Do you remember Trackmania Nations Forever? This Nadeo-developed, free-to-play racing title mixed the precision and technique of Formula One with outlandish arcade track design, throwing loop-the-loops and wallrides on tracks where driving on dirt and grass and using any trick or shortcut you can find is not only allowed, but even encouraged. At its peak, it was played by millions and headlined the early era of esports in the 2000s through the likes of ESL.

It was rebooted in 2020, simply titled Trackmania. From the moment the reboot was released, it was obvious something was different. In the age of Twitch, YouTube, and social media, this fast-paced, online racing game with lavishly designed community tracks was eye-catching when shared with audiences of thousands online, introducing a new generation to this veteran racing franchise.

It’s one thing to watch a video of someone perfectly snaking around precise turns and driving up walls; it’s another to play it. And there’s never been a better time to do so with the World Championship just around the corner in Montpellier, France, from November 24-26. With that, we thought we’d offer an introduction to everything you need to know to play the world’s most competitive racing game.

Race, create, compete

Within the market of free-to-play games, Trackmania is generous in just how much it offers newcomers. From a full campaign updated every three months to a fully-fledged track editor, there’s a lot to enjoy here before thinking about parting with any cash.

The free campaign is a challenging collection of 25 Nadeo-developed tracks that offer a variety of competition across all the mechanics the game has to offer. It means racing not just on standard tracks but on ice, grass, dirt, in or underwater, and plastic. It means mastering special track creation blocks, such as the Bobsleigh, or unique mechanics like Turbo Boosts or status-changing blocks that could temporarily turn off your engine or prevent you from steering. Each has their own properties.

For example, if we compare with the standard track, plastic will feel slightly less grippy in turns, while ice will see you snaking and sliding without precise control over acceleration and your wheels. Grass and dirt will each slow you down, while maintaining speed underneath or gliding gracefully over the surface is key to going fast in water.

You can compete in these time trial campaign tracks for medals, including the elusive developer-set Author Medals that should prove a challenge even after hundreds of hours of play. And as the seasons change outside, so do the tracks, cycling out for 25 new Nadeo creations.

These are designed for both beginners and veterans alike, but with so much on offer, it can understandably feel overwhelming. Especially if you jumped into the game after watching a Trackmania pro make such mastery look easy. For this, we recommend the 25 free tutorial tracks. We know, the idea of training sounds like going to school and sitting in class, but trust us, it’ll be worth it.

That said, don’t expect to become a master just by playing them. Ultimately it will take dozens of hours to truly master these surfaces, hundreds more if you want to compete for world records with the very best. Still, these are a great introduction to everything you need to know, and even if you’re a veteran, they can be great tools for practicing the fundamentals.

That’s not all, either, as Ranked and Royal modes are also available for free to all players. In Ranked, you race in teams of three on campaign tracks for the fastest times to claim victory, bringing an extra layer of competition beyond shaving milliseconds off your personal best. As for Royal, imagine Fall Guys with cars, as you race through obstacle courses to avoid being eliminated.

You can even jump into the game’s Track Editor and build your own tracks without paying a penny.

The game only expands further for those who upgrade their account. With Standard Access, not only can you upload and play user-created tracks, you gain access to every campaign released since the game’s launch in July 2020 and the ability to compete in Track of the Day. This daily event sees Nadeo select one user-generated map for a simultaneous worldwide competition. Players have 15 minutes to learn the track and post their fastest times, after which they’ll be assigned to a division with similarly skilled players before racing in a multi-round tournament to see who can become the last one standing.

With Club Access, you can also race against other player ghosts (personal best times), create your own club, and use custom car skins.

Community makes Trackmania unique

User-generated content has always been the cornerstone for all of Nadeo’s games, with open encouragement from the French developers for players to let their imaginations run wild designing the best tracks possible. Still, there were limitations with the Track Editors seen in older titles. Here, Nadeo expanded the possibilities for players to make anything they could imagine by including the option to create user-customizable scenery within the design process.

The possibilities are endless. Why drive a simple dirt track when the dirt could instead be the coarse sand of an alien planet surrounded by unfamiliar plant life? Even simple tracks are enhanced by the most passionate of creators by turning technical tracks into an intricate dash between towering skyscrapers, while ice tracks feel fitting when placed atop frosty mountains. Cup of the Day, a daily competition in bracket-style Knockout mode on the current Track of the Day, further pushes such intricate creations to a broader playerbase, which is a great motivator to design the best tricks in the hope of being chosen.

Indeed, social media and streaming are big contributors to the resurgence of the franchise following the release of Trackmania in 2020. The ever-increasing amount of new online content produced and released for the game allows streamers such as Scrapie, Spammiej, Majijej, and Wirtual to build a following solely through content creation based around the game. Large-scale community events such as Kacky, where deliberately terrible, difficult, and/or glitchy maps are produced and shared, become focal points for everyone to rally around and share videos of their best attempts.

On YouTube in particular, Wirtual has built a strong following by sharing documentaries highlighting the history of the franchise and gameplay from this most recent entry, with many videos earning millions of views. This has collectively propelled the game to greater public recognition, transforming some of these streamers into highly popular influencers while also raising Trackmania’s profile in the process.

Esports glory

Some of these aforementioned players are also going to be competing at the upcoming World Championship in Montpellier, France, this week. This culmination of the competitive calendar will bring the top Trackmania teams together to compete for the title of world champion in a livestreamed and in-person event set for November 24-26.

The format for these championships functions slightly differently to the previously noted Ranked mode available in the game. Matches consist of two teams who face off against one another on a series of highly difficult, specially designed maps that will challenge even those deemed the best in the world. Following the group stages, the top eight teams will progress to a double-elimination finals to determine who will earn the ultimate crown.

It’s not just the culmination of the 2023 competitive calendar for Trackmania but the franchise over two decades. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the release of the first title in the series, and some of the players competing in this event have been playing since the beginning. From its highs to its lows, from the renewed fervor of a growing playerbase to passionate viewers who just enjoy watching others play the game well, these champions are a hat-tipping finale to everything that has come before.

As the saying goes, to the victor goes the spoils (and in this case, so does the cash prize!), this is a victory lap for a game that deserves the excitement and anticipation that has built up around it as we head towards this pinnacle of the competitive calendar.

Tune into the championship to watch the very best of the best compete in Trackmania at the highest level. Then, if you want to try your hand at joining these players in the elite, you can download Trackmania free from the Epic Games Store right now.