How are the Trackmania games when played solo?

[Ocelot]

I may dip into MP here and there but I am mostly looking into it for SP, good idea or not?

[badinfo]

You're mostly playing solo even when playing multiplayer. The other cars on the track do not affect your car. I've worn the letters off my keyboard playing Stadium solo to beat all the tracks at all 4 levels. You race against a "ghost" car that was recorded setting the time you have to beat for each level.

[Ocelot]

Originally posted by badinfo:

You're mostly playing solo even when playing multiplayer. The other cars on the track do not affect your car. I've worn the letters off my keyboard playing Stadium solo to beat all the tracks at all 4 levels. You race against a "ghost" car that was recorded setting the time you have to beat for each level.

So the MP isn't live? Kinda confused.

Also, would you suggest Valley, Canyon or Stadium?

[I_love_the_APBT]

I think Valley looks the best,so I bought it,but I am not able to play because it doesn't recognise my TrackMania name and password from the old TrackMania package I have. But the old TrackMania starts and logs in with no problems,so I think they have two TrackMania sites of something stupid going on. Having clear instructions would be helpful. Not happy

[badinfo]

Originally posted by Hoss U-02:

Originally posted by badinfo:

You're mostly playing solo even when playing multiplayer. The other cars on the track do not affect your car. I've worn the letters off my keyboard playing Stadium solo to beat all the tracks at all 4 levels. You race against a "ghost" car that was recorded setting the time you have to beat for each level.

So the MP isn't live? Kinda confused.

Also, would you suggest Valley, Canyon or Stadium?

No, the multiplayer is "live", you are actually racing against other players, but your car is not affected by their cars. It was a little jarring at first coming from racing sims, and I still reflexively dodge them sometimes even though you can drive right through them lol. I find in multiplayer races with lots of players I will hit the restart button after the countdown and follow the pack instead of trying to race in the middle of it.

Once you beat all the solo tracks at all four levels of difficulty, going online multiplayer will expose you to tons of player made tracks and some REALLY fast players.

[Ocelot]

Originally posted by badinfo:

Originally posted by Hoss U-02:

So the MP isn't live? Kinda confused.

Also, would you suggest Valley, Canyon or Stadium?

No, the multiplayer is "live", you are actually racing against other players, but your car is not affected by their cars. It was a little jarring at first coming from racing sims, and I still reflexively dodge them sometimes even though you can drive right through them lol. I find in multiplayer races with lots of players I will hit the restart button after the countdown and follow the pack instead of trying to race in the middle of it.

Once you beat all the solo tracks at all four levels of difficulty, going online multiplayer will expose you to tons of player made tracks and some REALLY fast players.

I picked up all the TM games a day ago, but this is still much appreciated info. Sounds interesting, thanks. :)

Edit: The ''ghost'' car stuff will take some getting used to, for me at least. (Because, like you, I play sim racers quite a bit)

[Erik]

There's no player collision, it's just you against the course for your best time.

Single player campaign has 65 tracks divided between 5 difficulty levels. You have to get the gold medal to unlock the next tracks and progress through the campaign. For first time drivers this can be quite difficult to complete. Generally speaking will take anywhere from 15-30 hours depending on your race experience and skill level.

After gold is an Author medal, which depending on the track can be incredibly difficult. To successfully get all Author medals you'll have to invest a good portion of time and/or let it happen naturally over a few months. It's not something you can just snap through in a week if you're new to the environment.

TrackMania veterans have less problems, but that tends to be because they know the ropes on what to expect for a Trackmania game. These games also have very nuanced driving, meaning there are certain tricks and techniques which help get better times. They tend not to be obvious at first glance, but add to the long term appeal.

There is also a free Platform add-on pack that has 23 tracks. The goal of these is just to pass the course without resetting at a checkpoint. They tend to have crazy jumps and unorthodox track design, think Hot-Wheels on crack.

Then you can play the 5000+ and growing custom tracks in local play or just join an online server.

[Ranky Danky]

Originally posted by HashTag:

There's no player collision, it's just you against the course for your best time.

Single player campaign has 65 tracks divided between 5 difficulty levels. You have to get the gold medal to unlock the next tracks and progress through the campaign. For first time drivers this can be quite difficult to complete. Generally speaking will take anywhere from 15-30 hours depending on your race experience and skill level.

After gold is an Author medal, which depending on the track can be incredibly difficult. To successfully get all Author medals you'll have to invest a good portion of time and/or let it happen naturally over a few months. It's not something you can just snap through in a week if you're new to the environment.

TrackMania veterans have less problems, but that tends to be because they know the ropes on what to expect for a Trackmania game. These games also have very nuanced driving, meaning there are certain tricks and techniques which help get better times. They tend not to be obvious at first glance, but add to the long term appeal.

There is also a free Platform add-on pack that has 23 tracks. The goal of these is just to pass the course without resetting at a checkpoint. They tend to have crazy jumps and unorthodox track design, think Hot-Wheels on crack.

Then you can play the 5000+ and growing custom tracks in local play or just join an online server.

I've been trying to figure out where to get that platform DLC. Where is it? I can't find it on the store page.

[AurenX]

solo is like multi player but without seeing other people it doesnt change the game. but it is more fun to race against people, i feel it motivates me more