You won't get it to work simply like GoG's is meant to.

The original game had a 16bit installer for starters.

The reason people go for GoG releases of old games is to fix those headaches of figuring out problems like that. And given this launch, they didn't do that great. I got the game again from them, and I can't play it still.

It's is not as that hard. On my Windows 7 x64 I've just followed this guide:
[url=https://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_Episode_I_–_Racer]https://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_Episode_I_–_Racer[/url]

Section Installing retail version on 64-bit versions of Windows, using provided installer.

Game runs fine. I had to only change compatibility mode to Windows 7 becouse sound would disable itself.
And before race I have to skip track cutcenes, it hang the game for some reason.
Oh and no matter whitch resolution I choose it always stretch to 16:9

If you're using an NVIDIA card, go to the NVIDIA Control Panel/Adjust desktop size and position/Scaling/ and set to keep aspect ratio and override the scaling mode set by games and programs.


I suggest checking https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=57504 for more information.

Yey it worked! Thanx! And I thought that settings on my monitor are sufficient. Soooo many layers of video config :)

I got it installed fine, but now it keeps freezing up. My system's a WIN10 64 bit. Thoughts?

Update: I've found that my DVD drive has a tendency to conk out after a little while, so I decided to reinsert the disk as I started the program itself. Works like a charm for some baffling reason...

The installer is not necessary. The game files are in the "/gnome/" folder on the original disc.
You can just copy them elsewhere. You will need a registry key to point at your CD drive still - there is documentation on the internet how to create those registry keys.

Here is a technical description of the changes GOG.com made, although it primarily is a no-CD patch.
The synchronization patch is not too important as you can run the game with a different thread affinity. Such stuff is documented on the vogons forum if I remember correctly. The resolution patch is probably the most interesting bit, although it is not necessary if you use software like dgVoodoo (mentioned below).

The GOG.com version also includes the open-source software ipxwrapper.
I don't currently remember, but I think the GOG.com version also comes with DxWnd.
Other users on the forums reported using dgVoodoo 2 instead of using the patches supplied by GOG.com.

So really, the GOG.com version (at the moment) is just a collection of already existing software.
The primary reason for buying the GOG.com version would be, that it is already prepacked/installed for you.
Additionally you can get official support (or money back) and there might be more patches for GOG.com users in the future.
It's also great to have a legal source for this game.

It's not the first time gog is using fan made patches/instalers/emulators :) Your last sentence is the most important of all :)