What are the similarities and differences between each Virtual Sports racing game?

Written By Ian John on March 14, 2018 - Last Updated on February 6, 2023

Head on over to the likes of 10Bet or Betway and you will quickly discover that there are essentially two forms of Virtual Sports games that you can enjoy. The first of these are race-simulation games where different types of races between different competitors are simulated. The other are game simulations which instead replicate the outcome of a particular sporting contest between two individuals or teams.

In this article we are going to focus solely on the race games available in Virtual Sports because what you have here are a number of seemingly very different Virtual Sports games to bet on, but in truth, are these games entirely different, or are they just the same thing with perhaps a different graphical representation of the result?

After we have looked at the similarities and differences between each of the Virtual Sports race-based games, we will then look at ways in which this knowledge can help punters decide which sports to bet on, based on the types of betting they enjoy and also the rewards that they are looking for when they start to bet on Virtual Sports.

Let’s begin however by looking at the different types of Virtual Sports race games you can find at a typical online sports betting service (in this case, we have used Betway as our example).

What are the Virtual Sports race games?

Using Betway as an example, their Virtual Sports service includes the following options, which we have divided into two groups; race simulations and game simulations.

  • Race Simulations – Virtual Horse Racing, Virtual Cycling, Virtual Greyhounds, Virtual Motor Racing, Virtual Speedway, Virtual Trotting
  • Game Simulations – Virtual Football (some providers also offer Virtual Tennis).

As you can see there are clearly more race simulation-type sports to choose from than game simulations and there is a good reason for that. It is much easier to simulate a race realistically than a game for example. Races tend to be much shorter than games and they also provide definitive outcomes. They are also easy for non-sports betting enthusiasts to follow as it is self-evident who is the winner, second place, last place etc.

There is another good reason why there are more race-based Virtual Sports than games and we shall explore that in a little more detail later in the article when we explore the similarities between each of these different virtual racing sports.  First though, let’s take a closer look at the main differences between each type of race game in Virtual Sports.

What are the differences between them?

The first and most obvious difference to any punter is that each virtual racing game is based on a different sport. That is patently obvious, but there are also some other differences between each of the games too that are perhaps less obvious.

Some of the race games always have the same number of competitors competing in each individual race. Virtual Speedway for example always has four competitors, Virtual Greyhounds has six, Virtual Trotting has eight and Virtual Motor Racing also has 12 racers in each event.

However, when it comes to Virtual Horseracing and Virtual Cycling, the number of competitors in each race can alter. Virtual Cycling can have between 6 and 9 competitors in each event (which is seemingly selected at random) and in Virtual Horseracing the number of runners in a race can vary between 8 and 16. Again the number iof Virtual Horses selected to run in a race appears to be random.

With differences in the number of competitors in each virtual race across the range of Virtual Sports, this means that the range of betting available for each sport does differ too. Events that have just a small number of competitors tend to have a narrow range of bets (you won’t find too many 100/1 shots in those races), whereas events with more competitors have a wider range of bets (with plentiful longer odds shots if that is your preferred type of wager).

Events that have more competitors also tend to have a wider selection of bets available to them, such as betting on a top three finish, as well as betting on a top two finish.

Are there any similarities between each of the Virtual Sports race games?

Although each Virtual Sport based on racing appears very different there are a number of key similarities. Each event lasts around three minutes and is split into a period of time before the event when you can place a number of bets and then a period after which the race is run and the result generated.

Furthermore, how the results are generated in each of the Virtual Race sports is very similar, it is only how these results are displayed on screen using the graphics to represent each sport, that is different. Essentially, each virtual racing game is worked out by a complex algorithm that uses both the handicap (or odds) of each of the runners, combined with a random number generator, in order to decide the winner.

Finally, each. Virtual Sport tries, as much as it can, to replicate the results that would be generated at a real life sporting event. Whether or not they achieve this, is open to conjecture somewhat, but it is at least attempted to be built into the software for each virtual racing game.

What impact does knowing this information have on how I should bet on Virtual Sport race games?

Now that we understand some of the key differences between Virtual Sports race games, it is now much easier to understand how you can bet more profitably. Obviously, race events that have fewer competitors will see you more likely pick a winner. So, if you are a punter that likes to win small amounts more often, then betting on the likes of Virtual Speedway, Virtual Greyhounds and some Virtual Cycling races are likely to be more to your taste, even if you don’t like the sports in question.

If on the other hand, you prefer to bet on longer odds selections and have fewer winners, but a chance of winning considerably more, then you are better placing bets on Virtual Sports that have more options in each race, such as Virtual Horse Racing, Virtual Motor Racing or Virtual Trotting, as well as some Virtual Cycling races.

Of course, the random nature of these games means that you won’t always win more money betting one way more so than the other, but then again that is part of the appeal of Virtual Sports.

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Ian John

Ian John is an expert across many realms of online gambling, both in US and international markets. Based in the UK, Ian covers sports betting, poker, and the regulated online casino and esports betting markets for a wide number of industry-focused publications.

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