TrackMania Nations

Stadium Driving Tips

Firstly I should say that I do not speak the gospel, if you think I'm wrong about something fine. If you wanna tell me - cool - email or contact me and via TMX.

Apart from practicing the next best thing I did to improve was to watch replays of the World Records (WR) from TMX for the tracks I played a lot. For me, I learned on the Nadeo ADV and PRO maps and so downloaded the WRs for all these tracks from TMX, and a lot of the tips I gained from watching these replays I will tell you here. If you play tech maps then look at Ron Turbo's WR replays, or if you like full speed then see Zippage\irondragons\nap303 WR's.

Tips#1: Jumps & Control Mid-Air

1. Dab (briefly touch) your brake mid-air will stabalise the car, you will lose NO speed, and on a normal jump it will stop you doing a nose dive. This can become addictive and I do it all the time even when not needed just to land the car smoothly :).

2. You can control the speed of your car mid-air just like on the ground, only with slightly less impact. If you need to slow down mid-air then you can brake mid-air.

3. The low trajectory jump. (This is far more important than braking mid-air). At the time of a jump sometimes you will not want to fly like a bird over all those nice boosters, or even worse off the edge of the track. This trick can save loads of time, and much better than braking mid-air. Either touch the brake or let of the gas 'just' before the bottom of the jump apply the accelator immediately when in the air. This will give you a lower trajectory jump.

4. Attacking an immediate corner after a jump. So you can do the low trajectory jump, now for killer move :). Turn slightly just before take off from the jump, when you hit the ground you are already turning and braking and miles in front of all the other shopping trolley drivers. (Example: this just a transition down, but the pre-turn on on the drop down gives maximum speed round the following corner. Nadeo D-3 WR So for a jump followed by a corner, applying all these tricks correctly above will give a BIG advantage.

Tips#2: Corners and Brake Skidding

This next bit is say whether you should brake-skid round corners or not... I read a post on uk-team server discussing this, and it really depends on the corner and your stlye. All I can say is there are definetly times when the brake-skid round a corner gives the fastest line, and sometimes skidding just slows you down - If you like full speed tracks then skidding by clipping the inner edge of a corner will ruin your line. For most people the fastest line will be to brake before you start turning (or when you just start turning), and then apply the gas at the apex, normally you will want to be going as fast as possible on the exit of a corner.

To brake skid you will need to start turning first and then apply the brakes while still turning, takes some practice to master. (Examples: This is me with the WR for 1 of my tracks LongSnakeMoan OR Drift Training WR

Tips#3: Stunts: Wallrides, loops, etc

Wall Rides : Try to hit the 2 apex of the entrance and exit (especially the exit) and basically try to keep low going round. Coming down off the wallride is the most important part to get right, assuming you get on the wall ride OK, then come down hard as quickly as you can (always allowing for maximum smoothness). PULSE WR from BuzzLightYear. He hits every apex on the starting double wall-ride stunt.

Loops: There is not much to say about loops in terms of driving line, the only thing to do is to best predict the transition on and off the loop for maximum smoothness. Very, very rarely should you brake with loops, so practice taking them at full-speed. If you have time to see the loop from the outside before coming into it, then you may be able to see which direction you need to go.

Barrel roll: You don't often see this stunt but the sweet spot is right in the middle, example replay:  Scarso WR UpAllNight

Posts & holes:avoid em. What else you gonna do?

Tips#4: Tech Tracks

Tech corners \ tech tracks: Well in general very hard to say anything coz the right line always varies, but trying these tracks for the 1st time, I lift of the gas on bumps and try and spend the MOST time with my car on the road, sometimes this means driving down the middle until you get a feel for the lay of the land.

Tips#5: Full speed tracks

My poorest ability, and at times I can't understand these, I think its all about a smooth ride and the ultimate racing line (out-in-out), clipping corner grating and skiding is the worst mistake for losing time. Braking normally results in mayhem so I lift-off accelerator instead of braking, until you know the track better :)

Tips#6: Misc Stuff 

Checkpoint analysis: So in Time-Attack mode, you can use the info at the bottom right to see how far down from the leader you are. This can be more trouble than its worth, it can take your attention away and you crash...no point in knowing i'm 14th and just 0.02 down on the leader if I just crashed. Sometimes it can tell you though when you have missed a trick, you are already 0.6 secs down at 1st checkpoint!...you missed the trick.

Start Points 3-2-1-Go: Generally speaking you can start turning (if you need to) right from 'Go'. If there is an immediate down booster then go to 1 side and let of gas briefly (brings the nose down quicker), this will give you a faster start, My mate Scarso on Nadeo D-2.

The crash brake method: Occasionally it is possible to crash against the side of the track to help you brake and also helps steer you around a corner. More often than not this does not save time, for a given corner try it out and see. Example me playing BuzzMatic.

Vertical climb and then immediate corner: Diagonally traverse the road on the climb (in direction of corner) and lift off the gas, you want to try and stay on the road, you will be able to then accelerate and turn quicker.

Backwards boosters: If you ever really need to, then by following the edge of the track (touching the side) you can drive past a backwards booster, even if you start from 0 mph.