TrackMania 2 Canyon Demo

Racing games require a lot of concentration and fast reflexes, especially those that feature arcade mechanics and unnatural speeds. While some may complain at the lack of realistic physics, others rejoice at the sight of upside down drifts and gigantic leaps, so there’s an audience for both genres. The TrackMania franchise is one of the most popular online racing games out there, given the fact that it has a pretty long history behind it.

TrackMania 2 Canyon capitalizes on the success of the series and it brings forth a wave of improvements, especially when it comes to gameplay and the graphics quality. In essence, the game is largely the same as it was from the very beginning, but the experience is much smoother, not to mention more diverse and exciting, depending on how you choose to play it.

The underlying concepts haven’t changed an awful lot in the meantime, because the main purpose is the same: drive as fast as you can and perform some stunts while you are at it, while competing with people from all over the world for the fastest times. A global leaderboard is available inside the game, which encourages competition and rewards those who manage to beat certain records.

Speaking of which, it takes a lot of practice to be able to compete against the best out there, because the game itself provides you with the possibility to perform some daring moves. Even fractions of a second are important if you decide to get good at it. However, it is highly recommended that you use a controller, in case you want to play at a more competitive level, because the keyboard is not very practical.

As far as the technical aspects are concerned, this release certainly features a tremendous improvement over what came before it, especially when it comes to the graphics engine. The cars are incredibly detailed, as are the environments and the tracks as well. The adrenaline-inducing soundtrack should make things that much better, although you are free to change it as you wish.

TrackMania 2 Canyon delivers on all accounts and it does manage to be an absolute improvement over the previous titles. The fast-paced gameplay has remained largely unchanged, however, so you should definitely not worry about whether this episode feels like TrackMania or not.