Horse racing simulators are geared towards an incredibly narrow niche market. Aspiring jockeys who also have a passion for console gaming are a rare breed, so Koei’s biggest challenge with G1 Jockey 4 2008 is convincing the wider audience to saddle up.

Skipping those tedious tutorials and diving straight in is always tempting, but in this case inadvisable. The training section is reasonably comprehensive and essential to anyone actually wanting to progress with this one. Care is taken to introduce the player to every aspect of the game, but there is great deal of information to absorb both on an off the track. Constant reference to that instruction manual is inevitable when you start off on the long arduous journey that is story mode.