The way driving games should be

Pretty much ever since the first cars spluttered into life back in the last, sepia-toned decades of the 19th century, people have wanted to drive them very, very fast and in ways which would almost certainly invalidate whatever passed for a manufacturer’s warranty at the time.

Trackmania Turbo — published by Ubisoft as the latest title in the Trackmania series from developer Nadeo — combines that desire to drive rapidly and with reckless abandon while simultaneously answering that age-old question “What would it be like to design the world’s most epic toy racing car track and then drive on it?”

Right from the very first time you start your engines, any thoughts one might have about Trackmania being a serious racing sim in the Gran Turismo, Forza or DiRT Rally tradition are launched out the window like an improperly stowed bag of groceries during a particularly sudden emergency stop.

This is because your car is suspended from a helicopter, and when the multilingual three-second countdown reaches zero, your car detaches and you hit the track running, tyres spinning and bass-tacular music pumping.

The designers of Trackmania Turbo very clearly set out to ensure players got to do some crazy driving, as well as ensuring no-one takes it too seriously either.

Custom track builder ... yes please.

The loading screens feature amusing gems such as “To recreate the rally driving experience, have your companion jostle you while loudly shouting directions in your ear”, alongside other irreverent quotes, suggestions and advice.

The emphasis is clearly on having a good time, ideally with your mates or at a party, and the game goes to some effort to try and create an arcade game-style atmosphere — the main screen even says “Insert coin or press enter” and the tracks are bright, colourful, and accompanied by interesting set decorations.

Trackmania Turbo features several multiplayer options including traditional favourites such as split screen, facing off against randoms on the internet, hot seat, and the innovative “double driver” mode.

As the name suggests, this involves two players simultaneously controlling the same car. There is a reason this isn’t a thing in real life, but it’s hard to deny the hilarity that can ensue in trying it in the game. If the car receives contradictory inputs (eg one player says go left, another says go right), then the car just goes merrily straight ahead until the drivers sort themselves out and get on the same page direction-wise, or the car crashes spectacularly, whichever happens first. Fortunately there are on-screen prompts indicating which commands the drivers are entering to help make the process a bit easier.

One of the other interesting features that comes with the game is a custom track builder, allowing you to build your own tracks and then race on them — it’s a lot of fun and creates countless possibilities, particularly with the addition of a “random” mode that can automatically generate a track for you to race on or modify.

Another bonus for Trackmania Turbo is that it’s bright and colourful and there’s absolutely no violence, inappropriate language, or objectionable content in it — which means you can play it with smaller children, conservative grandparents, or friends who usually prefer their games to involve the crushing of confectionery rather than skulls.

The downside is that while the game is fun, bright, and does not take itself too seriously, some of the tracks are frustratingly hard. Sure, if you miss a turn and go sailing over the edge of the track, you can hit a reset button and instantly return to a checkpoint or the start line, but on several tracks I found that I had frequently to line up jumps, turns and the like just right or it was a one-way trip to stacksville.

When you’re playing against friends and everyone’s missing the jumps or mistiming their drifts and going off the track, it’s not as huge a problem, but in single-player mode it can get frustrating having to constantly restart because you didn’t hit a ramp at quite the right angle and now you’re upside down in a lagoon.

Having said that, Trackmania Turbo is overall a fun arcade racer that’s easy to pick up and play, either alone or with your mates — and let’s face it, it’s hard not to have fun while you’re recklessly driving a racing car upside down on a track segment that’s partially suspended by an airship.