentation as to what distances, etc., your horses wanted. The breeding didn't correlate with 'real life' like something such as simulated sports, where it's easier to figure out what your horses are going to have an aptitude for.

[Franklinnoble]

Originally posted by Franklinnoble
Anybody who's seriously interested in developing a text-based horse racing sim, please PM me. I'd like to join forces, and rule the horse-racing sim galaxy... or something.

Anyone? Anyone?

[path12]

I'd be interested, but have zero programming experience.......

[Capital]

Where do you get the patch for QuarterPole Plus? I didn't know that one was out.

Thanks

[QuikSand]

Go to their web site, there is a customer service email - send them an email, and they will email you the patch. (Clumsy, I know)

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

Sounds like a solid game ....I'll go to the site and check it out .

[Airhog]

Has anyone played Gallop racer 2k4?

[kingnebwsu]

Nope, I have 2003 and I enjoyed it while I played it :)