The long running PC Trackmania series has finally arrived on consoles and Trackmania Turbo is perhaps the best version yet to make the jump across. Faced with established heavy hitters in Forza, Drive Club and Project Cars, can it rev its engine loud enough to get noticed?
Straight away it has to be noted that the main focus of Trackmania Turbo are the time trial courses it features instead of the more traditional competitive races console players will be used to. The aim is to complete each track in the quickest time possible, with a successful run allowing the player to unlock and move on to the next track in the campaign mode.
To help inspire players to do better, each track uses a medal system; bronze, silver and gold to as time markers for the track with the goal to drive a fast enough time to win gold. Before you start your engine you can pick a medal target which will place a ‘ghost’ car on the track which serves as a pace car which will use the best racing line to hit its medal time. As a ghost car there is no interaction so no possible collisions with the car and act as a superb way to improve your track times as they become more challenging.
As you progress the tracks become more testing with an intelligent track design that increase the difficulty carefully each time. Ranging from the addition of jump ramps, intricate turns and bends, environmental changes and obstacles, trying to improve your best times is a compelling racing mechanic. With the ability to instantly restart the race with a button press, should you make the slightest mistake which spoils your time, the player is always made to strive to achieve the perfect clean run.
Trackmania Turbo is a true arcade racer and though it doesn’t visually compete with the strong big name racing games, it still looks great with colourful locations and a real arcade feel to the tracks. The cars are well drawn with some cosmetic customisation options only, but the action is smooth and fluid with some impressive race moments throughout the tracks. I however did find the soundtrack of techno beats and dance tracks appealing and eventually had to turn it off via the main menu.
For those looking for an online challenge Trackmania Turbo features both online and local multiplayer game modes. Online will have special tracks to compete with other players to set the fastest time possible. Local multiplayer modes offer up to four player split screen action but also a rather delicious and genius ‘Doubles’ mode where one player controls the steering and a friend handles the acceleration and breaking. This mode is both a fun test of team work skills but also a very effective and powerful friendship test!
One of the most popular features of the Trackmania series has been the track builder mode which continues in Trackmania Turbo. This mode is a very user friendly and easy to use mode that allows players to create their own race tracks and after testing your creations to make sure they work well enough by going for a test run, they can be uploaded and shared with the community. With the core game already featuring over 200 tracks, this mode really brings an almost endless variety of tracks to enjoy and best.
Trackmania Turbo is just great fun to play with a degree of challenge that is compelling and brings out the competitive streak in every player. I enjoyed the fact that the toughest opponent is ultimately yourself. Though it never feels than an arcade title and never reaches the Trials Fusion challenge heights, it is a solid experience that embraces what has made the series so successful over the years.
