Whether you’re a professional gambler looking for a new way to make the most of your free time or just want to experience the thrill of victory more often than not, Grand Theft Auto V has you covered. As it turns out, there’s actually a very involved and intricate horse racing minigame in the game that you can play – and win often enough to make it a regular part of your daily routine. Let’s dive in and discover how to make the most out of this unique opportunity.
The Basics
If you’ve never played Grand Theft Auto V, here’s a quick primer on how the game works. You play as the popular Michael De Santa, a retired Los Angeles SWAT sergeant turned amateur thief. Naturally, your first impulse as a newly freed criminal is to go on a spree of burglary and drug smuggling – a series of actions that leads you to a life of crime. What’s more is that the game revolves around the Los Santos (the San Andreas portion of the game) and its adjoining rural countryside, offering you the unique opportunity to master a brand new way of interacting with horses. That’s right – if you’re into crime and/or horse racing, this is the game for you.
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
Let’s start with the good then. First and foremost, the horses are fantastic. They’re extremely responsive, which means you get a sense of accomplishment every time you cross a finish line or beat a rival in a race. Moreover, each horse has its own special abilities that can help you gain an edge in any given competition. In the end, it’s all about trial and error and experimenting with different horses until you find ones that suit your play style.
On the other hand, the bad is fairly self-explanatory. As before, the bulk of the activities in Grand Theft Auto V revolve around the thievery and burglary as you pursue a life of crime. Though the activities require you to act as a professional, it doesn’t take long for the cops to catch up with you and drag you back to jail. This is where the ugly comes in. While in prison, you have the opportunity to participate in “bullshit jobs” that are, essentially, tasks that fulfill your qualifications but don’t provide you with any real value. For instance, you might be sent to clean out a garage or to mow a golf course. In both cases, you’re being paid to do something that doesn’t require much intelligence or skill. Naturally, this leads to a quick decline in your quality of life while you’re inside.
Though the above represents three very distinctively unpleasant aspects of Grand Theft Auto V, it doesn’t mean that the game itself is bad. Quite the opposite actually. First off, the audio and visual design are both superb, providing you with a truly unique blend of storytelling and gameplay. Moreover, the world is incredibly lush and detailed, which again provides you with a sense of accomplishment every time you complete a task or drive a vehicle. It also helps that Grand Theft Auto V has one of the largest game libraries I’ve ever seen. Though you can play the entire game in single-player mode, the game also supports 12-player online multiplayer and up to 4-player split-screen play. Simply put, if you’re looking for a game that provides you with a good amount of joy and variety, Grand Theft Auto V is the perfect fit.
All You Need Is a Horse & A Camera Angle
As I mentioned above, Grand Theft Auto V provides you with a new way of interacting with horses. While in most games you’d have to rely on text-based directions or a clumsy point-and-click interface, for the most part, the game handles steering and movement for you. This takes the stress out of the equation and makes it much easier for you to just enjoy the ride. Of course, there are some exceptions to this rule. For example, if you want to perform certain tasks or explore specific areas of Los Santos, you’ll have to take the reins yourself. In these cases, you can always pull up a map and use the directions provided to point out where you should go. Similarly, some tasks – like participating in a bullfight – require you to actually interact with the animal itself. In these instances as well, you take the reins and hold them in your hands as you instruct the horse how to behave. Naturally, this is all done using very precise camera controls and a steady hand – two areas of improvement that can be easily mastered with a little practice.
Horse Racing
If you’ve ever played another game in the Grand Theft Auto series, then you know exactly what to expect when you click to enter the horse racing world. That is to say, a jockeying for position among the other racers as they thunder down the track. Though this is a very traditional element of the series, it’s important to note that Grand Theft Auto V’s equestrian activities are actually quite a bit different from what you’d find in most other video games. For one, the races are quite short. Though this is something of a relief in terms of limiting the amount of time you spend waiting for the action to start, it also means that there’s less room for error as the action speeds by. Moreover, while you’re waiting for a race to begin, you have the option of engaging in some quality one-on-one time with the horses as they stand patiently in their steeds’ respective boxes. This provides you with the perfect opportunity to get to know each animal better than you did during the actual race. You can also use this time to converse with the jockeys – the people that actually ride the horses – and find out what makes them tick. Though the conversation options aren’t extensive, they’re more than sufficient for anyone who’s even remotely interested in horses. Additionally, you can bet your last dollar on the outcome of any given race. This is something that you can’t do in most other games of this type. However, betting – and winning – in Grand Theft Auto V is actually a lot more involved than usual. Specifically, the game tracks the outcome of every single race in real-time. This provides you with a wealth of data that you can mine for information on the relative odds of each horse winning. Naturally, this is something that you can’t do with normal races as they are usually not recorded in real-time. Therefore, you’d have to keep track of the results manually, which is both tiresome and more prone to error. Moreover, you can tell if a particular horse is trying to throw the race by observing their running style. This is something that you can’t do easily if the results aren’t updated in real-time. As you might imagine, all this complexity makes for a more involved and strategic game. As a result, it’s one that requires a fairly high level of skill to master. Though it’s definitely not something that’s impossible for a casual gamer, it’s not something that anyone should take lightly.
How To Win At Horse Betting
If you’re looking to make money in Grand Theft Auto V, then you have two very distinct options. You can either become a professional gambler and try to win large sums of cash, or you can use your skills as a professional thief and try to steal enough money to make a living. Naturally, the choice is entirely up to you. Let’s consider each of these options in turn.
As a professional gambler, you have the option of participating in a number of different types of wagering. As in real life, you’re almost always better off backing a winner than picking a loser. This is doubly true when playing video games. However, video games also provide you with the option of playing against the house. When playing against the house, your initial bet (which you can increase or decrease at any time) is almost always a bad idea. This is mostly because the house always wins. Nonetheless, if you’re looking for quick cash, then playing against the house is your best bet. This is especially true of blackjack and baccarat, two games that you’ll frequently find available in casino bars and lobbies around the country. Though it’s not difficult to learn how to play these games effectively, it’s still a very difficult task to consistently beat the house at baccarat and blackjack. This is mostly because the house always seems to have an advantage. This isn’t the case with other types of games, like roulette or sic-fi. In these cases, you can actually learn how to play effectively and beat the house. Moreover, if you do well, you can make a decent living playing these games professionally.