Inside Track
Inside Track | |
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The Vice Point, Vice City branch, GTA Vice City. | |
Game |
GTA Vice City GTA San Andreas GTA Vice City Stories GTA IV |
Type of business | Betting shop |
Location(s) |
3D Universe Downtown, Los Santos Montgomery Vice Point, Vice City HD Universe East Island City, Liberty City |
Mission appearance(s) |
3D Universe Against All Odds |
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Inside Track is an interactive betting shop for thoroughbred horse races in featured in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, also appearing in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories and Grand Theft Auto IV as non-interactive establishments.
Description
Inside Track's inclusion in GTA San Andreas is part of the game's gambling mechanism, serving as one of the first gambling establishments that the player has access to prior to unlocking the Las Venturas segment of San Andreas; in fact, GTA San Andreas' only two Inside Track outlets are located within the Los Santos/Red County landmass that is available for the player to explore from the beginning of the game. The two Inside Track outlets are specifically located in Downtown Los Santos under the Mulholland Intersection and in Montgomery, Red County.
The interior of each Inside Track features four manned counters, ceiling-mounted television screens that broadcast horse races, and two inside track betting (ITB) machines, the only interactive items in the establishment, that line the walls. The interior also features a backroom which can be entered.
The ITB machines allow players to bet on any one of five racehorses for any amount of money divisible to five, from a minimum of $5 or a maximum of $9,999,995. After selecting a racehorse, players define the amount that they would like wager using a calculator which allows the player to add specific amounts of money into the wager, including $5, $25, $100, $250, $1,000, $5,000, or $10,000; the $0 is used to clear the amount bet. Once the player places their bet (thereby deducting the bet amount of money from the player), the player is directed to a broadcast of the horse race. If the horse the player bets on wins by finishing first, the player receives amount of money that the player wagers multiplied by the odds that the bet racehorse has. Otherwise, the player gets nothing.
In "Against All Odds" in GTA San Andreas, Catalina, together with protagonist Carl Johnson, robs the Montgomery branch of the betting shop for money by blowing open the outlet's safe in its back room, drawing the attention of the police before escaping to Catalina's hideout in Fern Ridge.
Inside Track reappears in GTA Vice City Stories and GTA IV, but exist in both games as non-interactive establishment with very spartan frontages. The GTA Vice City Stories rendition is located in Vice Point, Vice City, just east of the Vice Point Pay 'n' Spray; the GTA IV rendition is located on Morris Street in East Island City, Dukes, Liberty City.
Betting trick
- Adapted from Forum:Get Rich Quick Betting Trick
By smart utilization of Inside Track, it is possible to amass great sums of money very early on in the game.
A simple way to ensure you never lose is to save before you bet. This way if you lose you can just reload your save game. If you gamble all your money in one go, then if you win you will gain a large amount of money.
To ensure that you eventually win, you should bet on the same horse every time. Statistically, this horse will eventually win, and should not take more than around five attempts. Once you win, save the game again and you can repeat if required. The highest possible bet you can wager is $9,999,995, which, given that you can only add by increments of 10,000, will take up to 1,000 hits of the button and around 3-4 minutes to accomplish each time. If you happen to win on a horse with high stakes, 11-1 or higher for example, your winnings can add up to phenomenal levels.
To save time travelling back to the betting shop after reloading, you should save at a location close to the betting shop. The closest safehouse and Inside Track Betting Shop together are the Jefferson Safehouse in Jefferson and the betting shop in Downtown Los Santos under the Mulholland Intersection.
Note that 4/5 Times Blue or Teal will always win the race, and it can become extremely frustrating, especially if your horse jetted off the starting line and then slowed down. Do not let this change your mind though, because the chances are the horse you previously bet on will win if you bet on a different one.
Trivia
- You can enter this shop with recruited gang members, which is unusual because NPCs cannot enter other places if not on a mission.
- Most of the horse's names in the races are usually explicit/humorous plays on words of phrases or names. For example, Reversed Cowgirl is a play on words of Reversed Cowboy, a sexual position.
Gallery
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Los Santos Inside Track, GTA San Andreas.
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Montgomery Inside Track, GTA San Andreas.
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Selecting a horse using an Inside Track ITB machines in GTA San Andreas, and placing a wager on it in which the player can either lose that amount of money or win a multiplication of that amount.
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A race on a machine, GTA San Andreas.
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Logo of Inside Track in GTA San Andreas.
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Vice Point, Vice City, Inside Track in GTA Vice City Stories, with its name visible on the awning. The "OTB" acronym stands for "off-track betting".
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Dukes, Liberty City, Inside Track in GTA IV.