Many people love racing games. They usually fall into one of two groups; fans who like driving simulations or more arcade-like casual racers. “TrackMania Turbo” is a mix of both of styles potentially making it very attractive to both groups.
The name of the game in “TrackMania Turbo” is speed, unlike most racing games you aren’t just trying to beat the other cars around the track you are trying to achieve the fastest time possible. The look and overall feel of “TrackMania Turbo” seems like an arcade racing game, but the controls are very precise and the graphics keep up with some of the best racing sims out there. The appeal of “TrackMania Turbo,” even though it appears simple on the surface, there are many game modes and a physics system that take some getting used to if you want to go really fast. The way the cars move feels realistic. You have to figure out how and when to brake, power-slide, and what angle to take turns if you don’t want to fly off the track on any one of the more than 200 hundred tracks.
The tracks are not real life locations. They can be pretty zany with things like huge jumps, loops, and spirals. If you manage to get through all of these courses there is also a track editor where you can make your own tracks and post them online for the world to play, you can also play an unlimited amount of user submitted tracks.
The most off-putting thing is the duration of the tracks. I enjoy how most of the tracks can be completed in about one to two minutes because I can just do a couple of races when I get a minute, but most people want large muti-lap races. Don’t worry; just because the races are short doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot to do. You can replay races to get better times, you can race against A.I. opponents, or you can take it online.
If you are looking to play with a friend you can play up to four players on your couch via split screen just like older games you might be used to, or you can race online with people around the world.
When you race online you can join races of up to one hundred cars which can turn into a chaotic experience but when you finish the race, the game tells you how well you rank on the leaderboard among all the people who are in the race and it tells you stats from people around the world. The statistics let you drill down and see how well you stack up against people in your country and state. You can even see people in your town.
Overall I really like “TrackMania Turbo” there is a bunch of fun game modes to try out and it’s fun to see all the crazy tracks you can find and race on, I might not be the best at racing games but it’s casual nature can be appealing to racers of any skill level or interest. If you are a racing fan you will like “TrackMania Turbo” the racing is fast and the controls are tight and there are enough tracks to keep you racing for a long time to come.
