Horse Racing Video Games
 

I don't know how many of you guys are into video games, but I just thought I'd pass along a fun title.

I recently rediscovered my copy of Gallop Racer 2006 for the PlayStation 2. To my knowledge it is the most recent offering for horse racing titles for the PlayStation 2 (in the USA).

Fun to play and might be a good way for people who know nothing of the real game to get an interest. Racing, betting and even breeding are included.

Anyone who has seen or played "Derby Owners Club" in the arcades and bars would have an idea of what it's like.

Unfortunately, though these games are extremely popular in Europe and Japan, recently Tecmo, producer of "Gallop Racer", and Koei, producer of "G1 Jockey" have chosen to avoid marketing and releasing in the USA. "G1 Jockey 3" and "Gallop Racer 2006" for the PS2 and backward compatible PS3's are the best available. Supposedly "G1 Jockey 4" is available for the Wii as well.

It has to be the last version. Playstation 2 is almost dead (no new titles are being made for it...at all)

Maybe there is a PS3 version you are overlooking.

Maybe. I saw rumors of a "Gallop Racer Online" but it might be Japan-only. There is a "G1 Jockey 4 2008" released for the UK, for use on the PS3. Depending on which PS3 system you have, it would run since the PS3 is not region specific. I've tried to get a copy and have not been successful yet.

One side note: The "Gallop Racer" series of games have betting, but the "G1 Jockey" games do not. They still allow progress through the game and the winning of titles and purses, but the betting thing for Gallop Racer adds even more dimension to their game.

I play Gallop Racer too, quite a bit, but I never liked the 2006 version for PS2 and still have it just sitting around. The gameplay seems choppier to me and I don't really like the progression plan they have. Gallop Racer 2004 "A New Breed" is what I'm still playing, and that's more jockey-focused where you earn skills and then get better horses that you can eventually "own" and then breed them yourself and so on and so on.

Looking forward to something cool on 360 someday, but Gallop Racer is awesome (though the '04 one doesn't have betting) and has eaten up way too many days of my life.

And I've got a copy of 2006 sitting around somewhere if someone wants to basically take it off my hands, I won't ever play it.

They had that Breeders Cup Championship game that came out in like 2005...I own it, not a big fan, just always played real awkwardly.

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/sports/b...cup/index.html

Game is so unrealistic. I used to spot the field about 30 lengths and come back to win. My stable won every major race in its division.

I'm actually trying to find another copy of Gallop Racer 2006 for a friend of mine and I'm having trouble, so yeah, if you want to get rid of it let me know.

I was big into Derby Owners Club, they had one at Dave and Buster's in Cleveland. It was a great game until people starting cheating by buying juiced horses. It also got rather expensive...from the time you foaled a horse til you raced and retired it, it was at least $30 per horse.
Even still it was very addicting and worthwhile, much better then gallop racer.

G1 jockey 3 is by far the better simulation, but no breeding or betting. There is an english version of G1 Jockey for wii, and is possible to play on North American systems. The trick is you can never update your system, and there is a mod Cd that you will need to play Pal games on NTSC platform.

amazon.com might have it

Gallop racer 2006 here it is on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/GALLOP-RACER-200...eo_Games_Games

I agree with SB. Jockey is definitely a better riding simulation. Plus the little things such as there are different tracks that all play different. All the horses have their own running styles and you could see who should be where. I always thought the betting in GR was useless. In jockey you can see where they think you horse should finish. I always thought it was cool when you could bring in a horse that was picked to be 16th. The only thing better about GR is that have a quasi like Triple Crown and Breeders Cup. But overall I like the Jockey game better and have wasted many hours of my life playing it. Actually my son likes to ride his rockin horse with his whip and goggles as I play the game.

omg worst game of all time. they kept pushing back the release date, and it was nearly impossible to get once it came out right away, and then i finally brought it home and it was the biggest piece of crap

Gallop racer was the s*it. We used to play the three race ramdom where they would pick the three horses for you in each race. Luck of the draw and they would tab the points at the end of the 3 rounds and the winner moved on. Hell Billy was the horse we always rooted to get...monster.

Breeders Cup game was garbage although they did have all the real tracks you could race on, even Saratoga.

I've owned every Gallop Racer in the series for the PS2 and I have to agree with the earlier caller, Gallop Racer 2003: A New Breed is champion! I also have a copy of 2006 I'd be happy to give away.

Note: There is a horse racing nut out there that took all the fictional S and A graded horses and made a list of their real-life counterparts. It can easily be found on the Internet with a simple Google search.

Nevermind. I found it for you:

http://finalturn.com/database/gr2003.php

I have had the same experience, the 04 much better than the 06.

I was so excited before this release but was so dissapointed witht the gameplay. You can only whip the horse when instructed to do so.

There is a very good PC game called Horse Racing Fantasy 2

lol that's funny. So basically the game tells you when to make your move? That's not horse racing! I mean...if I want to set 21 and 44 fractions in a route race while playing a racing video game, I should have the freedom to make that choice.

Starters Orders 3 is by far the most realistic simulation of racing I've found. You can have a look at it here - http://www.startersorders.com

But it's really UK-oriented. The US and Australian parts of the game are far less accurately done.