As a fan of the "Final Fantasy" series, Chocobos are an iconic mascot that everyone loves. Over the generations (of Final Fantasy games), it served its main purpose of providing ease of travel over the lands, mountains, oceans, and skies.

"Final Fantasy XV" of course, has the Chocobos included on its world giving the fans a more HD look on Chocobo's appearance and some new abilities. It might take a while to have access to them story-wise, and thankfully, Windows Central via Jen Karner has a guide on how get them and even use them for racing.

Find the Chocobos

At the beginning of the story you will encounter some Chocobo rental stands but you can't do anything about it yet, you'd still need to unlock the ability to use them. At the beginning of Chapter 3, Prompto will suggest you to visit Wiz' Chocobo post. Then after doing just that, you'll be able to access the quest "Friends of a Feather."

And that will be your cue to a series of Chocobo related sidequests that will earn you the right to rent Chocobos upon completion. Also, after completing your Behemoth hunting quest, Wiz will give you a Chocobo whistle that you can use anywhere in the world to summon a Chocobo (provided that you have rented a Chocobo for a day beforehand).

Upgrade your Chocobo

As a contrast to the past "Final Fantasy" games, in "Final Fantasy XV," your Chocobo earns abilities and stat boosts. These new abilities and stat boosts can be earned by simply having your Chocobo level up by riding them. The level cap is 10 and to get your Chocobo to that level requires you to ride them by at least 30 minutes (yeah it's easy).

Your Chocobo learns new abilities on even levels when they level up, and stat boosts on odd levels. These abilities include:

• Helping you flee in battle

• Kick enemies mid-battle

• Buff Noctis (in battle)

• Attack enemies (in battle)

• Join Noctis in unleashing Blindside link attacks

Much like a modern car, you can customize your Chocobo the way you like it.Talking to a certain woman in Wiz' Chocobo Post will let you do this and you can even equip your medals from races for bragging rights. Want to make your Chocobo pink? No worries, she can do that for you.

Chocobo Races

At some point in game, you'll be able to unlock the Chocobo Races. Most of these can be unlocked by finishing other races first but some can only be unlocked after certain missions.

During the race, the Stamina of your Chocobo decreases whenever you try to have it run faster. The trick here, as Jen points out, is to dash with only short breaks in between to make sure you're running at top speed at all times. It is also worth noting that you can take advantage of the mini map during the race to see your enemy and plan out when it's necessary to use your dash.

To help your Chocobo turn on those sharp curved corners, you can use their sliding skills (or drifting skills, if you prefer). This is a great way to catch up without using the stamina which you prepare instead to use on a straight dash.

Choosing to feed your Chocobo some greens during camping will earn them a bonuses the next day. This is helpful when trying to win some challenging races, just make sure to buy some Greens from Chocobo Salon beforehand.

Time Trial Races

Besides races against your friends, there are also races called Hoop races which is much like an obstacle course. The goal however is not to simple finish within the given time, but to make your way out of the obstacles as well.

There are two kinds of hoops in this race and for the first one it will only require you to simply jump through them. Then there are those that have obstacles before the hoops that needs a bit of getting used to in order to ace them.

There are also vegetables floating around the race course that when taken, gives your Chocobo a speed boost without draining your stamina. So make sure to take advantage of this and grab each one you can find.

With this guide we hope you enjoy riding Chocobos and racing with them. Stay tuned for more guides on "Final Fantasy XV."