We are going not to write only about creators in our magazine. We want to give enough space to free, open-source and indie games which belong among the bests or they were able to influence the whole gaming world. As the premiere game for this topic, I have chosen TrackMania series and especially the TrackMania Nations game thanks few reasons. 1. It’s one of the most played series in the history of MMO games. Most of the TM games may be commercial but Nation is only free beyond standards.

2. TrackMania has been one of the Electronic Sports World Cup games so it makes the TM branch played by professional gamers.

3. I have very close feelings for these games thanks my own experience in profi-level gaming and so I want to say hi to Toni, Abu, Sandro, Daves, Newbie and Matrik from the CZ representation (if you are reading this article).

Where the roots come from?

The whole line of TM games began in 2004 but the principle appeared in first pioneers of this racing style. In 1984, there was Excitebike and Racing Destruciton Set in 1985. The most known game of its type could be Stunts made in 1990. All these games were mainly about crazy and dangerous driving and creating your own tracks

So back into the year 2003. There was one young game studio NADEO who had just made two games – Virtual Skipper 3 (a bit unknown game) and TrackMania. The second name has become a legend for long time.

The game offered some premade tracks which can be called stunt type. The player earned “money” thanks good driving to buy new parts and create his own asphalt fun. In that time, this possibility was quite knew and fresh. The driving style is very arcade and it’s only about driving as best and “clean”. The critics were mostly very enthusiastic but the best scores weren’t reached by missing things as bigger choose from cars and, of course, the hardcore arcade style.

The second step to the fame was TrackMania Sunrise. The style was the same but all was packed in much better graphics and extended possibilities. New exotic maps, more crazy roads and building parts arrived. Soon, a datadisk eXtreme appeared putting more elements into the game so the whole game play was faster, more crazy and the obstacles where more extreme. The game was getting famous.

The next two games were flash online version called Mini TrackMania and TrackMania Original. The second named was special in one thing. It’s was classic, the first TrackMania game but with Sunrise engine.

The phenomenon is coming

On 27th January 2006 a totally new, downloadable and free game TrackMania Nations arrived. The main push was propagation of Electronic Sports World Cup taking putting the whole game inside a stadium. But the magic was in something different. The game was clearly made into MMO gaming and over one million players registered during the first week. Another millions had joined during the next years of the popularity.

Everything was just so easy and you only needed to download, register and join the first race. Some patriotic content is part of the game too. You can choose from the countries the one you wish to drive for. A point system and kind of racers standing showed how good driver you were. The trick wasn’t sitting at computer for days and winning, it was about beating the bests. The racing is for single drivers or whole teams through several modes.

When the community grows the quality grows as well. This was true here thanks the editor, that was part of the game, and creative players who have made thousands of tracks. Tournaments, several leagues and championships were held. Everyone could make a clan and training rooms and all was still free.

This happy period lasted till the moment when a method of “using puck on the up key arrow and you went sleep” was created. A new strange phenomenon was found where racing stopped being about racing. Special rooms and maps, where you don’t need to turn and it’s just enough to go straight ahead, were created. All had the best times and the points were given for free. Nobody was able to understand why players used this system and nobody knew the cure. The impact on the community was crushing. The ladder position stopped having meaning and the community started falling apart. Only the professional drivers kept playing for the tournament reasons.



Nations isn’t so popular as it was thanks the new version of TM too.

But you can download it here.


TrackMania United

This new version was awaited by many of the fans. It joined all past parts of the series into one. The game was commercial and belonged among AAA titles. The owners of older version with CD keys got more special copper coins which were used as money in the game. United was published in 2006.

TrackMania Forever

Forever is certain update and addition for TM United and TM Nation. For Nations there were put new track parts and the physical rules were made close to the TM Nation style. This connected both games into one community so the multiplayer was only one.



TrackMania DS

Even different platforms didn’t miss this racing craziness and Nintendo DS owners could enjoy it. The single-player and multiplayer were here. Thanks DS a huge track database was created.

The future?

The future shows three names
TrackMania Wii- Wii consoles is one of the most postponed game. The shops should have it “maybe” in September. Personally, I can’t imagine the driving in Wii style.
TrackMania 2: Canyon – Another TM game with better graphics and split-screen racing possibility
QuestMania and ShootMania – Big change and move away from the classic. The first game may be some interesting RPGS and the second pure action shooter. Step in the right area? Maybe.