Trackmania Review

Trackmania, not the franchise but the 2020 reboot, is the latest entry in the deterministic, time-trial-focused racing series. What makes this entry special is its free-to-play model, though most content is gated behind a yearly subscription. It offers a variety of single player and multiplayer modes, with content expanding regularly.

These factors make the 100% experience unique for every player. But what does achieving that 100% entail? Let’s dive in! There are three key goals:

• Achieving 200 Author Medals in Campaign.
• Achieving 90 Author Medals in Track of the Day.
• Clearing the Black Section in a Royal Map.

We’ll talk in more detail about these three goals in a bit, but you can already see, that’s 290 Author Medals total! For comparison, Trackmania Turbo requires players to earn all 200 Gold Medals in its campaign and 50 Trackmaster Medals (the equivalent of Author Medals). But while that may sound easier, we’ll see why that’s not the case.

A quick note: While Trackmania is free to play, a subscription is required for full access to campaigns and Track of the Day. Without it, trophies like Completionist are unobtainable. At 20.-/year (often discounted), the subscription is fair for the amount of content, but the paywall is worth noting.

But first things first: What is Trackmania?

Trackmania is a long-standing racing series that first hit the scene in 2003. What sets it apart is its deterministic gamplay and community-driven content creation. Alongside official tracks from Nadeo, Trackmania’s robust map-building tools allow players to create and share their own tracks. The community constantly uploads new, innovative maps – from RPG-style adventures to “kacky” maps, and even gravity-defying towers, like the recent Deep Dip 2. The community is what keeps Trackmania alive.
Its deterministic nature, so without any RGN involved, also makes it a great fit for competition. Time-trial gamplay lies at its core, and the competitive scene has steadily grown since the first tournament in 2006.

The 2020 installment, simply called Trackmania, serves as a reboot of the series. Most tracks feature the iconic “Stadium” car, and all track building blocks were redesigned from the ground up.

This is a good place to talk about tracks in general. Most official tracks, be it in the campaign, or tracks of the day, are fairly short. Trackmania is all about short, time-trial style tracks that can be grinded over and over and over again, making small optimizations and improving your best time with each attempt. Despite the single car, tracks remain diverse, as each one focuses on unique elements. For example, in full-speed maps, beating the Author Time requires finding a racing line that doesn’t slow down your car. This can mean avoiding air time, or avoiding sliding out on grass or dirt surfaces. Other tracks focus more on gearing, others are all about 180° turns, others about precise cornering.

Different building blocks also offer different terrain challenges. There are tracks that mix and match building block types, but most focus on one or two. Ice and bobsleighs, dirt, grass, plastic, or my least favorite, sausage blocks, are only a few examples. These blocks all have different physics and require a different driving approach.

These design choices ensure the game always feels fresh.

One of Trackmania’s defining features is its quarterly campaigns. Every three months, Nadeo releases a new official campaign of 25 tracks. This not only keeps things exciting but also adds to the ever-growing library of official tracks. At the time of writing, there are 450 official campaign tracks, and this number keeps rising.

This brings us to the first demanding set of trophis in Trackmania:

• You are the Trackmaster: Obtain an author medal on 200 official campaign tracks
• Completionist: Obtain a gold medal on 25 official campaign tracks (of the same campaign)

Author Medals are the times set by a track’s creator while validating the track. Beating these times can range from moderately challenging to downright brutal, depending on the track and the author’s skill and time spent grinding a good time. The good news? The growing pool of tracks makes earning 200 of those green medals easier. Players «only» need 200, but can cherry-pick from the total library of 450 tracks, and avoid particularly tough ones.

The Completionist trophy, on the other hand, does not necessarily become easier over time. It could have been truly challenging if it required Author Medals, but earning all 25 Gold Medals in a single campaign is a very doable task.

That’s it for campaign. The remaining Author and Gold Medals must be earned in Track of the Day. As the name suggests, Track of the Day introduces a new track every single day. The two trophies related to this mode are:

• Daily Trackmaster: Obtain an author medal on 90 tracks of the day
• What a week huh?: Obtain a gold medal on every track of the day (of the same week)

Like with the campaign trophies, the growing pool of tracks makes earning Author Medals easier over time. Getting Gold Medals for a single week’s worth of tracks is even simpler, making this one a less intimidating challenge, despite tracks being usually more challenging than those found in the campaign.

There are a few more game modes available, some of which must be played for trophies as well, though participation is usually enough. The other game mode worth talking about is Royal:

• Blackbelt Champion: Complete the black section of a royal map for the first time

The trophy requirements for this trophy changed since release, as the mode itself went through a bit of an overhaul. Royal mode is a multiplayer, team-based mode with elimination rounds. Players tackle tracks divided into five sections – white, green, blue, red, and black. Each section must be cleared multiple times successfully before being allowed to move on to the next. For Blackbelt Champion, players must not only reach, but also successfully clear the black section. That within 6 minutes.

Depending on the maps on rotation, this can be a very difficult trophy to earn. Maps are usually designed around specific gameplay gimmicks, and can be challenging to clear. However, new Royal maps are released regularly, and they can also be practiced outside of Royal mode. It is wise to practice specific tracks before attempting this challenge, then join Royal games until being placed on a familiar map.

Trackmania offers a lot of content and various game modes, and its gameplay is addicting as ever. Its high skill ceiling, short tracks, fast restarts, and medal system encourage players to refine their runs. But there are issues outside the gameplay worth mentioning.

• Terrible UI. The menus are clunky, unintuitive, and frustrating to navigate.
• Ghost system: You can’t race against specific ghosts unless they’re from streamer-key holders. Racing against friends? Nope.
• Replay limitations: At least on PlayStation, you can’t even watch your own replays – a feature that would greatly help players improve their runs. Especially for players like myself, that don’t have a ton of experience with Trackmania, watching replays would be extremely helpful.

In terms of challenge, I can’t help but compare this to Trackmania Turbo, which remains, in my opinion, the tougher game. Even though Turbo only required Gold Medals, they need to be earned on every single campaign track available. There’s also the added difficulty of having to master four very different car types, each with unique handling. It’s environments – Valley, Lagoon, and Canyon – were chaotic yet thrilling. Turbo’s challenge came from its variety and unforgiving nature.
And more subjectively, Trackmania Turbo was my first racing game, and a tough one for an inexperienced player.

In contrast, Trackmania feels more approachable, with its single-car focus and the ability to skip tracks you don’t enjoy. The sheer number of tracks available gives players more flexibility.

That said, I found Turbo more enjoyable. It had a streamlined experience, a focus on its campaign, and a sense of simplicity that Trackmania lacks. The reboot is a subscription-based, somewhat confusing mess – but at least the core gameplay remains excellent.

Trackmania is a game built to last. It’s highly replayable, with addictive gameplay, evolving content, and a dedicated community. But it’s held back by a poor UI, restrictive features, and its reliance on a subscription model. For newcomers and veterans alike, it offers endless hours of fun—just be prepared for a few bumps along the road.