Those looking for a pure, highly customizable racing experience may not have to look further than Trackmania. Coming this summer in three flavors (including a free version), players will be able to engage with a wealth of community-driven and created content.
Being only a casual fan of racing games, I’m very much new to the Trackmania series. Despite several installments being released since 2003, none of them have ever come up on my radar, which might be due to the fact that they are primarily PC games. If I’m going to be behind the wheel of a virtual vehicle, it’s usually on the run from cops in Need for Speed or tearing up the pavement in Crazy Taxi. Please, do not come at me with a racing or driving simulator. Just like with sports games, my philosophy is that if I could potentially do that thing in real life, I don’t want to do it almost realistically in a digital world.
Maybe it’s best that I went into Trackmania with the expectation that it was more simulation than arcade racer. Developed by Ubisoft Nadeo, Trackmania looks to be part reboot and part remake of Trackmania Nations, a milestone for the series released in 2006. Arriving July 1 on PC as a free game with paid options, Trackmania surprised me with its ability to be easily accessible while creating complex tracks that allowed for deeper mechanics.
During a preview build for Trackmania, I was given access to 20 training courses, 20 races from the game’s seasonal campaign, and a track editor which gives players the same tools Nadeo uses to create races. In a short amount of time, my experience with Trackmania went from optimism to sheer enjoyment, colored by the mild frustrations of challenging races and the baffling ways a few simple tools could craft ridiculous and thrilling moments.
Imagine, if you will, another series under Ubisoft’s wing: Trials. Since Trials Evolution, I’ve watched a studio take the concept of motorcycle physics to dizzying new heights and been flummoxed at the devious inventions of other players in custom tracks. A course in Trials may be as simple as rocking two wheels over rickety ramps or as complicated as navigating loops with perfect speed miles above the ground. Trackmania starts players out simply, letting them understand something as basic as a tight turn while aiming for a gold medal in a time trial. The first training course can be completed in about 10 seconds and is literally two slight turns that lead into the finish line. To get the gold medal, players must finish the course in 8 seconds or less. After a few dozen attempts I got my time to 8.007 seconds, a literal hair from gold. And, just as I was writing this paragraph, I hopped into the game to confirm that time, only to drive the course again for the first time in days and nail it in 7.778 seconds after a couple tries just for kicks.
Trackmania allows for that mildly infuriating, constantly addicting “one more shot” style of gameplay. With the touch of a button a race can be completely restarted or players can attempt a checkpoint with the same speed and trajectory as they had first attempted it. The most casual of flubs can be made right in a matter of seconds as a new track will load from the main menu usually in less than five seconds and be restarted mid-race instantaneously.
Ubisoft Nadeo has not made a racing game with a glut of mechanics. There’s no nitro meter, no perfect drifts, and no upgrades like you might see in The Crew. Through the tutorial, players will be introduced to dirt roads, ice physics, and bumpy sections with low and high points. Also thrown into the mix are pieces of track that can be assigned different kinds of boosts or ones that don’t allow the player to steer or cut off their engine. Piece by piece, the tutorial expands players’ concept of what a track in Trackmania can become, while also showing how these elements can drastically alter difficulty or make for fun new challenges.
For me, one of the hardest tutorial courses was the first one that forced players to drive at a 90-degree angle. The course immediately uses a turbo boost to give players the speed to meet a fairly sharp incline that turns into a flat surface in mid-air. With their vehicle’s door parallel to the ground, players must drive against a wall for a few agonizing seconds and manage to meet the downward curve that leads to the finish. Seeing how this goal can be accomplished is easy as the whole course is visible from the starting line. But once rubber meets the road wall, all bets are off. Countless times I overestimated where I needed to sharply turn and would watch my vehicle fly high into the air and over the course. Or I would watch as I immediately lost speed and my four wheels stopped connecting and the vehicle toppled over. But nearly every failure resulted in further knowledge of what I was doing wrong, to the point where I realized I had to maintain constant speed and match the curvature of the road. I learned when to turn just enough without hesitation to make it across the wall. And, same as how I did with the first training course, I hopped into this difficult part and did it on my first try. Apparently Trackmania is a good teacher.
Thankfully, there is no real steep learning curve in Trackmania. Players will want to spend most of their time holding down the acceleration and try to estimate when the track dictates less speed. On a keyboard, I found the WASD keys to be simple and effective, allowing me to race fairly casually and without tension. A controller allows for a bit more granularity but remains dead simple. Ubisoft Nadeo wants players to reach dizzying speeds and sometimes will ask players to keep those speeds in check after particular boosts because it’s part of an “obstacle” in the track. Several times I came up a steep hill after a boost only to find myself flying up into the air and wasting time. Here, players need to piece together the exact speed that might allow their wheels never to leave the road, always ensuring maximum speed.
The 20 playable courses in the preview mold all the previous lessons together in interesting ways. There’s a combination of longer tracks that emphasize maintaining a top speed, obstacle courses, freaky physics gauntlets, dastardly curves of ice, and unpredictable courses requiring sharp reflexes. Like the best platformers, Trackmania thrives on level design being a blend of expected and unexpected. Players should never feel baffled at something they’ve previously come across but should always be surprised by how the familiar can be implemented in a new way.
One particular harsh track went on the longer side, first giving players boost pads to zip around mildly tight curves that are buffered by obstacles. After a slightly tricky climb up a slippery slope, players go down a hill only to have their engine shut off. Here, players need to navigate choke points, uneven road, and columns to maintain speed. Even the smallest bump means there won’t be enough speed remaining to slide up an icy hill before your engine is back on. I had to restart this checkpoint several times because I kept screwing it up in the tiniest ways. A combination of over-correcting and not meeting the flow of the bumpy roads would usually chip away at my speed. In Trackmania, hitting the sides of a track or meeting any obstacles usually halts your speed almost immediately.
This is where the competitive element of the game definitely will come into play when it is fully launched later this summer. Getting gold medals is already a difficult enough task for these developer designed tracks. Upon completion I would see my ranking in the world and knew that the only reason I was in the top 50 was because of the small pool of players who had actually had time with the tracks. I love how Trackmania constantly has their best ghost racing alongside them, regardless of whether or not the course was finished. It allows players the opportunity to always see if small improvements can be made. Often it would help keep me on pace if I forgot for even a second where I was going.
When the game fully launches, players will be able to see large swaths of the Trackmania population racing alongside them. Though these players won’t actually interfere with you, it might become quite busy as Ubisoft Nadeo says that servers can host hundreds of players. Competition will also be on display as players can compete in various levels of tournaments that will be hosted in the game. Though I wasn’t able to participate in the full suite of online features, past iterations of Trackmania likely serve as a model for how this installment will work.
The ability to create your own tracks is also what will allow Trackmania to fully thrive in the months and years to come. I was able to spend some time with the basic track editor, which gives you a slightly limited selection of the full editor. The four different road types could be selected, along with checkpoints, a boost, ramps, and curves. In about two minutes I was able to make a basic track that had hills, valleys, and sharp turns that could be driven in about a minute’s time. Once players drive through their course, they will be able to save it for further editing or even create videos and more using a replay editor.
For a person like me who has interest in creation but not the time or patience to do so, Trackmania‘s editor is a great addition. But for actual creators with a penchant for track design, this simple tool will allow for countless creations that Ubisoft Nadeo hopes will take the game to new heights. Player-created tracks will have their time in the spotlight with community highlights that are also supplemented by the continued feed of developer content.
Even for a solo player, however, the Trackmania experience becomes fairly serene. The sleek, polished visuals err on the side of realism but allow for a mildly futuristic look. The bright colors of the stadium and tracks are meant to be easily identifiable. Vehicles will be able to have custom skins but are still designed in a way that provides only the most essential information. Right now, the preview build has a fairly simple presentation but I don’t expect it to change that much so as not to confuse most players. Elliot Callighan, also known as Ramova, has done the music for the game. The combination of live and electronic instruments creates an energetic fusion that had me tapping my feet while driving and thankful it keeps the pace with every reset.
As mentioned, Trackmania will come in three flavors with one of them being free. Each of these distinct parts of the game are meant as entry points for a particular type of player, from casual to hardcore.
They are as follows:
• Starter Access: Free for players to race solo or multiplayer on quarterly renewed official campaigns, including 25 tracks, allowing players to earn medals and record scores in the regional rankings. Players will be able to enjoy other player’s creations on the Arcade Channel, try various editors (tracks, replays and skins) and map review servers. The weekly Nations League is also available for casual competitions.
• Standard Access: In addition to the free content, Standard Access expands the content available with player creations, including the “Track of the Day” selection, and full access to replay, track editors and map review servers. Additionally, players can participate in daily competitions and keep every “Track of the Day” and “Official” campaign track. One year of standard access is available for $9.99.
• Club Access: Including the above, Club Access allows players to join their favorite clubs to access exclusive content and activities such as skin customization, special campaigns, online rooms, training tracks and competitions. They can also create their own club to share their creations and organize events. Players can participate in the Open Grand League, organized by Ubisoft Nadeo, and try to qualify for the Trackmania Grand League. One year of the Club Access is available for $29.99 or three years for $59.99.
For players that simply want to hop into Trackmania at a casual pace and keep updated with a slowly rotating selection of tracks, Starter Access is a great way to get a foot into the door and see if the game is worth investing in. At $9.99 for a year of Standard Access, the wider capabilities of the track editor and ability to participate in more competitions feel like a worthy price to pay. Ubisoft asking for $59.99 for three years of Club Access makes sense as it is the price of a full-priced game. These are the kinds of players Ubisoft Nadeo will thrive off of that will help create a large community that more and more players will potentially be a part of. Though it is hard to see how all these features will come together until launch and beyond, I think it may be the smartest path going forward.
Right now, Trackmania has been an enjoyable entry point. I frequently felt myself challenged and entertained by what I came across in the 40 tracks I spent time in. They serve as introductory chapters in what the game is capable of. After seeing the kind of content a dedicated community is capable of producing, I have no doubt that Ubisoft Nadeo will be pleased with the fruits of their labor. As a living game, Trackmania should thrive, especially once the community is able to work as a kind of secondary developer.
Trackmania fully releases on July 1 and will be available on PC through Uplay and the Epic Games Store.
