I truly don't believe TrackMania got the sales and praise it deserved through the years.
The game is about time-trials. 3, 2, 1, GO. Navigate the course with as little turning as possible. Going straight is how you increase speed, and you want the fastest time possible. You reach the finish line and get a medal. If it was anything lower than GOLD, you restart. You go again. You change your route. You try again and again, shaving milliseconds off your time each time. The feeling of nailing a really hard track is fantastic.
Online was about a wall of servers to pick from, most of them hosting these DEMONIC puzzle platforming challenges. Everyone inching through the course while time ticks down. Some courses being so long, it was likely that you'd win just by reaching the finish line at all! You might get through a really challenging map and have some time left over. You have a chance to upgrade your time before the master timer runs out. There's this excitement of "okay, I've gotten through this before, can I do it even faster before the server moves onto the next map?"
The players who don't believe there to be time to improve their record are found driving around spawn, showing off their cool horns and hanging out.
Some maps were just spectacles. Ones where you just hold down the gas and watch as the intricately designed track puts you through loops, spins you around, launches you across complex designs, squeezing through small gaps, only to roll right across the finish line. The physics are just a blast to see performed in front of you!
This WAS the peak of internet community. There was no "steam workshop" back then, if you wanted to download user created skins, cars, horns, you would go to in-game webpages created by players.
The game is about time-trials. 3, 2, 1, GO. Navigate the course with as little turning as possible. Going straight is how you increase speed, and you want the fastest time possible. You reach the finish line and get a medal. If it was anything lower than GOLD, you restart. You go again. You change your route. You try again and again, shaving milliseconds off your time each time. The feeling of nailing a really hard track is fantastic.
Online was about a wall of servers to pick from, most of them hosting these DEMONIC puzzle platforming challenges. Everyone inching through the course while time ticks down. Some courses being so long, it was likely that you'd win just by reaching the finish line at all! You might get through a really challenging map and have some time left over. You have a chance to upgrade your time before the master timer runs out. There's this excitement of "okay, I've gotten through this before, can I do it even faster before the server moves onto the next map?"
The players who don't believe there to be time to improve their record are found driving around spawn, showing off their cool horns and hanging out.
Some maps were just spectacles. Ones where you just hold down the gas and watch as the intricately designed track puts you through loops, spins you around, launches you across complex designs, squeezing through small gaps, only to roll right across the finish line. The physics are just a blast to see performed in front of you!
This WAS the peak of internet community. There was no "steam workshop" back then, if you wanted to download user created skins, cars, horns, you would go to in-game webpages created by players.