I looked at these problems in the past and it wasn't so much schedule problems but a combination of pool issues (not enough horses available to fill certain races) and trainer AI. So the game ends up removing certain races from the schedule. The AI changes (with SO8) seem to have improved overall entries and avoided some of the blind spots trainers previously had (which could result in pools of certain 2 and 3yo horses never getting a run under certain conditions). There are more lower grade races now. I need to test this over many seasons. I also need to do some testing with horse pools of varying sizes and maybe some extra meetings to see if this throws anything else up. Anyhow it should be improved with SO8.

Hi Mark,

There's one thing that I would love you to implement into the Jockey Mode if possible.

The ability to squeeze a horse to get it to pickup / go faster.

It would really add some realism. I've worked around horses for my whole life and rode as an apprentice for few years.

You can squeeze a horse with your legs from either side and a horse will respond to it.

It's a way of getting a horse to do more without kicking it/ pushing it out with your hands or to whip it.

It's one small thing can could greatly improve the realism and also make the jockey mode way more fun.

This way you can cruise into a race without visibly moving ala Jamie Spencer / Paul Carberry.

Of course it would use up a percentage of the realised potential in race and overdoing it can result in the horse bottoming out.

I've found you cannot win any race in the game without pushing or whipping the horse.

In real life this is not the case, jockeys can squeeze a horse throughout the race and win motionless.

Even if you ride a G1 horse in a claimer in SO7, you still have to push it or whip it for it to win.

Which shouldn't be the case.

It should just be too classy for them and by squeezing the horse you can win motionlessly like in real life.

The jockey mode is otherwise perfect.

Hi Mark, great update as always

I’ve only really been involved since SO6 but have out hundreds of hours into 6 and 7 and await 8 with great anticipation

Needless to say I think the game and work you do is excellent, things that could be improved have been well documented, biggest thrills for me are winning at the Cheltenham Festival, Aintree or on the flat the obvious Derby, St Ledger etc

I’d love to see more overseas races to send my UK horses too, especially over the jumps, when you’ve built up a great stable and have money in the bank there is no better feeling than sending your top talent all around the world to compete with the best

I would add I absolutely love the jockey mode, some of the tracks are well represented, even with basic crowd graphics etc, again riding at something like the Cheltenham festival, or in the national is so exciting at times and the key elements of those courses exist and add realism and a different dynamic already to an excellent management simulation

Be great to see an I orovment on tbe engine for SO8, absolutely, but please don’t think the SO7 engine and gameplay doesn’t add realism or dynamism as it does and really offers a different gameplay mechanic to the day to day management when you do decide to ride your own horse

Cheers

Hi Mark,

I haven't checked in to these forums for a good while, so my reply is probably months too late.

I'd like to comment firstly as an avid player of the series (Though this represents only my personal thoughts)

- I honestly don't care about graphics much at all, no 2D v 3D, nor perfect animations etc
- I do care about the quality of the simulation game. I care if the AI Trainer decisions are silly etc or if it's too easy to run a stayer over 5f and get a handicap mark of 40.
- I do care about the basic Quality of Life of the game, e.g. menu systems and ease of use. As a random example, things like queueing up mares to visit stallions, and not getting bombarded with mare requests every day when I have a load of stallions breeding.

On a professional level, I've worked in the games industry for 16 years now, in senior management and game design & production roles. No code / art etc - more mechanics and game design.

I would be happy to help you out in any way possible, free of charge, should I ever be of use to you. Whether that's just a chat and a bit of bouncing ideas around, or more than that, I'm happy to help. Just drop me a DM or an email if you'd like to chat.