Virtual Regatta Offshore Reviews

by Sindbad-HH

I have played this game for about a year. If you're into sailing it's very entertaining. I have also met a great community of other players from across the globe.
Unfortunately a few weeks ago the game was updated and now it shows long ads when loading a race. The ads cannot be skipped. That ruins the experience when you are in multiple races at the same time, which is often the case.
Please go back to the previous model where you can play for free and pay to get more options. I'm fine with having zero chances of winning a stage. I just want to "sail" for weeks and have fun in the process.

by Xcvbn@23

Was playing for two years now…now have unsubscribed from VIP and Weather4VR. The developers are focused on profit and not customer satisfaction.I have spent hundreds of dollars and thousands of hours on this game. The first of August 2022, developers notified us of a “migration” that would make the game unusable for 24hrs and advised us to plan for it. Unfortunately, they decided to take it down way in advance of the scheduled time. In addition, the game GPS was way off and several of us went aground even though using hard waypoints that were clearly offshore. Since then the game has been very “buggy” with multiple dark times. I tried multiple times to get support, but have only recd mild apologies and “thanks for your patience”. My original negative post to this site has been removed, so I don’t expect this to last long either. My advice? Stay far away! Spend your money elsewhere.

by Mjmeredith

The game used to work. This new update in September 2024 broke everything. Stay away until it is proven to work.
Bug report option does not let you submit.
Race ranking only shows all status, team or friend or yacht club do not allow selection as those options show on top of boats ranked. So when you try to select another group you get information about the boat that is shown under the overlay.
It does not seem the game is designed for the phone any longer, the screen colors make it hard to read messages and the screen layout also makes it hard to read.

by Jb431v2

There is an overall lack of resources for this game from the moment you first play it. The tutorial is bare bones and doesn’t really teach you anything about how to play, navigate, use certain features, etc. You can’t even get player support without paying, and why would you? The developers don't give the slightest appearance of being player friendly or try to help out in even the simplest of ways. You end up having to search and comb the internet for resources just to learn how to play the game and operate the interface, but most of the information is located on websites or message boards that are extremely out of date or no longer maintained. Even though it’s not much better, there are more resources available for the inshore version of the game, and it is less complex. For a game that seems to want to make its mark on a more global scale, there needs to be a much higher priority placed on player support and generating a useful info base/community for players to interact and learn. More effort needs to be put into the game, especially if the ultimate goal is to get players to pay for the subscription service. Until then, there’s no way this game is worth spending any money on, and it’ll be relegated to a time killer.

by CapitalistSailor

I’ve been playing this game for several years, but it has been heavily modified in the last year. It is not as much fun, and very expensive to play. For example, the Volvo Ocean Race is going on now, which has 11 legs to race around the world. Each leg cost about $14 to get the options needed to be competitive, compared to less than $5 previously. Also the game route does not follow the same route as the real race, and the weather in the game is often very different from the real weather. The interface has been dumbed down and shows less information, frustrating players with some skill in the game and/or real sailing.

by GadTheFla

Good game, I’m just a little bit annoyed by the differences in the shorelines at different zoom level which regularly get me stranded “You are grounded!”. Otherwise I enjoy the races. What explains my two-star rating is that VirtualRegattaOffshore is currently storing a whopping 3.48 GB (!!!!!!!!) of data on my phone. I “fixed” this twice already by scraping VirtualRegattaOffshore and reinstalling. I will not do it again. Please update with a fix or lose a player.

by Ddaabb

I understand that the developer needs to make money. But to be at all successful in this game, you need “waypoint” cards and a couple sails beyond the basic, free sails. However the cost of those additional items is prohibitive (dollars, not cents). Also, when you get points allowing you to upgrade sails, they don’t carry over to other races once you are done. So you are always starting over. Even a race I sail well, I am in the back half of the pack because of the people that pay $20+ for all of the goodies.

I enjoyed it for a couple months, but I’m deleting it.

by Flinktone

Scoring is impossible, at any given moment you’re +200 or - 200 boats, it’s frustrating and makes tactical decisions next to impossible... please address this.

The Caribbean 600 was a nightmare, the lag was measured in minutes, making a course change well away from land only to come back and have your course change not registered and you’re on the rocks 20 min later is ridiculous- I was notified on screen that I’d finished, then 10 min later and 150 places I get notification I’m aground... then I get notification I’d finished again only this time I’d lost 150+ boats.

To spend the cash on sails/cards etc and be up front only to have software glitches and terrible lag ruin a good effort is frustrating at best. I will be deleting VirtualRegattaOffshore . I race for a living, this is what I do in reality. If I performed as poorly as VirtualRegattaOffshore, I’d be unemployed. Get your act together!

by Sawbones25

I have the VIP thing which is really only helpful for planning more than one day ahead. But to buy a full pack anymore is out of the question. Used to be $8 for short races, up to $20 for long ones. Now they’ve doubled those prices. So no more decent finishes. You’re stuck in the middle of the pack at best with basic sails. Not much fun anymore.

by Nicholas The Ridiculous

I have sailed virtually on this platform for the past 3 months. I can tell you that it is really fun... it just has a lot of room for improvement especially with the 3D mode. I need to see land where there is land, etc. Otherwise, it is good, except my iPad keeps crashing when I use VirtualRegattaOffshore.

by MikeNoLike

Part of the simulation includes a price to be competitive — just like real yacht racing. You must pay for certain features to stand a chance for success. If you can afford it, you’ll like the game. Likewise, if you don’t care about winning, playing the “base model” game can also be enjoyable. Not wanting to pay, but wanting to win? Move along for your own good.

by Italianstallion498

I’ve had the game for about two months now and love it. I’ve found that the credit system is very fair in that you can pay for good sails or race a few times to accumulate credits for better sails. Additionally, the dynamics and look of the game is among the best in VirtualRegattaOffshore Store. I’m in sailing for the nature and beauty so the only adjustments I want are in regard to the 3D interface, a relatively small yet important part of the game: 1) land masses do not ever appear even if you’ve literally run aground, so that takes a level of authenticity away from the game, 2) the graphics of the interaction between the water and the boat could use a little work, 3) the sails are completely static (they don’t blow in the wind) so again, takes away from authenticity, and 4) I would love to see more customization options with regard to the boat, such as pennants, ensigns and names. That being said, the developers regularly update the game and I’m sure they’ll eventually get around to the 3D interface, so I highly recommend this game and will certainly change this to a five star review when they fix the issues mentioned above!

by Theonlysize

Rarely accurate in its representation of your position in relation to other sailors in 2D view until you select that opponents boat. Can’t see land or marker buoys in the 3D view. Once you realize this you learn to close and reopen VirtualRegattaOffshore rather than just stay online and believe what you are seeing. I hope I stick with the game after the initial ‘trial and error’ phase. Could use more races simultaneously to keep me interested.

by Navegante365

I am 61 years old, all my life I have liked sailing and with this game I have entertained myself in the absence of the true sea and its sails in the wind, I like its details and as a good fan I would like you to continue until I make this game the greatest of the history, such as having a version where I can go to any port in real time, with views of the ports and cities where they are, something like a flight simulator but of the sea and its beauties ....... ¿ dreams? Maybe, but think about it ...

by Theodorious

Remember this is sailing. Some of these races take over a month to complete. Some of the features in the game need to be explained better. If you’ve never sailed I think you’ll get frustrated and bored right away because it’s hard to understand a lot of it. The 3D views are secondary to the game, but I think they need to improve. Land masses should be visible, and the sea state should change with the weather. I have not encountered any storms or weather so maybe it does but I have not seen it. Also it would be cool to be able to navigate from the 3D view with a map window open. For these reasons I don’t use 3D view unless another boat is nearby. I would really like to be able to set 3D view while I sleep and listen to the ocean waves at night.

by Jkdowjsbjd

Ever since the update on May 4th or 5th, there has been some problems with the route forecast. The points that say hours 1,2,3,4,5 and so on disappear and reappear and give an overall choppy feeling. Also, I have had some trouble with app stability. VirtualRegattaOffshore will close after maybe 5-7 minutes after a series of choppy spasms. These occur when I zoom out and scroll around the map. I really love VirtualRegattaOffshore and would love for these problems to be fixed.

by Dr Machete

My mom and I love the Vendée Globe, so we can’t stop playing! Well, here’s something crazy, I kept on begging at mom to get it for me, she kept on saying no, but finally, she got and it’s totally worth the time and...OFFICIALLY AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It would be REALLY fun if you could add some non-identified objects so that if your boat crashes into one of them, you have to do repairs.

by Adventurecube

That’s the game I play and that’s the only game I play! Really it’s not a game , it’s a simulator! You need to know the basics of sailing to get good at this! Having said that, if you play often enough, the little hints in the game may teach you to become a better sailor! The only negative part is, that there are sailors out there, which only use the allotted money per race, and never use or buy additional sail! This makes also interesting sailing and I would love to have those sailors rated in there own class, would be fun! ;-)
Nonetheless, I love this game and would highly recommend it!

by RanjMohd

Only had experience with the current card system so can't compare with the prior 'open' versions. I'm taking a purist approach and not spending any real $$ for upgrades, only using the credits either earned or given as a bonus -amateur classification so to speak. Either way the game design is enjoyable and instructive to those interested in the dynamics of sailing - you don't get 10s of thousands of entrants per race if it weren't. As an 'amateur' you can still do pretty well - top 5% consistently I would think.

by Eliasck80

Love this game. I’ve never paid a penny, and thoroughly enjoy it. I’m less competitive in many of the races as it takes me a LONG time to max out a boat’s features, but if you play your cards right, you can be competitive in the big ones. I’ve met a lot of people around the world, all sailors in one way or another. I’ve never played a mobile game that actually connected me with other people, and people with the same passion no less!

Fun game, great people, 5 out of 5.

by Jdogsailing

There’s still room for improvement but I really enjoy the game. It makes following the races much more fun because you can really feel the challenges the racers face.

I’m still a newbie but my real world sailing & navigation experience is all relevant so I’m doing ok so far. To be competitive you really need to check in several times per day, and over a two or three week race like the Volvo it takes a commitment.

I don’t have a problem paying a few $ to get the gear I need to be competitive. Somebody needs to pay for all the software development and the servers, otherwise they’d need ads that would be really unpleasant. It is annoying that buying cards with real $ cannot buy the exact cards I need. The random card selection process is out of context for a simulation - when I go to the store for a piece of gear I get what I came for. Rolling the dice to maybe buy stuff I want but probably buy stuff I don’t want is a weakness of the design.

by SquiggiesOpin

I’m to poor to pay attention every minute of a leg and keep getting headed but shifty winds near landfall should be expected. I’ve only been playing for about two hours now but it’s fairly simple to use and it’s fun. I stole the wind from my nearest competitor and expect to finish in the top 10,000. If you know how to sail this is a game for you, and if you don’t know how you’ll gain a bit of the sailing experience. It’s been said sailing is ninety-nine percent boredom followed by one percent of shear and utter panic. VirtualRegattaOffshore keeps you safe and dry, with racing others adding more excitement.
It’s been a about a week now and I can honestly say that in my opinion this is the best game for your phone pad or tablet.
I started off a little shaky being to hard on the tiller but I have improved somewhat and now the only complaint I have would be is with the sail configuration. When on a port tack whether beating reaching or running the headsails remain fixed on starboard, this is purely aesthetic and doesn’t make a hill of beans difference in playability, it just looks weird.

by Wobbo1974

Finally a real time sailing game. I’m hooked. It was making my iPad crash but I was just out of memory. Works great now! I find the game better if you have weather4VR. Once you master that your in good shape. I also equip my boat w all the bells and whistles. It’s hard to compete otherwise. Happy sailing to all!

by CAFFYNATED88

Overalll it’s great, only changes I’d like are; variations in weather map, more detailed description of rules of course, more info in general concerning events within the game and real events would be interesting. Offshore racing isn’t easy to keep up with in general this is a good platform to educate us on it. But, this is more of a wish list than anything being “wrong”

Challenging Interesting game, it’s literally the only game I play. Be ready to consistently check status of your boat throughout the day/days to make course adjustments. But it only takes a second to update so isn’t difficult to maintain, best to allow notifications especially at first, in case go wrong,

I’d almost like more complexity concerning weather/sea conditions, however that might make it too much to keep up with and would make learning curve at beginning possibly a bit much, as is lots of people contributing to each race which is good.