Beginner's Guide

TrackMania is a series of arcade racing games developed by Nadeo and published by Ubisoft. The franchise is best known for its focus on time-trial racing, instant respawns, and user-created tracks rather than traditional racing elements such as vehicle upgrades, damage, or opponent collisions.

This guide provides a basic overview of how new players can get started with TrackMania and learn its core mechanics.

Overview of Gameplay

TrackMania centers on driving a single car through short, obstacle-filled tracks as quickly as possible. Races are typically time trials rather than head-to-head competitions. Players restart instantly after crashing, encouraging experimentation and precision over consistency.

Core characteristics include:

• Identical cars for all players within an environment
• Physics-based handling that rewards precision
• Modular track pieces such as loops, jumps, ice, dirt, and boosters
• A strong emphasis on community-created content

Getting Started

Trying TrackMania for Free

New players are commonly recommended to begin with Trackmania 2020, a game released in 2020 which is available on Steam, Ubisoft Connect, PlayStation, or Xbox. This game has a free demo called "Starter Access" which allows you to play the first 10 tracks of the current campaign, the current week of Weekly Shorts, the Ranked mode, a rotating Arcade server with community tracks (although online multiplayer features require PlayStation Plus), and the full track editor.

Since Trackmania 2020 is paid, an alternative is to play TrackMania Nations Forever, a free-to-play entry released in 2008 which is available on a standalone version (direct download from the official website) and on Steam, though the standalone version is recommended due to a bug on the Steam version. This game includes the Stadium environment, online multiplayer, and access to a large library of community-made tracks on Trackmania Exchange.

Expanding the Experience

Players who enjoy Trackmania 2020 can buy 1 year of Club access. Club access is a subscription-like system. Which your access is active, you get to play all tracks of every seasonal campaign, the Track of the Day, any custom track, all servers. You can also use custom skins, join and create clubs, and set a club tag. All seasonal campaigns, Weekly Shorts tracks, and Tracks of the Day are kept after the subscription ends.

Players who enjoy TrackMania Nations Forever may choose to purchase TrackMania United Forever, which includes multiple environments (such as Desert, Rally, Snow, and Coast) in addition to Stadium, along with expanded single-player and multiplayer features.

Controls and Input Methods

TrackMania supports both keyboard and game controller input. While both are viable at all skill levels, they are often favored for different reasons within the community.

Keyboard

Keyboard input is digital, meaning steering, acceleration, and braking are either fully engaged or not engaged at all.

Characteristics:

• Easily accessible, as most players already own a keyboard
• Common among beginners due to low setup requirements
• Requires precise tapping and rhythm to simulate smooth steering
• Capable of high-level play with sufficient practice

Although digital steering can make smooth cornering more difficult, experienced keyboard players learn to approximate analog control through careful input timing.

Controller

Controllers provide analog input, allowing steering to vary smoothly.

Characteristics:

• Allows gradual steering adjustments
• Reduces the risk of oversteering and slide-outs
• Favored by many high-level and professional players
• More forgiving on technical tracks that require fine control

The ability to smoothly modulate steering makes controllers particularly effective for maintaining speed and stability, especially at the highest levels of competition.

Community Preference

Keyboard is often used by newer players due to its availability, while controllers are commonly preferred by advanced and professional players for their smoother steering capabilities. Both input methods are fully competitive, and success ultimately depends on player skill rather than control scheme.

Players are encouraged to use whichever input method best suits their comfort and play style.

Learning the Basics

Medals and Progression

Tracks award medals based on completion time:

• Bronze
• Silver
• Gold
• Author (developer-set target)

Medals serve as benchmarks for improvement rather than a strict progression system.

Watching Replays

Watching replays or racing against ghost cars is one of the most effective ways to learn optimal lines, speed preservation, and advanced techniques.

Custom Tracks and Legacy Games

TrackMania Exchange

TrackMania Exchange is a community-run website that hosts a large collection of custom TrackMania tracks across multiple TrackMania titles. It allows players to browse, download, and rate tracks created by other members of the community.

The site is commonly used to:

• Find custom tracks for practice or casual play
• Discover highly rated or competition-tested maps
• Share user-created tracks with others

TrackMania Exchange is widely regarded as the primary hub for TrackMania custom content outside the game itself.

Moving Forward

As players improve, they often explore advanced mechanics such as drifting, air control, surface-specific handling, and competitive multiplayer formats.

Because TrackMania emphasizes repetition and refinement, improvement typically comes from replaying tracks and optimizing execution rather than unlocking new mechanics.

See Also

• Trackmania 2020
• TrackMania Nations Forever
• TrackMania United Forever
• Nadeo
• TrackMania (series)