Full Stride Released

[Ted]

Horse Racing game on Steam and coming to PS5

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4181970/Full_Stride/

I grabbed it at full price because horse racing and I'm a fool.

[Jason]

I just added it to my PS5 wishlist. 

[Ted]

It's not getting a good reception on steam so far, but the bugs I've run into are the annoying type and not game breaking.

There are legitimate complaints about the lack of tutorials and not understanding controls so I made a video which I'll upload and link here soon.

[Ted]

[Ted]

There was a hotfix released that addressed some things shown in the first video so I made an update video and also got to play multiplayer.

[Ted]

tl;dr at the end of the second post.

Been playing a lot of Full Stride (a lot). I personally give it a positive review, realizing that it's also niche and lacks features that were available in games made 15 years ago. 

What does it have that those older titles didn't?

It's on PC.  The first real jockey simulation on PC.

It looks and runs great.  It's hands down far and away a huge step up from the Gallop Racer and G1 Jockey games, again games made 15 and 22 years ago.

Multiplayer racing up to 4 players in a race with the rest of the field AI.

Actual JRA (license or permission I'm not sure which) of the tracks as well as real-life thoroughbreds from 2014 - 2025 (I think).  In short 100 new 2yos show up each year for you to buy and put in your stable (up to 6 housed) and they were real horses whose stats and potential match their counterparts.

A 2500 race schedule that encompasses 10 real life tracks with 9 classes of races (in order Maiden, Newcomer, Allowance 1, 2, & 3, Open, G3, G2, and G1)

Do I wish it had more features like breeding and stats kept for the system horses? Definitely, but it doesn't make me sorry I spent the full price on it.

There are few bugs, but nothing that breaks the game. A crash lock at race start here and there that's easily overcome because the game autosaves before you go to the track.  Racing in first person with other horses all around you is pretty cool.  The standard over the back is there too for people that don't like the close in view.  The dev has released 4 small updates since release two weeks ago addressing minor bugs and adding a couple of very minor additions. 

What it does different?  Every horse racing game I've ever played if you run the horse out of its preferred position (frontrunner, stalker, pack, closer) you would be punished by having your stamina drained faster.  FS doesn't do this.  FS ties stamina directly to pace and every horse also has a preferred pace as well as a speed that it can attain.  There are fast horses that don't like to run all out and slow horses that can run closer to their top end for longer, but this isn't so unusual.  What FS does different is it makes the horse start to lose motivation if you run out of preferred position.  You start with .50 motivation and if you stay in position the motivation will stay right there.  You can increase motivation with the whip and there are 3 different whipping styles to utilize to lesser or greater effect when trying to motivate the horse. Maximizing the motivation to 1.0 allows the horse to run to it's greatest attainable speed for it's remaining stamina and sprint levels. If the motivation drops below .50 you can't build up sprint (the final burst of energy that you start using after you stamina is depleted). At.50 you are gaining sprint.  If you draft behind another horse you gain sprint faster.  If you run the horses preferred pace and draft behind another horse you gain sprint fastest until it maxes out.  If you drop motivation way down to below .10 the horse will not respond to you urging it on or even slowing it down.  You then have to use the whip to motivate the horse and with all 3 styles of whip you have a fixed amount (10, 5, and 2) before the whip is no longer effective either.  So it becomes a balancing act of pace and position before deciding when to make your move in the stretch.  It's a big dance and it's fun again and again, and even more so with live opponents.

[Ted]

Here's what I don't understand.  The game is getting absolutely hammered, at least on Steam, for what it doesn't have and also for what it does different.  It's from a solo dev in Japan and I'm pretty amazed that a single individual produced this.  People that are into horse racing games have been aching for a new release.  It's been 15 years since the last G1 jockey and this one guy goes and produces not only a functional title, but one that you can play online and is also quite fun.  And all I can think is do you people want to wait another 15 years for another title?  Because there's not much of a market for this game in the western world.  These games are much bigger in Asia than here. Steam is showing between 2k and 7k copies sold so far;  that's pretty paltry.

I've seen the following comments about this game:

It's a scam because the dev gave early access last year to people that joined his Patreon for $8 a month.
You can win every race by just holding up at the back and then rushing at the end.
If it had Australian racing I would buy it.
If it had British racing I would buy it.
If it had American racing I would buy it.
I have no interest in JRA.
It looks worse than Gallop Racer.
It looks worse than G1 Jockey.
Gallop Racer and/or G1 Jockey were light years ahead of this and they were from ages ago.
It doesn't have breeding / I'd buy it if it had breeding.
I would buy it if it had betting.
The odds are incorrectly displayed.
It's a buggy mess.
It's broken.

I could go on, but I just kind of needed to vent my frustration about what I'm seeing.  And it kind of ties into something I've been feeling for a few years.  And that is that gamers just suck.  I mean we do this for fun right?  And not every game is going to fun for every person, and there are some games that are really bad and deserve negative reviews, but there seems to be a whole culture in gaming that is just a vortex of negativity and seems to exist to try to tear shit down.  And maybe it's just an extension of what seems to be the culture of outrage and negativity that seems to dominate social media.  And it's wearing me out.

So sorry for the rant.


tl;dr  Full Stride is a fun horse racing game that uses some slightly different mechanics that once understood allows for some fun racing (including online!) with horses you can own in your own stable.  It looks good, runs good, and is relatively bug free.  It continues to be developed by a solo developer who has not promised, but has said he would like to implement more features further down the line.  The price tag is $35 and I would consider that a little steep for what is on offer, but considering there is likely no demand elasticity and the expected audience and sale for the game will be low, I can understand why the price point is where it's at.  My recommendation is if you are an actual fan of horse racing or horse racing games it's a buy.  Anyone not a fan is likely not going to be become one by playing this game and the interest will probably wear off quickly. (Holy crap I exceeded the 5k character limit and had to split the post.  Strong feelings I guess)

[Jason]

My son and I were having a similar conversation two days ago. He recently finished Resident Evil 9 with me watching his playthrough. It's a great game and has sold very well but there's a lot negativity around the story, which we thought was great and tied back to previous games nicely. This led us to watching ranking videos of RE games on YouTube, and the amount of hate and complaints about certain aspects of the games (especially the remake of 3) was unbelievable. My comments to my son about gamers was a little more harsh than that they just suck. I also mentioned how I'd never want to be a game developer these days, when it was something I would have loved to be back in the day.

I guess negativity leads to more views, but I seriously wonder why some of these people even play video games. I stopped visiting OS because of the constant negativity about every sports game released. What really annoyed me was that these same people would still buy the new release every year the day it came out. I'm not saying these games don't have issues, but I can still get some enjoyment out of them. If I don't, I just move on to something else.

The same thing is currently happening with Nascar 25. I'm absolutely loving the game right now and am excited for 26, which just dropped a gameplay trailer a few days ago. I go online for more information and all I find is attacks on how bad the game is and how it's not as good as Nascar Racing 2003, and how 26 will be no better.

You're absolutely right about social media, it's nothing but outrage and negativity and that's one of the reasons I don't do social media anymore.

[Ted]

Thanks pal.  I feel better that it's not just me being old and grumpy.  And I had to tone it down to gamers just suck for the post. 

You mention Nascar25 and how they compare it to 2003 and that reminds me of my recent enjoyment of FC26.  I cannot believe the hate that FIFA/FC games get, but what really kills me is the comparisons to FIFAs from 10 to 20 years before and how those were the best FIFAs, yada yada yada.  But what I remember every year is the same complaints.  It wasn't loved 10 years ago when it was the new title.  Same for Football Manager series.  26 is hated.  24 is loved, now.  And FM10 is the holy grail?  And if I remember correctly Nascar 2003 wasn't exactly loved when it was released either.

[Jason]

I completely forgot about FC26. I'm enjoying that too just like I enjoyed FC24. Is it perfect? Of course not, no game is, but I can still have fun with it.

You're right about older games...nostalgia can taint memories. College/NCAA Football is another. People complained about 14, but now it's the perfect football game.

[Ted]

...... People complained about 14, but now it's the perfect football game.

Ha!  Exactly!!

[Ted]

The developer published his roadmap for further Full Stride devlopment.

[Ted]

[GB_Simo]

NASCAR 25 is a prime example of that particular breed. Twitter, or X or whatever, is permanently lit up with people too busy complaining about what the game doesn't do to acknowledge what it does. Absolutely none of what they whine about has any connection to the core driving and racing, which is both very good and the entire bloody point of the game. Outrage generates revenue, I guess, just as it destroys nuance.

I have not played Full Stride, so this is the limit of my contribution for now, but as someone who periodically finds himself whistling the paddock and pre-race music from G1 Jockey, perhaps I should.