For the longest time (several years, in fact), I've been looking for a good racing game with an arcade-like feel. I'm not a fan of the realistic racers that have been released everywhere, as I prefer something fun to a game where your car is unusable after a mere crash against a wall. I might have found this week what I've been looking for.

Nadeo released only a few days ago TrackMania Nations Forever, the latest entry in their racing series. This new version is completely free to download and play, and supports several modes: you can race against the computer, try to beat your high scores, or face other people in local or worldwide multiplayer matches. The fun thing (and the "Nations" part of the game) is that you're ranked against the players from the area you live in. For example, I played a little bit of the single player mode, and the game ranks me in Quebec, in Canada, and in the whole world. This makes the solo racing mode fun as you even get to compare your performance with others if you want to. Oh, and did I mention that you can create your own levels from the in-game editor?

One of the special things in TrackMania is that there are absolutely no car collisions between players: since the goal is to be first and do the best score, you don't have to worry about an opponent ramming into you just to slow you down. I'll admit that it takes a bit of time to get used to the concept, but I find it to be a fun alternative to other, more common games.

There's also a retail version of TrackMania, called TrackMania United (recently upgraded to a "Forever" version itself), which includes everything from Nations along with several other maps, car types, and play modes. United is completely compatible with Nations, to the point that online matches can happen between United and Nations players as long as the selected mode is available within Nations' selection.

I might just end up playing this quite a bit: I've begun practicing, and I believe that this has the potential to keep me busy for a long time. As such, I was wondering if anyone else here would also like to race online. I'm sure we'd be able to form a little group to play on evenings and weekends.

Who's in?

I'm taking the chance to bump this as we got new members on the board. I've got the full version in the meanwhile (United Forever), and I'm still enjoying it very much. I hope that some of you will give it a shot too.

TrackMania Nations Forever is free, and fun!
TrackMania United Forever isn't that expensive, but has a LOT more content!

Anybody up to a race or three?