Takane Lui Finishes Building Holo 1 GP Racetrack, Sunday’s Minecraft Horse-Racing Event

HOLOLIVE — Takane Lui of Hololive’s holoX finished her share of the Minecraft racecourse for the Holo 1 Grand Prix (Holo 1 GP), a horse-racing event that will run on Sunday, Nov. 8, from about 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Japan time. Lui spent Thursday’s stream building a racing-newspaper stand and the spectator stands, then toured the finished venue.

The course was designed by Dozle, and Lui was assigned the newspaper stand, the stands and the commentary seats. She followed the step-by-step build instructions, at one point confessing that it had been a long time since she had built anything. On a walk-through she showed off the gate, shops, restrooms, betting and payout machines, food stalls serving motsuni (stewed offal), yakitori, beer and juice, and a paddock where horses will circle before each race. Players will be allowed inside the paddock in Minecraft, she said, so they can see the horses up close. The track has a slope, and turf and dirt courses of different distances, with no steeplechase. The weather will not change. Fixed cameras will follow the horses, with a hand-off to the next camera once they move out of view.

“We brought in a real pro.” — Takane Lui, introducing the race caller

Four races are planned. The first three will each have a guest tipster, and the fourth, which has no tipster corner, is meant to be enjoyed freely. Viewers can vote on the winner in the Holoplus app shortly before each race, and the votes will move the odds, so Lui urged people to install the app and log in beforehand. The event hashtag is #ホロ1GP.

Lui introduced the race caller as Suzuki Tsutomu, who calls horse races for a living. He will join her channel just before each race and step aside afterward, and the other members will stream on their own channels. Lui said he asked many questions about how to make the call easier to follow and more immersive, and that she was already moved by his seriousness. She also apologized that the date overlaps with the final day of an ARK event, saying the schedule could not be moved because she had begun preparing as soon as the Year of the Horse started.

Lui said she is anxious about whether the event will hold together under the server load on the day, and asked viewers to be forgiving of any trouble.