Cowladies and cowgentlemen, start your, uhh, horses! The latest activity to hit Red Dead Online’s quote-unquote beta is Target Racing, which combines equestrianism, sharpshooting, and the occasional spot of murder into one action-filled package. In this activity, players must “shoot targets while on horseback to pass checkpoints while racing and be the first to finish.”
All players begin the race with a bow and arrow, and each time a player hits a target, his or her horse’s stamina will increase, allowing them to ride faster and longer. But that’s not the only way to get ahead; there are also a variety of pickups scattered along the course, including stamina pickups that can “extend your Horse’s sprinting time or quickly recover from a drained Horse Stamina core” as well as weapon pickups that “dole out firearms with limited ammo supplies.”
These weapons can be used to quickly take out the checkpoint targets, or they can be used to throw a wrench — or bullet, buckshot, etc. — into other players’ plans. However, although players can lock on to the checkpoint targets, they’ll have to rely on their own sharpshooting skills if they decide to take shots at their fellow racers, so keep your hand steady and make those shots count.
To encourage players to hop into the game and check out the new content, Rockstar is providing a 20% boost to experience earned from all activities as well as a 25% discount from all horse-care items at the stables and in the Wheeler, Rawson & Co. Catalogue. The announcement doesn’t specify how long the experience buff and store discounts will be active, so if you want to take advantage of them, you might want to do it sooner rather than later.
