Horse racing

[Mandrake42]

Is this a "Quest" you can actually finish by beating all the opponents, or is it just a repeatable event?

[kaffekoppen]

There's a series of racing quests in each major area. They are worth doing for the rewards, which typically consist of gear for Roach.

So... quest!

[Mandrake42]

Oh ok, cool. I was just wondering if it was worth bothering as......I kind of suck at it ;)

I'll keep plugging away.

[Mandrake42]

Originally posted by BuzzardBee:

The key to winning is to sprint out in front as quickly as possible and then block the horses behind you from passing. That's it. Keep an eye on where you're supposed to be going. Try to avoid obstacles as Roach totally sucks at those and just try to stay ahead of the pack.

Over time, Roach will use up all of his Stamina. At that point, don't panic. You can't get him to go any faster until he regains some of that. That's where the blocking comes in. Just maneuver yourself so that the other horses can't get past you until the Stamina bar replenishes, then sprint again to the finish line. Works for every single race.

By the way, there's a note on the Crow's Perch notice board, or at least there should be. It can sometimes get bugged. This still hasn't been entirely fixed.

Once you have the note, the races all take place at the same location, just to the west of Crow's Perch on the road near a shrine. You can try numerous times until you beat each one but it's not a repeatable event that continues to give rewards once you've won. Win all three and then you can move on to the Novigrad races.

Shortly after you've completed Get Junior/Count Reuven's Treasure, you should be able to find a note on the notice board in Hierarch Square, Novigrad -- The Great Erasmus Vegelbud Memorial Derby Horse Race which consists of three races and a four which becomes available once you're done. You will receive a note, read it and you'll be asked to meet with Cleaver for an invitation to the fourth race.

Then on to Skellige. These races all have different starting points. You just need to go to the location and ask to participate. This web site has maps showing the start points.

http://www.gosunoob.com/witcher-3/horse-races/

Excellent information, thankyou. My problem was Roach kept shying if you get even remotely close to anything at all (Even if it looks like you are miles from the object in question) and I kept losing enough ground that it was hard to recover. I've managed to beat the first oponent at Crow's Perch now.

[kaffekoppen]

Luckily it doesn't get any harder than this. In fact, once you have a decent saddle, you can finish some races without even running out of stamina.

It's not a particularly good mini-game, but I still enjoyed collecting all my cash and rewards :)

[Mandrake42]

It doesn't help that Roach is not particulary easy to control at the best of times ;) In fact, even though you do incredible damage in combat while on horseback, its so fiddly I always get off to fight.

[HoJu Eructus]

Oh, how many times have I died because Roach gets stuck in a barrel in a bandit camp. Good times...

[Mandrake42]

Hahaha. I feel your pain.

[Mandrake42]

You know, Roach must do something while you are often on foot. Maybe he goes to the tavern? That would explain the controls. Plus I have noticed fistec going missing from the saddlebags...

[Mandrake42]

I hadn't actually tried the strong attack, I will have to give that a shot.

[Mandrake42]

Yeah, I heard it was pretty glitch on release which is why I waited until now to get it (Actually, I got it when Blood and Wine came out but wanted to play through 1 and 2 first). Even with its flaws it's still a lot more polished that 1 or 2. Much as I enjoyed those, goodness they had some agravating faults.

[Frag Maniac]

I could have sworn I once made Roach regen his stamina by making him jump, like with Geralt when he's running, but I've not tried it in a race yet. Anyone know about that?

It's not too hard to just let up on sprint and single vs double tap it when stamina runs low though, while weaving in front of the one you're racing.

Did you guys know too that you can also regen Geralt's stamina while sprinting by holding Witcher Sense for a moment?

Game's got some weird quirks for sure. LOL

[Mandrake42]

Let's be honest, even Geralt controls kind of wonkily, even with alternate mode on. He and Roach are a good match ;)

[drussthelegend]

The problem (at least with consoles) is that the direction control is a 360 degree control. Since most race course corrections are around 5 degrees or less, doing a 1/70th movement with you thumb is inherently difficult and you end up over compensating which quickly degenerates into a complete loss of control and missing the race "gate" you are trying to go through. That is why horse racing is inherently difficult. Even with the sensitivity control minimised, it is still an issue.